The Android Journey

The immensely growing popularity of applications and games across mobile platforms has led to the emergence of application stores for end users and platform specific Software Development Kits (SDKs) for developers. Now, although the comparison between platforms (Android, Blackberry, iOS, Symbian, Windows etc) is an endless debate, we deem it fit for you and only you to experience them and make your choice.

Let’s get to the basics of how Android phones are different than those old Nokia  Flip Phones we used in 1990’s and early 2000’s followed by Touch screen’s like Imate, O2 etc… and now Smartphone-s the variety of which is mind-boggling.

The Previous generation phones like Nokia 5110 & Nokia 3210 came with B/W screens. Pre-installed features primarily focused around making & receiving calls and texting, with a few exciting games thrown in with the package. Although there isn’t much comparison one can draw between then and now, it won’t be futile to say that they were still a huge craze back then.

Then came the era of the Smartphones like the Nokia 9000, the 02, the Imate and so on, that seemed like a revolution, as one would have thought back then. This led to the emergence of features like  Microsoft Office accessibility, , sync / backup up the Contacts & SMS and internet connectivity. Finally the phones could talk to the computer! This was an era of convergence in multiple technologies.

Who could have thought the best had not even come as yet? The expectations grew…..the user wanted their phone to do a lot more than just make and receive calls & SMS or have few files of Word & Excel handy. People wanted to transact their bank accounts, check out the latest gig in town, get the news as it comes, chat, exchange pics and opinions, and play games with friends, check out on-going discounts in stores, explore food recipes and what not.  All this not only proved convenient for the users, it also generated a new business model for the retailers. The mobile platform had to change, had to upgrade, or simply put revolutionalize!

The iPhones, the Blackberrys, the Androids and the others, rose up to this. Sticking to the theme of our blog, henceforth, we will focus on the Android.

So, here it goes.  Android is a base platform of Google on your phone that allows you to make your device do amazing things, that wouldn’t have been possible a decade ago. Metaphorically speaking, if you are a housewife and plan to cook your Sunday pot-roast, , the Android environment on your phone  gives you the kitchen, the gas stove, the refrigerator, the oven, the microwave and some key ingredients that would help you get the compliments of your guests.  Now consider hosting a party for your elite guests. You may not have everything in the kitchen to feel proud at the end of the event. Wouldn’t you need to go out to the market and shop? After all, you are known for being a great host, aren’t you! And hence, comes the market for your phone…..Google Play.

Let’s look at some of the basic features you find in every phone available out there today. The phone is equipped with a processor, which is the brain and does all the processing. Sticking to our kitchen analogy, it’s like the gas burner. The more the burners you have, the more the number of dishes you can cook simultaneously. Then there is the internal memory, which stores temporary action commands for your processor to act upon. Sounds like the recipe from your cook book, doesn’t it? Then there is the external memory, an add-on you can shop for, that gives you a safe storage for your ingredients,  just like your refrigerator! Then comes the modem that allows you to connect to internet, analogous to your kitchen phone, which lets you call up the local grocer to place an order for the missing ingredients. The Global Positioning System (GPS) feature of your phone helps applications detect your phone location, just like the caller ID helps you identify a call from your local grocer.

Additionally, there are advanced features that are not uncommon to be found on your Android device. Examples include the Gyro-Sensor which measures the tilt of your device (analogous to the spirit-level you use in the kitchen) and the Digital Compass (which is similar to your magnetic compass, for the lack of a kitchen example). We will explore these features and many more in greater details in the coming blogs.

With mobile manufacturers starting to pack their devices with extra processing and storage capacity and rapid developments happening within the Android operating platform, the result could only have been the opening of a world of possibilities. The end user was now more dependent on their mobile phone than ever before.  Parallelly, a new breed of techies was emerging….the Mobile Application Developers. Google complemented these transformations by hosting an open Android Platform which could be leveraged by the developers to transform their ideas into reality.  Off late, Android Platform programming has become one of the most sought after jobs in the world. Google’s Android Software Development Kit (the SDK), a platform to develop new applications, has propelled the mobile application development industry to new heights. Google Play, the official Google Application Store provides the developers a podium to upload free / paid applications that can be downloaded by millions and billions across the globe.

Android has a growing selection of third party applications, which can be acquired by users either through an app store such as Google Play or the Amazon Appstore, or by downloading and installing the application's APK file from a third-party site. The Play Store application allows users to browse, download and update apps published by Google and third-party developers, and is pre-installed on devices that comply with Google's compatibility requirements. The app filters the list of available applications to those that are compatible with the user's device, and developers may restrict their applications to particular carriers or countries for business reasons. As of September 2012, there were more than 675,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Play Store was 25 billion as per Wiki.

This brings us to the conclusion of our second article. As we progress through time, it is imperative that we understand what is important to you, what makes you curious and what would you want to see in the future. Join us in exploring the Android world together. We hope to make this journey knowledgeable and fun for all, and seek your constant feedback on what you want the next blog post to be related to.

Tomorrow we are going to discuss on what to expect when you switch on your Android Phone the first time and how to configure it.

Stay Tuned…..!