Android platform - a variety of new features for users
Android has become
a household name faster than Facebook or Twitter. Google, its parent company,
records more than 50,000 activations every day, which means its user base is
growing in leaps and bounds. However, many curious consumers continue to be
confused about this technology. “What is an Android tablet”, “What is an
Android phone”, they often ask.
Android is an operating system for mobile devices, especially smartphones and tablets, developed and maintained by Google. Like Windows or Linux for desktops, it's the core software that allows users to interact with their handsets and take advantage of other applications.
Android is a work
in progress and Google keeps releasing new versions of the system. These are
usually security updates and other fixes and improvements. It's open-source,
which means anybody can access its source code and modify it. This is good news
as such openness tends to attract a vibrant community that takes the product in
new directions. And who doesn't like innovation? Different versions are often
needed to cater for various sizes of display space and resolution across
Android tablet and phone spectrum. They optimize the entire user experience,
including quality of
web design.
A
standard Android interface contains the main functions that are needed to
operate the device. For the phone, it includes the dialler, phone book or a
text messaging functionality as well as several popular apps, like Gmail,
Facebook or YouTube. You can easily download other applications from a growing
Android Market (pre-installed in the system). Many of them are free (67%, as
opposed to only 37% in the Apple App Store), but there is also an exciting
offer of premium products, for example Netflix or mobile games.
Android tablets and
phones have a reputation for greater flexibility than Apple products, not only
because they run on an open-source system. The interface is easy to customize
with hundreds of widgets to suit your individual needs and there are fewer
restrictions. In fact, phone and tablet manufacturers are quick to play with
the system, which is why it can look quite different from one device to
another.
Major brands whose
machines run on Android include Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson. Popular models
include Samsung Galaxy or HTC Wildfire. They are often competitively priced
compared to iPhone and iPad, even though it would be hard to find compelling
evidence for their technical or functional inferiority. People who are not
attracted by design or cult status of Apple products can find a great
alternative to Steve Jobs' legacy in Android tablets and phones.
Android tablets and
phones have a very good support for media files so they are ideal for music or
video consumption. After connecting to your PC, it shows as an external drive
and you drag and drop files between desktop and mobile libraries if you don't
use cloud-based solutions, like Spotify or Netflix.
We hope that after
reading this article, you won't have to ask “What is an Android tablet” again.