As the title says Android is a platform that include operation system,middleware and also application programming interface(api) which is create by Google.It is a solution for developers to create rich mobile applications easily with the power and easiness of Java programming language .Why it is a solution cause mobile systems like symbian and java midlets didnt gave so much flexibility that Android platform gave to developers.
By using Symbian platform you can write applications that access the hardware of the device but it require so much complex c/c++ code.This is kind of tiresome for developers using symbian platform.After symbian platform Java MIDlets have evolved and MIDlets fix the difficult hardware access in mobile platforms by abstracting the underlying hardware platform and giving developers ability to create applications that run on wide variety of platforms that support java run time.Cost of this platform independence is restricted access to hardware.Cause native and third party application doesnt have the same priority.Third party application recieve restricted access to hardware platform.This cant be good for the third party application especially developers who create application for that platform.And
What makes Google Android Different?
Developers can use Java to create applications for the Android platform.This is a big advantage cause Java accepted by developers all over the world and has great support and most important it is open source like Android platform itself.But what known wrong here that you can not use Java classes directly and write application for the Android platform you have to make your classes and strcutre of your application specific to Android platform.
Antoher difference is that all applications at Android platform whether its a native application or third party they have the same priority.This gives huge flexibility to third party applications , as other platforms do opposite.They gave restricted access to third party application and also restricted resource.
Android platform built on linux kernel and it is a open source platform.You can even write low level code for platform.Also Android is a member of Open Mobile Alliance and Linux Phone Standarts Forum(LiPS).There is wrong belief that Android platform is fully open source, well it is not true right now but it is expected to be fully open source.
At this stage, not all of the Android stack has been released as open source, although this is expected to happen by the time phones are released to market. It’s also worth noting that the applications you develop for Android do not have to be open source.
And also your application doesnt have to be open source , you can make money from it, it is a developers choice to make it open source or not.There is a market that has the same functionality like Apple’s app strore named Android market.You can look at android applications from Android Market.
As a general belief it is not a competitor to Apples İphone.Cause iphone is fully hardware and software platform but Android only offers a general software stack that can run on every hardware platform that meet Android requirements.Unlike Apple’s iphone there is not one Android Mobile Phone.You can check latest Android supported mobile phones here.
Android also has a rich api and great documentation.Also you can download latest SDK from here.What makes Android so attractive is that its open philosophy,you can create or even change applications like you imagine them.
