Introduction

Android is an operating system and programming platform developed by Google for

mobile phones and other mobile devices, such as tablets. It can run on many different devices
from many different manufacturers. Android includes a software development kit (SDK) that
helps you write original code and assemble software modules to create apps for Android users.
Android also provides a marketplace to distribute apps. Altogether, Android represents
an ecosystem for mobile apps.
If you're wondering why there are so many choices, it may help to understand what
Android is. Technically, it's an operating system for smartphones and tablets. Many different
companies make devices that are powered by Android, including Samsung, HTC, LG, and other
lesser-known brands. That's why every Android device is different—each manufacturer likes to
put its own spin on it.

1. Android (operating system)

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux
kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such
as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as
the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google. It was unveiled in 2007,
with the first commercial Android device launched in September 2008.

It is free and open source software; its source code is known as Android Open Source
Project (AOSP) which is primarily licensed under the Apache License. However most Android
devices ship with additional proprietary software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile
Services (GMS) which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital
distribution platform Google Play and associated Google Play Services development platform.
About 70 percent of Android smartphones run Google's ecosystem; competing Android
ecosystems and forks include Fire OS (developed by Amazon) or LineageOS. However the
"Android" name and logo are trademarks of Google which impose standards to restrict
"uncertified" devices outside their ecosystem to use Android branding.

The source code has been used to develop variants of Android on a range of other
electronics, such as game consoles, digital cameras, PCs and others, each with a specialized
user interface. Some well known derivatives include Android TV for televisions and Wear
OS for wearables, both developed by Google. Software packages on Android, which use
the APK format, are generally distributed through proprietary application stores like Google
Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store, or open source platforms like Aptoide or F-Droid.

Android has been the best-selling OS worldwide on smartphones since 2011 and on
tablets since 2013. As of May 2017, it has over two billion monthly active users, the
largest installed base of any operating system, and as of March 2020, the Google Play Store
features over 2.9 million apps. The current stable version is Android 10, released on September
3, 2019.

2. History
Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto,
California, in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich
Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin
described the Android project as "tremendous
potential in developing smarter mobile devices
that are more aware of its owner's location and
preferences". The early intentions of the company
were to develop an advanced operating system
for digital cameras, and this was the basis of its
pitch to investors in April 2004. The company then decided that the market for cameras was not
large enough for its goals, and by five months later it had diverted its efforts and was pitching
Android as a handset operating system that would rival Symbian and Microsoft Windows
Mobile.
 Rubin had difficulty attracting investors early on, and Android was facing eviction from
its office space. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an
envelope, and shortly thereafter wired an undisclosed amount as seed funding. Perlman refused
a stake in the company, and has stated "I did it because I believed in the thing, and I wanted to
help Andy."

In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million. Its key employees,

including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was
known about the secretive Android at the time, with the company having provided few details
other than that it was making software for mobile phones. At Google, the team led by Rubin
developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the
platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable
system. Google had "lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and
signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation".

Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market

continued to build through December 2006. An early prototype had a close resemblance to
a BlackBerry phone, with no touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard, but the arrival of
2007's Apple iPhone meant that Android "had to go back to the drawing board". Google later
changed its Android specification documents to state that "Touchscreens will be supported",
although "the Product was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an
assumption, therefore a touchscreen cannot completely replace physical buttons". By 2008,
both Nokia and BlackBerry announced touch-based smartphones to rival the iPhone 3G, and
Android's focus eventually switched to just touchscreens. The first commercially available
smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on
September 23, 2008.

HTC Dream or T-Mobile G1, the first commercially

released device running Android (2008)

 On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technology
companies including Google, device manufacturers such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung,
wireless carriers such as Sprint and T-Mobile, and chipset makers such as Qualcomm and Texas
Instruments, unveiled itself, with a goal to develop "the first truly open and comprehensive
platform for mobile devices". Within a year, the Open Handset Alliance faced two other open
source competitors, the Symbian Foundation and the LiMo Foundation, the latter also
developing a Linux-based mobile operating system like Google. In September
2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed
several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.

Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have incrementally improved the
operating system, adding new features and fixing bugs in previous releases. Each major release
is named in alphabetical order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions
being called "Cupcake", "Donut", "Eclair", and "Froyo", in that order. During its announcement
of Android KitKat in 2013, Google explained that "Since these devices make our lives so sweet,
each Android version is named after a dessert", although a Google spokesperson told CNN in an
interview that "It's kind of like an internal team thing, and we prefer to be a little bit — how
should I say — a bit inscrutable in the matter, I'll say".

In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered

with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android
versions. The series was described as having "played a pivotal role in Android's history by
introducing new software iterations and hardware standards across the board", and became
known for its "bloat-free" software with "timely ... updates". At its developer conference in
May 2013, Google announced a special version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, where, instead of
using Samsung's own Android customization, the phone ran "stock Android" and was promised
to receive new system updates fast. The device would become the start of the Google Play
edition program, and was followed by other devices, including the HTC One Google Play
edition, and Moto G Google Play edition. In 2015, Ars Technica wrote that "Earlier this week,
the last of the Google Play edition Android phones in Google's online storefront were listed as
"no longer available for sale" and that "Now they're all gone, and it looks a whole lot like the
program has wrapped up".

Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin and Hugo Barra at a 2012 press conference announcing

Google's Nexus 7 tablet

From 2008 to 2013, Hugo Barra served as product spokesperson, representing Android at

press conferences and Google I/O, Google's annual developer-focused conference. He left
Google in August 2013 to join Chinese phone maker Xiaomi. Less than six months earlier,
Google's then-CEO Larry Page announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin had moved from the
Android division to take on new projects at Google, and that Sundar Pichai would become the
new Android lead. Pichai himself would eventually switch positions, becoming the new CEO of
Google in August 2015 following the company's restructure into
the Alphabet conglomerate, making Hiroshi Lockheimer the new head of Android.

In June 2014, Google announced Android One, a set of "hardware reference models" that
would "allow [device makers] to easily create high-quality phones at low costs", designed for
consumers in developing countries. In September, Google announced the first set of Android
One phones for release in India. However, Recode reported in June 2015 that the project was "a
disappointment", citing "reluctant consumers and manufacturing partners" and "misfires from
the search company that has never quite cracked hardware". Plans to relaunch Android One
surfaced in August 2015, with Africa announced as the next location for the program a week
later. A report from The Information in January 2017 stated that Google is expanding its low-
cost Android One program into the United States, although The Verge notes that the company
will presumably not produce the actual devices itself.

Google introduced the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones in October 2016, marketed as

being the first phones made by Google, and exclusively featured certain software features, such
as the Google Assistant, before wider rollout. The Pixel phones replaced the Nexus series, with
a new generation of Pixel phones launched in October 2017.

In May 2019, the operating system became entangled in the trade war between China and the
United States involving Huawei which like many other tech firms have become dependent on
access to the Android platform. In the summer of 2019, Huawei announced it would create an
alternative operating system to Android known as Harmony OS, and have filed for intellectual
property rights across major global markets. Huawei does not currently have any plans to
replace Android in the near future, as Harmony OS is designed for internet of things devices,
rather than for smartphones.

On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Android "Q" would officially be branded as
Android 10, ending the historic practice of naming major versions after desserts. Google stated
that these names were not "inclusive" to international users (due either to the aforementioned
foods not being internationally known, or being difficult to pronounce in some languages). On
the same day, Android Police reported that Google had commissioned a statue of a giant
number "10" to be installed in the lobby of the developers' new office. Android 10 was released
on September 3, 2019 to Google Pixel phones first.

3. Applications

Many, to almost all, Android devices come with preinstalled Google apps including
Gmail, Google Maps, Google Chrome, YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies &
TV, and many more.

