What is an Android smartphone? Do I need one?

So what is an Android phone, and what can you do with it?  Why should you care, and is it something you should have?

Before I talk in more detail about Android phones, I'm going to offer up another prediction.  Android phones will command a greater market share than Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry etc.  and this will happen before Christmas 2011.  It's a bold prediction perhaps, but the conclusion is inevitable and based on the current take up of the mobile phone operating system, you may find this prediction pretty accurate.  If I were a gambling man I'd certainly bet on this!

OK, so what is an Android exactly?  Android is an operating system for mobile phones.  It competes in the same market as Apples iPhone operating system, good old Symbian OS and Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.  Just going to interject with a random thought here.  I vaguely remember my first mobile phone with a camera, one Nokia 7650.  I gained a reputation for having the latest camera phone and the usual party piece was to take a snap whilst down the pub with friends and email it.  How easily impressed were we - things have moved along quite a bit since those days.  Practically any Android phone on the market today will make the old Nokia 7650 running Symbian look like a child's toy.

Android is different because it makes it possible to things on a mobile phone that you would normally do on your desktop PC or laptop.  Tasks such as email, browsing the web, chatting online, planning journeys and even editing photos are straight forward and with the size of modern displays plus a slick user interface makes the whole experience rather pleasant. 

I must point out here that Android isn't the first mobile operating system to bring forth these benefits, because we have of course had the iPhone and Blackberry to look to for inspiration.

Many fans of the iPhone view Android as a young upstart and perhaps a thorn in the side of their beloved, mighty Apple.  However, it should be considered that the world would be a less interesting place if there were no Toyotas, BMWs or Mercedes and we were all stuck with a Model T Ford.  Android has a bunch of similar capabilities to the iPhone and yet is a breed apart.  The same to can be said about the latest iPhone.  At the end of the day though modern phones (or smartphones) whether they be Android, iPhone, Windows or whatever are a revolution when compared with the phones of a few years ago.

Here's a brief summary of the key features you'll find on most Android phones (or smartphones as they are often called):

Apps - Applications to those of us who don't like shortening words for the sake of it.  Quite simply at the time of writing there are 100,000 applications (or apps) on the Android Market and this number is growing every day. Apps are basically what make smartphones useful.

GMail - Android is quite tightly integrated with Google services and if you use GMail you'll be right at home with android.

Google Talk - A popular instant messaging service from Google.  I use this a lot these days and if you're a GMail user you'll already be familiar with it.

GPS - Android is location aware (providing your phone has it and most do these days).  That location information is available to many Apps such as maps and navigation (see below).

Google Maps - How did we get by before Google maps?   On you're phone they'll include layers such as traffic information, Buzz and much more.  You can even look up walking directions from you're current location to you're favourite pub.  Drop down into Google Street View and check out your destination so you'll recognise it when you get there.

Navigation - Free satellite navigation from Google which is quite simply amazing.  My Milestone came with Motonav but I use Google's navigation these days, mainly because it's free but it also just does the job.  I've nicknamed her Annie by the way!

Voice Search - Hold the search button and up pops a microphone.  Tell you're handset what you're looking for and the chances are Google will find it.  Accuracy is improving and if you speak slowly and clearly separating each word it should work just fine.

Bar Codes and QR codes - You're Android phone can scan these and search for products or bring up a particular web page.  What's a QR code?  It's one of those square speckled things that are sprouting up everywhere.  I was in a Wetherspoon pub at the weekend and the beer tasting notes were advertised as being online quickly accessible using the QR code.  Who wants to sit and type in a web address?

YouTube - You're handset may or may not come with this installed, alternatively you can grab it from the Android Market for free.

Translation - The day of the universal translator has arrived (almost).  Again, if this isn't already there grab it from the Market.  There are apps from Google and third parties for this.  You can quite literally talk to you're phone and have it translate whatever you say into Spanish for example and then speak to someone.  Quite simply amazing.  There are a few rough edges though.  It doesn't always understand you and sometimes the translation isn't quite right.  It's improving all the time though and will probably be an invaluable app for travellers.

There's more to Android

As mentioned above you can download applications from the Android Market to do a wide range of things.  Have a look at the Android Market online and see what's available.  There are the usual games and communication tools, IRC, ICQ, Facebook and lots of instant messaging apps.  There are also a lot of novelty apps such as a heart rate monitor, a realistic gas lighter simulator, a light sabre etc.  Quite simply, if you can imagine it you'll probably find it on the Android Market and if it's not there, maybe you should have a go with Google's App Inventor.

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