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A newbie's guide to Android!

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Ever thought about going deep and knowing Android inside out? Here's the right place...

Android was initially developed by Android Inc. in California which Google bought in 2005. The name comes from a cute little robot in Star Wars named Android.

Android is Google's mobile firmware platform that powers up many mobile devices and has been taking over iPhone sales these days. Android is basically a fragmented yet sort-of open source mobile platform built on Linux. It is written in 3 languages -- XML, Java and C++.

Android didn't receive a warm welcome at first, but Google finally made it and now Android is one of the successful operating systems mobile industry has ever witnessed.

Why is Android different?

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

For a variety of reasons.

If everyone is humming about Android, then there has to be something special about the stuff, isn't it? Android is the one comparable to the ruling king iOS (the one that powers iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch). Though we won't call Android a total open source platform but yet it does let you enjoy the openness you demand on a mobile platform unlike iOS which is closed and runs strictly according to Steve Jobs.

Android, unlike iOS, lets you install third party applications and games if you want to and the Android Market (although just 1,00,000 apps strong right now compared to AppStore's 2,50,000 apps) has some really decent set of applications that are useful.

And if iOS is restricted to just Jobs' masterpiece iPhone, you can pick any phone with Android OS in it! Literally many! To name a few are HTC, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Dell and many more.

Then what's the basic difference in these phones, you may ask! It's simple if they are sharing the same firmware release they all function same with the only difference in hardware!

HTC Legend and Samsung Galaxy i5700 -- both run on Android 2.1, but the former is faster than the latter. Reason? HTC Legend has bigger RAM. So, if your only need is Android and you are ready to pick any Android phone, you better check out the hardware too.

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1. Multitasking

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

As already said, when on an Android device you get full multitasking. That is, you can listen to music, talk to a friend, message another friend together while your desired website is being loaded in the background.

This is the power of multitasking and Android handles it pretty well.

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2. Google Sync

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

This one's to sync all. Google Calendar, Gmail and Picasa albums to your phone.

It's again a background process and you won't be bugged when it's running.

3. Gmail and Mail App

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Once you get hooked up to UI and features Android Gmail and Mail App provides you, it's the toughest to switch to any other OS.

Gmail is obviously synced up and email app supports other emails based on IMAP, POP3 or Exchange Settings.

4. Notification Bar

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Android packs a notification bar at the top which can be dragged down to see what's new. So, bid goodbye to the days of pop-up notifications!

5. Android Market

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Though pretty small as compared to iOS's AppStore, with over 1,00,000 apps, Android Market is just no random application market. You can pick almost everything you want... just anything!

6. Facebook and Twitter Sync

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

This is one fantastic feature that Android boasts. You just have to add your Facebook and Twitter account and it will automatically match your existing contacts with your Facebook friends and Tweeps.

You can view their status update from both the services in their contact itself.

7. Export/Import contacts from SD card

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

This one is really handy. You never lose your contact even if you break your phone or it just gets crashed. The export feature saves all your contact in one VCF file in your SD card and import just extracts contact from VCF to phone.

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8. Google Maps

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Every Android phone has a GPS chip inside and A-GPS is always there in case GPS connectivity is absent. It's a pretty strong Online Map Navigation Application.

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9. Places

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

This app works with your GPS and data connection and finds places near your location. You can easily find restaurants, bars, ATMs, hotels etc. easily with this.

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10. Rooting

Last updated on: December 31, 2010 18:21 IST

Android allows rooting of devices so that people can gain Superuser Access to their devices and unlock features that aren't available by default. It also allows installing any custom ROM to your device.

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