Applications ("apps"), which extend the functionality of devices, are written using
the Android software development kit (SDK) and, often, the Java programming language. Java
may be combined with C/C++, together with a choice of non-default runtimes that allow better
C++ support. The Go programming language is also supported, although with a limited set
of application programming interfaces (API). In May 2017, Google announced support for
Android app development in the Kotlin programming language.

The SDK includes a comprehensive set of development tools, including

a debugger, software libraries, a handset emulator based on QEMU, documentation, sample
code, and tutorials. Initially, Google's supported integrated development environment (IDE)
was Eclipse using the Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin; in December 2014, Google
released Android Studio, based on IntelliJ IDEA, as its primary IDE for Android application
development. Other development tools are available, including a native development kit (NDK)
for applications or extensions in C or C++, Google App Inventor, a visual environment for
novice programmers, and various cross platform mobile web applications frameworks. In
January 2014, Google unveiled an framework based on Apache Cordova for
porting Chrome HTML 5 web applications to Android, wrapped in a native application
shell. Additionally, Firebase was acquired by Google in 2014 that provides helpful tools for app
and web developers.

Android has a growing selection of third-party applications, which can be acquired by

users by downloading and installing the application's APK (Android application package) file,
or by downloading them using an application store program that allows users to install, update,
and remove applications from their devices. Google Play Store is the primary application store
installed on Android devices that comply with Google's compatibility requirements and license
the Google Mobile Services software. Google Play Store allows users to browse, download and
update applications published by Google and third-party developers; as of July 2013, there are
more than one million applications available for Android in Play Store. As of July 2013,
50 billion applications have been installed. Some carriers offer direct carrier billing for Google
Play application purchases, where the cost of the application is added to the user's monthly bill.
As of May 2017, there are over one billion active users a month for Gmail, Android, Chrome,
Google Play and Maps.

Due to the open nature of Android, a number of third-party application marketplaces also
exist for Android, either to provide a substitute for devices that are not allowed to ship with
Google Play Store, provide applications that cannot be offered on Google Play Store due to
policy violations, or for other reasons. Examples of these third-party stores have included
the Amazon Appstore, GetJar, and SlideMe. F-Droid, another alternative marketplace, seeks to
only provide applications that are distributed under free and open source licenses.

4. Development
 The stack of Android Open Source Project

Android is developed by Google until the latest changes and updates are ready to be
released, at which point the source code is made available to the Android Open Source Project
(AOSP), an open source initiative led by Google. The AOSP code can be found without
modification on select devices, mainly the Google Nexus and Google Pixel series of devices.
The source code is, in turn, customized by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to run on
their hardware. Android's source code does not contain the device drivers, often proprietary,
that are needed for certain hardware components. As a result, most Android devices, including
Google's own, ship with a combination of free and open source and proprietary software, with
the software required for accessing Google services falling into the latter category.

5. Update schedule
Google announces major incremental upgrades to Android on a yearly basis. The updates
can be installed on devices over-the-air. The latest major release is Android 10.

The extensive variation of hardware in Android devices has caused significant delays for
software upgrades and security patches. Each upgrade has had to be specifically tailored, a
time- and resource-consuming process. Except for devices within the Google Nexus and Pixel
brands, updates have often arrived months after the release of the new version, or not at
all. Manufacturers often prioritize their newest devices and leave old ones behind. Additional
delays can be introduced by wireless carriers who, after receiving updates from manufacturers,
further customize Android to their needs and conduct extensive testing on their networks before
sending out the upgrade. There are also situations in which upgrades are impossible due to a
manufacturer not updating necessary drivers.

The lack of after-sale support from manufacturers and carriers has been widely criticized
by consumer groups and the technology media. Some commentators have noted that the
industry has a financial incentive not to upgrade their devices, as the lack of updates for existing
devices fuels the purchase of newer ones, an attitude described as "insulting". The
Guardian complained that the method of distribution for updates is complicated only because
manufacturers and carriers have designed it that way. In 2011, Google partnered with a number
of industry players to announce an "Android Update Alliance", pledging to deliver timely
updates for every device for 18 months after its release; however, there has not been another
official word about that alliance since its announcement.

