Enter Android in the smartphone operating system titans

In the clash of the smartphone operating system titans, we take a look at what Google has brought to the table.

BRINGING IT: A Google Android figurine sits on a welcome desk at the new Google office in Toronto. - Reuters

 

FANCY having a Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, or Jellybean?

While the list above seems like a mouth-watering spread of sinful desserts, it can refer to something else in the technological world today.

For the uninitiated, those are also the names of the different update versions of the Android smartphone operating system (OS).

Before we touch on the topic of Android, let's first start with smartphones and how they have become an integral part of our lives in this day and age.

It wasn't too long ago when the sheer mention of the word 'smartphone' brought to mind an image of a busy businessman holding a personal digital assistant (PDA) phone to check and send work e-mail messages on the fly.

Aside from businessmen and those with deep pockets, it was uncommon to see an average consumer owning a smartphone. Among my peers during my time as a student, anyone who owned a smartphone was deemed to be a rich spoilt brat.

Fast forward to today, the advancements of technology has made it so much easier to own a smartphone.

What is a smartphone? By Oxford dictionary's definition, a smartphone is a mobile phone that is able to perform many of the functions of a computer, typically having a relatively large screen and an operating system capable of running general-purpose applications.

The early smartphones came into existence in the 1990s, although the early incarnations of smartphones were basically mobile phones incorporating PDA (personal digital assistant) features, and not necessarily with large screens.

Throughout the years, there have been various operating systems supporting the vast multitude of smartphones that have reached the hands of consumers. Among the operating systems that we have come to know and love are Symbian, Palm OS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Android and iOS.

As the title suggests, this column will be all about Google's Android operating system.

Meteoric rise

The first ever smartphone sold running on the Android operating system was the HTC Dream, which was released in 2008.

Since then, Android has come a long way, climbing up the ranks and capturing the biggest share of the pie in the smartphone operating system market. Aside from smartphones, the operating system is also widely used on tablet computers.

With a whole plethora of Android devices being unleashed into the market, the operating system from Google overtook long-time leaders Symbian at the end of 2010 to be the world's most widely used smartphone operating system, according to online sources.

It is growing at an estimated 1.5 million activations per day. This means that everyday, 1.5 million Android devices are powered on by consumers for the first time. Android leads the smartphone OS world, with a market share of 75% during the third quarter of 2012.

Being a product of Google, Android smartphones come readily available with a staple of Google applications (apps), such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google+ and Google Chrome browser.

Interestingly, every update version of the operating system is named after a form of dessert, and in alphabetical order. The first system version was named Donut (1.6), followed by Eclair (2.0 - 2.1), Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), Honeycomb (3.1 - 3.2), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), and Jellybean (4.1 - 4.2).

Unlike the other main operating systems in the smartphone market, Google has made its Linux-based OS open source. This means that the software can be freely distributed and modified by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and developers.

This move has successfully attracted a large community of app developers, as can be proven by the whopping 800,000 apps available for download on the Google Play store as of January.

In October 2012, the Google Play store celebrated a milestone of 25 billion app downloads.

Tailor made

Android has become a favourite choice for manufacturers as it is easy to adopt and implement, rather than having to develop a whole new operating system from scratch. We can find this operating system from Google being adopted by a diverse range of manufacturers, ranging from big brand names such as Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG to smaller, upstart Chinese companies.

However, not every Android smartphone provides the same experience. Different hardware manufacturers have different "skins" or add-ons, above the base Android software, to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. Samsung's Touchwiz user interface and HTC's Sense user interface are examples of the types of "flavoured" Android offerings by other manufacturers.

Google also collaborates with different hardware manufacturers to release their flagship Android smartphones under the Google Nexus line. The Nexus phones provide the original "vanilla" Android experience for users and are the first to receive the latest Android version updates.

Because of this diversity, we can find Android smartphones for every segment of the market. Aside from the pricier high-end smartphones, there is also a wide selection of mid- to low-end Android smartphones which are more affordable, hence making it easier for more consumers to own a smartphone.

Android has been so popular that we are seeing it in more and more electronic products and not just smartphones or tablets. There are even manufacturers who are starting to incorporate Android into their microwave ovens!

Among the advantages of the Android operating system are its ability to multitask, the huge amount of options for devices, the notification bar, homescreen widgets, and the connectivity to the Google brand. The advantages and disadvantages of the operating system will be delved into in future editions of this weekly column which will appear on TechCentral.my.

This weekly column will be a medium to share about everything Android. Expect to read about news on the operating system updates, app reviews or the new devices running on Google's operating system. Stay tuned!

(Donovan is a full-time auditor and big-time gadget lover who discovered the wonders of the Android world after a chance encounter with Samsung's Galaxy S back in October 2010.)
Related post:
Chinese smartphone innovators shrug off Android dominance.

