What makes the android based phones a hot gadget?

In a competitive world as it is today, to launch a new technology and to give a run for its money amongst the giants is a difficult task. However, this was easy for Android based mobile phones as they have just taken the market by a storm with their user friendly features.

Most of us have already started using Android phones or thinking to go for it already, but do we know what the history of android operating system is? Where did it all began and how?

Google acquired Android inc. in 2005 and made Android inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Google Inc. The founders and key staff including Andy Rubin, Rich miner and Chris White stayed at the company after the acquisition. In the year 2007 Google filed several patent applications in the field of mobile technology.

On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a group of several companies which include Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments unveiled itself. The goal of the Open Handset Alliance was to develop open standards for mobile devices. On the same day, the Open Handset Alliance also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6.

Over a period of time everyone requires a change and so did Androids. Androids have had various changes to the base operating system usually added new features and bug fixes. Every new version of the Androids is named after a dessert. Some of the most popular ones are Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb and the upcoming Ice cream sandwich.

Some of the current features and specifications that are listed below are the key which makes these androids more powerful.

Features	Specifications
Handset layouts	The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts.
Storage	SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes
Connectivity	Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (no connections through Proxy server and no Ad hoc wireless network), LTE, NFC and WiMAX.
Messaging	SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text messaging and now Android Cloud To Device Messaging Framework(C2DM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging service.
Multiple language support	Android supports multiple human languages. The number of languages more than doubled for the platform 2.3 Gingerbread. Android lacks font rendering of several languages even after official announcements of added support (e.g. Hindi).
Web browser	The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. The browser scores a 93/100 on the Acid3 Test.
Java support	While most Android applications are written in Java, there is no Java Virtual Machine in the platform and Java byte code is not executed. Java classes are compiled into Dalvik executables and run on Dalvik, a specialized virtual machine designed specifically for Android and optimized for battery-powered mobile devices with limited memory and CPU. J2ME support can be provided via third-party applications.
Media support	Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: WebM, 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), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF (though earlier versions do not support animated GIFs), BMP.
Streaming media support	RTP/RTSP streaming (3GPP PSS, ISMA), HTML progressive download (HTML5 <video> tag). Adobe Flash Streaming (RTMP) and HTTP Dynamic Streaming are supported by the Flash plugin.Apple HTTP Live Streaming is supported by RealPlayer for Mobile, and by the operating system in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Microsoft Smooth Streaming is planned to be supported through the awaited port of Silverlight plugin to Android.
Additional hardware support	Android can use video/still cameras, touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, dedicated gaming controls, proximity and pressure sensors, thermometers, accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.
Multi-touch	Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was originally disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple's patents on touch-screen technology at the time). Google has since released an update for the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively.
Bluetooth	Supports A2DP, AVRCP, sending files (OPP), accessing the phone book (PBAP), voice dialing and sending contacts between phones. Keyboard, mouse and joystick (HID) support is available through manufacturer customizations and third-party applications. Full HID support is planned for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
Video calling	Android does not support native video calling, but some handsets have a customized version of the operating system that supports it, either via the UMTS network (like the Samsung Galaxy S) or over IP. Video calling through Google Talk is available in Android 2.3.4 and later.
Multitasking	Multitasking of applications is available.
Voice based features	Google search through voice has been available since initial release. Voice actions for calling, texting, navigation, etc. are supported on Android 2.2 onwards.
Tethering	Android supports tethering, which allows a phone to be used as a wireless/wired hotspot. Before Android 2.2 this was supported by third-party applications or manufacturer customizations.
Screen capture	Android does not support screenshot capture as of 2011. This is supported by manufacturer and third-party customizations.

Android operating systems are not only used in mobiles but they are also now widely used for netbooks, tablets, Google devices and other devices. Did you know HTC Dream was the first phone to run Android as operating system and since then there has not been looking back for Android Operating system.

Some statistics for those who love to evaluate by numbers, the market share worldwide for the android phone was 2.8% and in Q4 of 2010 this had grown to 33% and became the top – selling smart phone platform. In May 2010, android’s first quarter U.S. Sales surpassed that of the rival iPhone platform. According to a report by the NPD group, Android achieved 25% smart phone sales in the US market, up 8% from the December quarter. In Q4 2010 Android had 59% of the total installed user base of Apple's iOS in the U.S. and 46% of the total installed user base of iOS in Europe.

As of June 2011, Google said that 550,000 new Android devices were being activated every day—up from 400,000 per day two months earlier in May 2011 and more than 100 million devices have been activated. Android hit 300,000 activations per day back in December 2010. In July 14, 2011 550,000 Android devices are now activated by Google each day with growth 4.4 percent per week.

Android based gadgets are the latest buzz in the world of technology. I’m planning one for myself...and you?

Cheers....TRAK!