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Android
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Android
A very popular smartphone and tablet platform from the Open Handset Alliance (
Android quickly became a major competitor to Apple's iPhone, offering multitasking before Apple added it. Android phones feature touch screens, GPS, Wi-Fi, camera and 3G or 4G service. The phones initially had four physical buttons, but models began to migrate to touch screen only. Some Androids also include a physical slide-out keyboard.
The first Android came out in 2008. By 2011, with over 100 models from three dozen handset manufacturers offered by all major cellular carriers, Android outsold every other smartphone.
Like Windows Vs. Mac
Like Windows computers, Android phones are made by different manufacturers. Also like Windows PCs, Android vendors can add their own set of apps to their phones, and they also include different interface features. In contrast, like the Mac, the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are made only by Apple. They feature one interface, one set of included apps and one top-end model.
The Google Phone
In 2005, Google acquired Android, Inc., creators of the mobile platform. At Android's unveiling in late 2007, Google introduced specifications for third-party manufacturers; however, in 2010, it began to offer "pure Android" versions, first made by HTC and then Samsung (see Google phone). A year later, Google announced its intention to acquire Motorola Mobility to become a cellphone manufacturer itself (see Motorola). See Android rooting, Google TV, Open Handset Alliance, HTC G1 and smartphone.
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(n.)
[derived from modern L. androides derived from Gk. andr-, "man"] an artificial being that resembles a human in form, especially one made from flesh-like material (as opposed to metal or plastic). [Early cites refer to an alchemical creation and to purely mechanical automata.]
[derived from modern L. androides derived from Gk. andr-, "man"] an artificial being that resembles a human in form, especially one made from flesh-like material (as opposed to metal or plastic). [Early cites refer to an alchemical creation and to purely mechanical automata.]
- 1727–51 E. Chambers Cyclopædia: Albertus Magnus is recorded as having made a famous androides.
- 1883 J. Ogilvie Imperial Dictionary of English Language № 102/1: Android [...] A machine in the human form, which, by certain springs, imitates some of the natural motions of a living man.
- 1936 J. Williamson Cometeers Astounding S-F (Aug.) № 146/2: "The traffic that brought him such enormous wealth was the production and sale of androids. [...] Eldo Arrynu," amplified Jay Kalam, "had come upon the secret of synthetic life. He generated artificial cells, and propagated them in nutrient media, controlling development by radiological and biochemical means."
- 1940 E. Hamilton Captain Future & Space Emperor Captain Future (Winter) № 17/2: It was a manlike figure, but one whose body was rubbery, boneless-looking, blank-white in color. [...] Following this rubbery android, or synthetic man, came another figure, equally as strange — a great metal robot.
- 1950 L. Brackett Dancing Girl of Ganymede Halfling & Other Stories (1973) № 42: He stepped back and said, "You're not human." "No," she answered softly. "I am android."
- 1954 A. Bester Fondly Fahrenheit A. Boucher Best from Fantasy & SF (Fourth Series) (1955) № 13: The robot is a machine. The android is a chemical creation of synthetic tissue.
- 1968 J. Russ Picnic on Paradise № 151: She realized that he had no face, or none to speak of, really, a rather amusing travesty or approximation, that he was, in fact, a machine [...]. Someone had told her then "They're androids. Don't nod."
- 1983 R. Sheckley Dramocles (1984) № 12: The squeaky voice that androids have despite great advances in voicebox technology.
- 1989 W. Shatner Tekwar (1990) № 29: A very handsome android butler [...] was walking a platinum-haired poodle along a hedge-lined path. He looked human, except for his eyes.
- 1994 B. Hambly Crossroad № 256: She had finally found him, or the android he had built to house his mind and personality.
- 2002 D. Danvers Watch № 293: But he's no android. Anchee is a post-human.
- 2005 J. Johnson-Smith American SF TV № 88: The android Data, a purely mechanical being with a highly complex "positronic" brain who spends his time longing to experience and understand emotions.
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