Created by search engine giant, Google, Android is the most widely used mobile OS in the world – with various versions of the software found on more than one billion handsets worldwide.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, what exactly is an OS?
Operating systems explained
In any computer, an OS is the software which manages the computer’s hardware in order to accomplish a given task. Now, if that sounds like gobbledegook to you, think of it like this:
If speech was a piece of software (think of it as an app, downloaded to your body), your mind would act as the OS because it would tell your body to move the jaw, tongue, lips, facial muscles, lungs and vocal chords (the hardware) in order to make the software work.
Now, if you wanted to eat at the same time (very bad manners, by the way), you’d boot up the eating app. Your mind (the OS) would then have to divvy-up the hardware resources (the parts of your face required) to accomplish both tasks simultaneously.
Laboured similes aside, the OS is an essential part of a computer. Not all operating systems are the same, though. For example, most PCs use a version of the Windows operating system, whereas Apple’s Mac computers use a version of the Mac OS, and each looks and operates differently.
In the world of mobile phones, you’re likely to come across a wider range of OSs. The big four are Apple’s iOS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS and Android.
The Android story
Android began life in sunny California in 2003. The idea was to develop smarter mobile phones which were more aware of their users’ location and preferences than anything previously.
Seeing potential in the mobile OS, Internet giant Google acquired Android in 2005 and set to work on developing it for the mass market. It wasn’t until 2008 that Android version 1.0 made its debut, on the T-Mobile G1 handset.
Though it was a lot more basic and the design wasn’t quite so refined, the fundamental Android experience wasn’t so different from today. There was a home screen with shortcuts to apps. There was a ‘drawer’ with all the apps, Google Maps, Gmail integration, pull-down notifications and even home screen widgets.
Since then, there have been scores of updates to the OS – some incremental, with users seeing little visible difference to the previous version, and some huge, completely changing the look and feel of the OS.
At the time of writing, we’re on Android version 4.4, or, as it’s more commonly known, Android KitKat. One of the quirks of the Android OS is that each version is named after a sweet, in alphabetical order.
It began with Cupcake (version 1.5) and was followed by Doughnut (1.6), Éclair (2.0-2.1), Froyo (2.2/3), Gingerbread (2.3 -2.7), Honeycomb (3.0 -3.2.6), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0-4.0.4) and Jelly Bean (4.1-4.3).
Customise your ’droid
As Android isn’t tied to a single handset manufacturer, you’ll find many older versions of Android are still out in the wild. Older and less powerful Android handsets use older versions of the OS, whereas newer, more powerful handsets are likely to run KitKat.
In comparison to the other big mobile OSs, including in particular Apple’s iOS found on its wildly successful iPhone handsets, Android is renowned for its customisability – giving users the freedom to tweak appearance and functionality as they see fit.
What also sets it apart from iOS is the fact that Android is what’s known as an ‘open source’ OS. This means that the underlying computer code of which the software is comprised is openly available to developers, or anyone else, to tinker with as they see fit.
This has given rise to entire communities of Android ‘modders’ (modifiers) who have created entirely new and popular Android experiences such CyanogenMod, which offers features not found in the official versions of Android.
But even with the potential depth of Android, official versions remain simple to understand, use and customise.
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