Chinese smartphone innovators shrug off Android dominance

Local firms elbowing in on smartphone market

In China's booming smartphone market, which overtook the United States as the world's largest last year, a host of domestic firms have innovation on the brain, especially as the industry is on pace for even greater growth.

Within minutes of going on sale online, Xiaomi Technology sold 2.5 million units of its M12 smartphone, which has specifications that, some say, exceed that of the iPhone and retails for less than half the price on the Chinese mainland.

Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi Technology Co., forecast that the company's sales would double this year. In 2012, the turnover of the company founded less than three years ago amounted to 12 billion yuan (1.93 billion U.S. dollars).

Chinese smartphone firms believe that long-term efforts in innovation are required in developing home-grown operating systems and are not concerned by the dominance of Android.

A report published by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research warned that Chinese companies may face commercial discrimination because the Android operation system -- what is deemed as a "core" technology -- is strictly controlled by Google.

The report, released on March 1, urged China's smartphone makers to develop self-innovated systems as the country lacks its own big name, with Android's supremacy in 97.7 percent of domestic smartphones.

Android's dominance is the market's choice, and its popularity is worldwide.By the end of 2012 in China, Google's Android took up 86.4 percent in the market and Apple's iOS 8.6 percent. Home-made systems account for less than one percent, statistics suggested.

Many industry insiders, like Lei, have faith in China's mobile phone market. Big names like Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo have elbowed their way in, hoping to grab a piece of the market.

Statistics from IDC, an IT company and market researcher, show that China's smartphone market could grow by as much as 44 percent this year, with total smartphone shipments approaching 300 million units.

A total of 67.21 million smartphones were sold in China in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 236.4 percent year on year, with domestic brands contributing to 77.9 percent of total sales, according to statistics from the China Academy of Telecommunication Research.

"Domestic makers made great strides in the smartphone market for their abundant manufacturing experience and the cheap prices favored by those using a smartphone for the first time," the report said.

Lenovo, a leading PC firm, emerged as the second-biggest smartphone seller, with 13.2 percent of China's market share last year, following the Republic of Korea's Samsung Electronics, which took a 17.7 percent.

Apple came in third, with 11 percent, and domestic companies Huawei Technologies Co. and Coolpad rounded out the top five, with 9.9 and 9.7 percent of the market share, respectively.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman of the board of Lenovo Group, said the company started developing smartphones and tablet PCs to compete with Apple in both domestic and overseas markets.

The company's star product, the Lephone, is a low-cost smartphone that industry insiders have hailed as a challenge to Apple's iPhone.

At the Mobile World Congress in January in Barcelona, there were plenty of Chinese domestic devices on show, ranging from those costing less than 1,650 yuan to high-end products valued at more than 3,000 yuan.

"We are providing products that cater to each level, from beginners to high-end consumers," Yang explained.

Lenovo's flagship product, the 3,299-yuan K800, boasts a 1.6 GHz Intel processor and a 4.5-inch screen. But it is still based on Android, an open-sourced, Linux-based operating system controlled by Google.

A report issued on March 1 by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research warned that Chinese smartphone makers may face commercial discrimination, as most domestic smartphones are over-dependent on the Android system.

Lenovo's Yang said Sunday that creating an operating system is not as difficult as providing an active platform on which people are encouraged to develop software.

"Developing a system that only offers tedious software development is useless," Yang said.

Yang, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said, "I am saying it is not impossible to develop a home-made operating system, as the future market is promising with China's homemade brands expanding their global influence."

Behind concerns about companies' over-reliance on the Android system, among others, is a lack of innovation -- the soft spot that has become apparent despite the country's neck-breaking development over the past three decades.

But innovation is not restricted to an operating system, according to Lei Jun, the Xiaomi CEO and a member of the CPPCC National Committee, who says the ways his company develops and markets its products are also innovative.

"Innovations we made included differentiated functionalities in response to various consumers' needs. This sort of innovation is not ground-breaking, but at least it is a breakthrough," said Lei.

Yu Wenqing, an industry insider with China Mobile Research Institute, gives these companies credit for putting a twist on existing technology.

"There were so called micro-innovations in those brands," Yu said, adding that China has to move step by step, as fundamental changes require great time and investment.

Chris Evdemon, a manager with Innovation Works, which invests in seed-stage companies to encourage innovation, called the "micro-innovations" a steppingstone for fundamental innovation.

These initiatives may inject fresh energy to the larger-scale, enterprise-driven innovation that the government is expecting. China has adopted a strategy of building itself up through the development of science and education and boosting the country's core ability to sustain innovation-driven development.

"Everyone has his own dream to pursue," Yang Yuanqing said.

Yang's dream includes seeing all Chinese people living well-off lives and enjoying dignity on the world stage.

"Also, Chinese enterprises will embrace worldwide recognition, not only for scale or sales, but for their capacities for innovation," he added. - Xinhua