For Android newbies: 10 questions, answered

For Android newbies: 10 questions, answered - Yahoo! News (CLICK to read all 10 Q&A)

"Sure, you’ve heard of Android — as in Android phones, which are multiplying like rabbits and taking the smartphone world by storm, giving even the mighty iPhone a run for its money. But are you still a little shaky on the Android basics? Do you turn into a wallflower when the subject comes up during cocktail parties? Read on.

1. What is Android, anyway?

At the most basic level, Android is an operating system for touchscreen smartphones — it’s the software engine that drives all the menus, windows, home screens and internal operations of any Android-powered smartphone, the same way that iOS powers the iPhone and the BlackBerry OS runs BlackBerry handsets.

Android was developed by Google and first announced in 2007, with the very first Android-based phone — the T-Mobile G1 — arriving in fall 2008. (Nope, not that long ago.)

2. What’s so special about Android?

Unlike the proprietary iPhone operating system (now known as 'iOS,'), which is under the complete control of Apple — and the same goes for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS or Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform — Google released Android as an open-source OS under the auspices of the Open Handset Alliance, leaving phone manufacturers (relatively) free to tweak Android as they see fit for a given handset.

That’s one thing that’s special about Android. Another thing is that it just happens to be a really good OS, the first one in the post-iPhone wireless era to really give Apple a run for its money. Android may not be as sleek or polished as iOS (that’s my humble opinion, at least), but it’s fast and powerful, with an intuitive user interface that’s packed with options and flexibility. It’s also being constantly improved courtesy of the big brains at Google, making the Android experience sleeker by the day.


- Sent using Google Toolbar"