But just what is Android, you may be asking – if you’ve been living under a technology rock! Android is the system that runs many of the popular phones now being sold all around Kathmandu. To put that into perspective: the iPhone runs on iOS, Blackberries on Blackberry6, and Nokia uses the Symbian operating system.
A phone operating system is much like a computer operating system (think Windows XP or Linux), and is ultimately what gives you the features and functions that you may already take for granted in a smartphone, like having a music player, a camera roll, a calendar and to-do list, and a web browser for surfing the web while on the go. What operating system that you have in your phone determines just what you can do, while all of today’s phone operating systems do the basics, like provide a way to play games, consume media, and do just about anything besides making a simple phone call.
What makes Android special is, it was developed not by a phone manufacturer but by a world leader in online applications and search technology: Google. This was Google’s first foray into operating systems, and it appears that with the eminent death of Google Chrome (an OS designed for small laptops) that it may be their best effort – and one not easily forgotten.
Android is a fantastic OS for today’s generation of smartphones: lightweight, feature-rich, and extensible. Yet this openness in regards to the phone manufacturer’s customizations is causing problems in the marketplace. For example, you may buy a phone using Android version 1.6, and then find out that your phone won’t support the latest version, which at the time of going to press, is 2.2. But this is mostly a problem for techno geeks: if you’re happy with your phone, then why worry?
The few differences between an iPhone and an Android phone are becoming slimmer everyday. For example, there are now over 200,000 applications in the Android Store, which is much like Apple’s App Store for iPhones, only Apple’s store is larger in scale and more expensive to use. The Android Store has not been able to sell phone apps like Apple has done to such mega success, so most Android apps are free, and sponsored by in-app advertising.
But that should not be a problem for Nepal’s phone-app users, as we are more likely than not to be on a tight budget or without an international credit card and access to the iTunes store anyway.
As an occasional Android user and an iPhone owner, I find little difference between the two operating systems when it comes right down to it; both do the same cool things, and very well. But as a dedicated Apple computer user, I find the iPhone fits into my workflow perfectly, and I doubt I could be as productive using an Android phone full time. For PC users, my guess is that an Android phone would be easier for perhaps the same reason.
But with over 300,000 Asian Android phone activations per day, you would be in good company if you decide that Android is for you, and if contemplating a purchase in early 2011, the most popular models being sold right now are the HTC G-series and Nexus One, and the Nexus S and Galaxy S made by Samsung.
As you may have heard, the Android operating system is also being used in a bucketful of new tablets now out – with tons more to follow in 2011. Following Apple’s lead, Google has positioned their phone OS to also work on tablets that function just like the iPad, sans the fruit logo. So if you have and like an Android phone today, you’re going to love what’s coming out tomorrow, as Android tablets will have big screens and fast graphics processors, and will be able to run your favourite phone apps as well.
Jiggy Gaton is quirky kinda expat happily living in the Kathmandu Valley with Nepali family, friends and a very large dog – and can be reached on his iPhone only when not playing Angry Birds.
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