In 2012, Google began de-coupling certain aspects of the operating system (particularly
its central applications) so they could be updated through the Google Play store independently
of the OS. One of those components, Google Play Services, is a closed-source system-level
process providing APIs for Google services, installed automatically on nearly all devices
running Android 2.2 "Froyo" and higher. With these changes, Google can add new system
functions and update apps without having to distribute an upgrade to the operating system
itself. As a result, Android 4.2 and 4.3 "Jelly Bean" contained relatively fewer user-facing
changes, focusing more on minor changes and platform improvements.

HTC's then-executive Jason Mackenzie called monthly security updates "unrealistic" in

2015, and Google was trying to persuade carriers to exclude security patches from the full
testing procedures. In May 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Google was making
efforts to keep Android more up-to-date, including accelerated rates of security updates, rolling
out technological workarounds, reducing requirements for phone testing, and ranking phone
makers in an attempt to "shame" them into better behavior. As stated by Bloomberg: "As
smartphones get more capable, complex and hackable, having the latest software work closely
with the hardware is increasingly important". Hiroshi Lockheimer, the Android lead, admitted
that "It's not an ideal situation", further commenting that the lack of updates is "the weakest link
on security on Android". Wireless carriers were described in the report as the "most challenging
discussions", due to their slow approval time while testing on their networks, despite some
carriers, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corporation, already shortening their approval
times. In a further effort for persuasion, Google shared a list of top phone makers measured by
updated devices with its Android partners, and is considering making the list public. Mike
Chan, co-founder of phone maker Nextbit and former Android developer, said that "The best
way to solve this problem is a massive re-architecture of the operating system", "or Google
could invest in training manufacturers and carriers 'to be good Android citizens'".
 In May 2017, with the announcement of Android 8.0, Google introduced Project Treble,
a major re-architect of the Android OS framework designed to make it easier, faster, and less
costly for manufacturers to update devices to newer versions of Android. Project Treble
separates the vendor implementation (device-specific, lower-level software written by silicon
manufacturers) from the Android OS framework via a new "vendor interface". In Android 7.0
and earlier, no formal vendor interface exists, so device makers must update large portions of
the Android code to move a device to a newer version of the operating system. With Treble, the
new stable vendor interface provides access to the hardware-specific parts of Android, enabling
device makers to deliver new Android releases simply by updating the Android OS framework,
"without any additional work required from the silicon manufacturers."

In September 2017, Google's Project Treble team revealed that, as part of their efforts to
improve the security lifecycle of Android devices, Google had managed to get the Linux
Foundation to agree to extend the support lifecycle of the Linux Long-Term Support (LTS)
kernel branch from the 2 years that it has historically lasted to 6 years for future versions of the
LTS kernel, starting with Linux kernel 4.4.

In May 2019, with the announcement of Android 10, Google introduced Project Mainline
to simplify and expedite delivery of updates to the Android ecosystem. Project Mainline enables
updates to core OS components through the Google Play Store. As a result, important security
and performance improvements that previously needed to be part of full OS updates can be
downloaded and installed as easily as an app update.
 Conclusion

I've learned through my research that Android is a much more diverse operating system
than iOS and Windows Phone Mobile. Android has grown rapidly over the past 4 years
becoming the most used smartphone operating system in the world. It's because Android
doesn't release 1 phone from 1 company with 1 new OS every year, but countless phones from
numerous companies, adding their own twist, throughout the year, developing gradually day-
by-day. Android's ability to customize is unparalleled compared to Apple's and Microsoft's
software allowing the user to change and customize nearly every aspect of Android which most
iPhone and Windows 7 users wouldn't dream possible. I am not one to say that Android is better
or worse than one OS, but is unique and incomparable to other mobile operating systems.
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