Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Airtel brings Android to India

The Google magic is set to roll in Indian mobile market with Airtel launching India's first Android mobile phone in collaboration with HTC. Since Google announced Android phones, Indians have been eagerly waiting for this small wonder to come to India and time has now finally come. Though initially coming with a high price tag of Rs. 29,900, Airtel has planned to launch it simultaneously across 17 cities in India, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Cochin, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Patna.

So, what is Android by the way. Well, Android is a software platform for Mobile phones running on Linux operating system. It was first developed by Google and later moved forward by Open Handset Alliance (a consortium of hardware, software, and telecom companies working together) to develop open standards for mobile devices. Thus, Android is an open-source product where one can develop his own source codes written in Java language controlling the device via Google-developed libraries.

So, how is Android different than other feature-rich high-end mobile phones or iPhone? Well, here I will try to summarize five major pluses that Android has over other phones:

1. Since Android works on open source, it gives the user option to develop their own program and features and thus allows users to have their own customized programs tailored specifically for them.
2. Since, Android has been developed by a consortium of hardware, software, and telecom companies, they have standardized application creation to a large extent and thus allowing users to have a standard platform for documentation, procedure, and application sharing.
3. Android is cheaper than iPhone.
4. A large support base is available for Android users since a lot of major players are involved in its development.
5. Android allows a great amount of flexibility and opportunities for new innovations to take place.

All in all, Android should be a great experience across the users in India and we all are eagerly waiting to see how it really feels having an Android in our palm.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

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