Android Phone
Linux OS
Many people still call the handheld mobile device and operating
system, the Android Google
Phone. But, in 2008, Google made the Android
Phone Linux OS open source under the Apache License so that
any Android Phone Developer can create applications for it or
modify the operating system.
The Android SDK let's Linux OS developers create applications
or tweak the operating system to work with a particular piece
of hardware. In 2007, the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) was created
as a consortium of 50 firms including Google, Samsung, T-Mobile,
Motorola, LG, HTC and Qualcomm in order to develop open standards.
It was the OHA that first unveiled the Android Phone Linux OS.
The HTC Dream Android Phone
was the first to run on this open source Linux operating system.
Linux open source code has been around for a long time and used
on PC's, servers and other devices.
The Linux kernel however hasn't been optimized for mobile devices
so this is why the Android Open Source Project was created. Typically
cell phones are limited by processing power and speed, size of
the device and battery life.
So, the Android Phone OS was developed just for this use. And
because Linux is open source it is cheaper for the mobile phone
providers to use, which will help it spread among the cell phone
telecoms at a rapid pace.
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