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Android powers millions of phones, tablets, and other devices and brings the power of Google and the web into your hands.
With an amazingly fast browser, cloud sync, multi-tasking, easy connect & share, and the latest Google apps (and thousands of other apps available on Google Play) your Android powered device is beyond smart.
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.
Android ships with a set of core applications including an email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, browser, contacts, and others. All applications are written using the Java programming language.
Some of the features of Android are briefed below.
Widgets
Widgets let you interact with your favorite apps right from your Home screen. You can add and resize your calendar, email feed, important Google+ posts, and more, so the important stuff in your life is right there within reach.
Face Unlock
Using state-of-the-art facial recognition technology, you can now open some Android devices with a smile. Just grab your phone with one hand, turn it on, and look at it—and you're in. No complicated passwords to remember.
Beam from one phone to another
Sharing with people close by has never been easier or quicker. Use Android Beam to share contacts, web pages, YouTube videos, directions, and apps—all with the power of Near Field Communication (NFC). Just touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever's on the screen to your friend.
Control your Android device with your voice
Android listens to you. Use your voice to command your device and use voice typing to speak to type emails, SMS or even search the web. More than 20 languages supported.
Maps with turn-by-turn navigation, Places, and Latitude
Google Maps on Android comes with Places, Latitude, Navigation and Street View. Get free, turn-by-turn GPS navigation for driving, walking, and public transit directions to easily find your way.
Quick and easy browsing
The Android browser puts the web at your fingertips. View multiple open pages at once, use incognito mode to browse privately and sync your Google Chrome bookmarks so all your favorite sites are with you on-the-go. And save any web page to read when you're offline—handy for mobile boarding passes, train schedules, and your favorite news articles. Fast, powerful and easy, just like on your computer.
Application Framework
By providing an open development platform, Android offers developers the ability to build extremely rich and innovative applications. Developers are free to take advantage of the device hardware, access location information, run background services, set alarms, add notifications to the status bar, and much, much more.
Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application may then make use of those capabilities (subject to security constraints enforced by the framework). This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the user.
Security
Android applications run in a sandbox, an isolated area of the operating system that does not have access to the rest of the system's resources, unless access permissions are granted by the user when the application is installed. Before installing an application, Play Store displays all required permissions. A game may need to enable vibration, for example, but should not need to read messages or access the phonebook. After reviewing these permissions, the user can decide whether to install the application.
Privacy
Android smartphones have the ability to report the location of Wi-Fi access points, encountered as phone users move around, to build databases containing the physical locations of hundreds of millions of such access points. These databases form electronic maps to locate smartphones, allowing them to run apps like Foursquare, Latitude, Places, and to deliver location-based ads.
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Technologies