EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ANDROID OS

Your mum may think that the iPhone is lovely, but it’s set in its ways: no freedom to change. With Android on the other hand, you can do what you want. Play Flash videos, change its keyboad style, turn it into a bad-boy PlayStation emulator or just let it play in its natural element, which is pretty darn good anyway. The iPhone abides by Apple’s strict laws; Android is limited only by your imagination.

FLAGSHIP HANDSET GOOGLE NEXUS S 
    30,400 (est) 
This Samsung-made phone is a thing of minimalist beauty, and the buttonless case and subtly curved 4 inch screen are the perfect stage for Android 2.3 (‘Gingerbread’). The new OS isn’t packed with new features, save for a better keyboard and enhanced copy-and-paste, but it looks classier and has major underthe-bonnet improvements that make it a lot faster. It’s lag-free, too, thanks to the graphics chip built into Samsung’s 1GHz Hummingbird processor. There are still a few frustrations, such as the way the 16GB storage is split to give you just 1GB for apps, or that while the 5MP camera is great in low light, video shooting is at a less-than-HD 720x480 pixels. Still, the 4 inch Super AMOLED display is bigger and brighter than the iPhone 4’s, although it can’t match Apple’s razor-sharp resolution. It’s also the first smartphone to feature near-field communication, meaning it can read RFID tags and could be used as a cashless wallet or travelcard once NFC apps become available. 
JULY 2005 Google buys Android, Inc, a startup developing a Linuxbased mobile operating system.NOVEMBER 2007 HTC, LG, Samsung, Intel and others throw their weight behind Android as part of the Open Handset Alliance. SEPTEMBER 2008 Android 1.0 is released into the wild on the T-Mobile G1 - and is described as “a dream to use” by Stuff. OCTOBER 2009 Android 2.0 (‘Eclair’) is a true rival for iPhone, with Microsoft Exchange support and an improved UI. THE FUTURE... 
PlayStation phone arrives. Android 2.4 (‘Ice Cream’) revamps built-in media player. Android 3.0 (‘Honeycomb’) for tablets keeps iPad on its toes.

DOWNLOAD THESE

• Dolphin HD free Currently the best browser for Android, it offers fast multi-tab browsing, gesture controls and powerful third-party plugins to block ads, download videos and more.

• Swype free Swype takes the pain out of using a virtual keyboard; instead of tapping letters, you slide to make an approximation of the word and let the app do the work. Uncannily accurate.

• Gensoid 183 Find yourself some classic Sega Megadrive ROMs and this emulator will play them – from Sonic to Speedball – at full speed. You won’t find anything similar on the App Store.

ALTERNATIVES

• LG Optimus One 13,500 | lg.com/in A remarkably good value Android phone. The 600MHz processor won’t win any races, but it still performs well and runs Android 2.2, which means it offers free sat-nav and Flash.

• HTC Desire HD 27,499 | htc.com/in With a vast 4.3 inch screen, 1GHz processor and Android 2.2, there’s little to choose between this and the Nexus – though some will favour HTC’s weighty build and slick Sense UI.

• Motorola Atrix tba (due mid-2011) | motorola.com The ‘superphone’ packs a dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and the crispest screen of any Android. Attach it to its netbook or desktop docks and it becomes a computer.