An Android™ phone is a cellphone that uses the Google-developed Android™ operating system
and platform. Google partnered with the High Tech Computer Corporation
(HTCC) to build hardware for the G1 cellphone, the first mobile phone to run the Android™ platform. In 2008, T-Mobile premiered the G1 Android™ phone to the public.
On
the technical side, an Android™ phone runs on the Android™ operating
system, key applications and middleware. It's Linux kernel-based, has
applications that are written in the Java language and can even run
applications written in the C language. It is also a product, partly, of
the Open Handset Alliance, which encourages the use and advancement of open source software for cellphones.
One
of the biggest differences between a phone running the Android™
platform and others is that the software Android™ uses is a complex
operating system. In contrast, the majority of operational cellphones
run primitive real time applications.
In regard to its Internet
capabilities, the Android™ phone uses WebKit to power the G1's Chrome
Lite browser. Because WebKit also powers iPhone's Safari, the G1 is a competitor to the iPhone in terms of users' enhanced web experiences.
An
Android™ phone can also run multiple applications at the same time and
in the background of a phone, making multitasking easier and the
functionality of the phone more fluid than other cellphones.
