24/06/2025, 12:05 All About Mobile Operating Systems A Complete Overview.

All About Mobile Operating Systems A

Complete Overview.
By Kelvin smith - March 5, 2022

Now a day everyone has their own mobile device and personal computer which
has an operating system installed on it. Whether it’s a laptop or desktop
computer, smartphone tablet or smartwatch OS play an important role in
controlling the devices internal hardware. Here in this post, we discuss about
the mobile operating system, different types of mobile operating system
with its popularity how it works and more. So stick with us and read the
complete article to get a complete overview of mobile operating systems.

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What Is a Mobile Operating System?

A mobile operating system is basically software that allows smartphones,

tablets, and other devices to run applications and programs. A mobile OS
typically starts up when a device powers on (by long-pressing the power
button), presenting a screen with icons or tiles that present information and
provide application access, this whole overview of the application and
adapting/swiping/ on the screen can be said as a mobile operating system.

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History of Mobile Operating System

1973–1993 – Mobile phones use embedded systems (An embedded

system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor,
computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a
dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system.) to
control operation.

1993–1999
1993 April – PenPoint OS by GO Corporation becomes available on the
AT&T EO Personal Communicator.

1994, March – Magic Cap OS by General Magic was first introduced on

the Sony Magic Link PDA.

1996, August – Nokia releases the Nokia 9000 Communicator running an

integrated system based on the PEN/GEOS 3.0 OS from Geoworks.

1997 – EPOC32 first appeared on the Psion Series 5 PDA. Release 6 of

EPOC32 will later be renamed to Symbian OS.

1999, June – Qualcomm’s pdQ became the first smartphone with Palm
OS.

2001, June – Nokia’s Symbian Series 80 platform was first released on the
Nokia 9210 Communicator. This is the first phone running an OS branded as
Symbian, and the first phone using that OS that allows user installation of
additional software. September – Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment
for Wireless (BREW) platform on their REX real-time operating system
(RTOS) is first released on the Kyocera QCP-3035.

2002, Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for

the development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile
devices used in blackberry.

In June 2002 Nokia’s Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform is released with the
Nokia 7650, Nokia’s first phone with a camera and Multimedia Messaging
Service on a mobile operating system

In 2003, Motorola introduced the first linux based cell phone Motorola A760
based on Linux MontaVista distribution.

2005, May – Microsoft announces Windows Mobile 5.0. November – Nokia

introduces Maemo OS

2007, January – Apple’s iPhone with iOS was released, a real game-
changer.

2008 July Apple releases iPhone OS 2 

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In the same year that is 2008 October – OHA released Android (based on
Linux kernel) 1.0 with the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) as the first Android
phone, another game changer in the mobile operating system Market.

February 2010, Samsung introduced the Bada OS and showed the first
Bada smartphone, the Samsung S8500. It’s later released in May 2010.

In April 2010, Apple released the iPad (first generation) with iPhone OS 3.2.
This is the first version of the mobile Operating System to support tablet
computers.

2013, January – BlackBerry releases their new operating system for

smartphones, BlackBerry 10, with their Q10 and Z10 smartphones.
BlackBerry 10 is not backward compatible with the BlackBerry OS used on
their previous smartphones.

In February 2018, Samsung released Samsung Experience 9.0 based on

Android “Oreo” 8.0 globally to Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. In May Huawei
released LiteOS version 2.1. In November, Samsung announced the One UI
as the latest version of the Samsung Experience UI.

Types Of Mobile Operating Systems

When you purchase a smartphone the manufacturer of that particular

smartphone brand has already chosen the operating system for that specific
device. Although, you have to learn more about the mobile operating system
before you purchase a smartphone/tab/device to ensure compatibility and
support for the mobile applications you want to use. So what are the types of
mobile operating systems?

Android Operating System (OS) (GOOGLE INC. )

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 November 2007, with
the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in
September 2008. Updates and new versions of the Android mobile operating
system have been developed under “dessert-inspired” version names
(Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, KitKat, Oreo, etc.)

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iPhone OS / iOS (Apple Inc.)

iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed
by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware(iPhone, iPad, other Apple products).
It is the world’s second-most widely installed mobile operating system, after
Android. It is the basis for three other operating systems made by Apple:
iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS. It is proprietary software, although some parts of
it are open source under the Apple Public Source License and other licenses.

Bada (Samsung Electronics)

Bada is a discontinued operating system for mobile devices such as

smartphones and tablet computers. It was developed by Samsung Electronics.
Its name is derived as bada, meaning “ocean” or “sea” in Korean. It ranges
from mid-to-high-end smartphones. The Samsung Wave was the first
smartphone to use this mobile OS. Bada provides mobile features such as
multipoint-touch, 3D graphics and application downloads and installation.

Blackberry OS (Research In Motion)

BlackBerry Operating System is a proprietary mobile operating system

developed by Canadian company BlackBerry Limited for its BlackBerry line of
smartphone handheld devices. The operating system provides multitasking
and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by BlackBerry
for use in its handhelds, particularly the trackwheel, trackball, and most
recently, the trackpad and touchscreen.

