Android is a mobile operating system originally developed by Google and then subsequently by the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed Java code in the Java language, controlling a portable device via Google-developed libraries. Android has been open source since October 2008.

The first phone from Samsung to use the Android OS was the Galaxy i7500

Contents 1 Introducing Android 1.1 Features 2 Android Development 3 Android Versions 3.1 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich 3.2 Android 3.0 Honeycomb 4 Android Resources 4.1 Useful Sites 4.2 Android Applications

Introducing Android

Features

• Android supports these media formats: H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP container or as an AAC file), MP3, MIDI, OGG Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP.
• Android can use a device's video or still camera, touchscreen, GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer, accelerated 2D bitblits (with hardware orientation,scaling,pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.

Android Development

A comprehensive software development kit is available including a range of tools to enable third party developers the chance to create applications for mobile phones.

• SDK

Android Versions

Each major version of Android has featured a food based title.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

For a run down of new features, have a look here

Android 3.0 Honeycomb

This was the first version to specifically cater for Tablet devices.

Android Resources

• Android FAQ

Useful Sites

• Home Page
• Android Wikipedia
• Android Wiki

Android Applications

Android applications can be obtained from the Market (a bit like the iPhone's app store), both free and paid for apps are available.

• Android Market

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