What is Android?

It’s the new operating system for mobile phones, funded by Google and set to revolutionise the phone industry.

Heard the same thing about the iPhone a few months ago? Well, let it be known that this operating system is a serious contender for best phone OS available.

What is Android?

- This exciting new mobile-phone software wasn’t created by Google and isn’t owned by it, though its development was largely funded by Google via a body known as the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). This loose confederation of tech firms includes handset makers, mobile-phone networks and Google.

- The OHA allows phone makers to run Android on a suitable handset, without charge. Several have signed up, including Samsung, LG and Motorola. T-Mobile is the first UK-based mobile network to join. Others may soon follow.

- Android is less demanding of a phone’s hardware than traditional smartphone software such as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and runs quickly, making its rivals seem sluggish by comparison.

- As Android is open source, anyone can create programs for it. These are available to download to the phone from the online Android Market. Many are free; others must be paid for via Google’s payment. system. Innovative new programs include ShopSavvy, whereby you scan a product’s barcode with the phone’s camera and it checks for the best online price, then shows you the nearest store on a map.

- Android’s open-source approach also means that a handset maker or mobile network could hobble its version of the software by removing features such as a phone’s ability to make free calls over the internet.

- As the software is self-policed by an online community of fans, Android raises security concerns. That said, this already works well for Linux, the computer-based operating system upon which it is based, and the Firefox web browser.

- Despite Android’s multimedia pretensions, it cannot yet play videos in either Apple’s QuickTime or Adobe’s Flash format – both popular on websites. Google has at least fixed this problem for fans of YouTube, which uses Flash.