Palm OS (Garnet OS)

Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) is a discontinued mobile operating system

initially developed by Palm, Inc. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a
touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic
applications for personal information management. Later versions of the OS
have been extended to support smartphones.

Symbian OS (Nokia)

Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing

platform designed for smartphones. Symbian was used by many major mobile
phone brands, like Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and above all by Nokia.
It was also prevalent in Japan by brands including Fujitsu, Sharp and
Mitsubishi. As a pioneer that established the smartphone industry, it was the
most popular smartphone OS on a worldwide average until the end of 2010;
afterward, it was overtaken as we all know by Android And iOS. 
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Windows Mobile (Windows Phone)

Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems

developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design
language. Unlike Windows Mobile, it was primarily aimed at the consumer
market rather than the enterprise market. Although in front of android and iOS
it couldn’t stand up and was discontinued.

Operating System based on Android Open Source Project (AOSP)

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Colour OS developed by OPPO Electronics Corp. As of 2016, OPPO officially

releases ColorOS with every OPPO and Realme device.

EMUI developed by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its sub-brand Honor.
EMUI is preinstalled on most Huawei and Honor products. While it was
based on the open source Android operating system, it consists of closed
source and proprietary software.

Fire OS developed by Amazon, Fire OS is an Android-based mobile

operating system produced by Amazon for its Fire range of tablets, Echo
and more.

GrapheneOS, formerly named Android Hardening, is a variant of Android

that runs on Pixel 2 or Pixel 3 hardware.

HTC Sense, developed for htc hardware like smartphones and more. The
first device with Sense, the HTC Hero, was released in 2009.

iQOO UI is a custom user interface that is based on Vivo Funtouch OS,

which itself is based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). The
overall UI mostly resembles its predecessor, however with their own
customized UI on top of the Funtouch OS.

MiFavor, was the custom Android UI that was developed by ZTE for their
smartphone that is running the Android platform.

MIUI, Mi User Interface (MIUI), developed by the Chinese electronic

company Xiaomi Inc., is a mobile operating system used in Xiaomi products
like smartphones and more.

One UI, formerly called TouchWiz and Samsung Experience is a front-end

touch interface developed by Samsung Electronics In 2008 with partners,
featuring a full touch user interface.

Oxygen OS, is developed by OnePlus to replace Cyanogen OS on OnePlus

devices such as the OnePlus One, and it is preinstalled on the OnePlus 2,
and further.

Pixel UI was developed by Google, unlike the Nexus phones, where Google
shipped with the “stock” Android, the UI that came with the first generation
Pixel phones were slightly modified as compared to the “stock” Android. As
part of the Google Pixel software, the Pixel UI and its home launcher are
closed source and proprietary, thus it is only available on the Pixel family
devices.

Realme UI is a mobile operating system developed by Realme which is

based on OPPO ColorOS, which was based on AOSP.

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Sony Xperia UI (formerly known as Sony Ericsson Timescape UI) was the
front-end UI that was developed by Sony Mobile In 2010 for their Sony
Xperia series that is running on the Android platform.

ZenUI is an interface developed by ASUS with partners, featuring a full

touch user interface. ZenUI is used by Asus for its Android phones and
tablet computers and is not available for licensing by external parties.

The function of the Mobile Operating system

The main function of mobile operating systems is to allow smartphones,

tablets, PDAs and other handheld devices to run applications and programs.
An operating system has main functions to manage the Smartphone Internal
resources, such as the processor, memory, number of applications provided
and much more, to establish a user interface, and to execute and provide
services for applications software. Mobile operating systems are based on
open (Android) or closed source (iOS). Depending upon the sources, security
and other things can be defined.

Popular Mobile OS

Here are some of the most popular mobile operating systems. Android stands
at the top spot with 72% of the market share, followed by iOS 26.40% of the
total Market share, 0.8% Owned by others. Source: Statista

Android OS (Google)

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

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Android mobile OS is an open source mobile operating system powered by

Linux Kernel developed by Google. It’s majorly programmed by C, C++ and
Java and is designed primarily and specifically for touchscreen mobile devices
like smartphones and tablets. By Far it is the dominant mobile operating
system in the market. Android OS is customizable as it is an Opensource, it
has Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Some of the advantages of Android
OS are Flexible UI, common in most of mobile phones, Incomparable Apps in
terms of sheer volume, High-customizing capability

* Wide range of devices, highly convenient. Disadvantages are, some Android

devices have a history of delayed updates and it is less secure compared to
iOS.

iPhone OS/ iOS (Apple)

Photo by David Grandmougin on Unsplash

iOS is a great mobile operating system developed by Apple inc. It is so far the
most advanced mobile OS in the world and currently the strongest rival
against Android in the mobile OS section. Coded in Objective-C, this mobile OS
is completely closed-source and is exclusively designed for Apple products
such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, etc. The advantages of owning iOS is
Beautiful UI, Great quality of apps with good security, Regular version
updates, secured smartphone. Disadvantages include, Closed-source i.e, can’t
be customized or limited Customizability, not a cost-friendly device as
compared to Android devices.

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