Android v Smart Phone

bobpat_2

Hi, in simple terms can anyone explain to me the difference between Android and Smart Phone please.

bobby-boy_2

Hi Bobpat
a smartphone is a piece of hardware such as a Blackberry or an Iphone.
Android is a software operating system used on Certain smartphones such as the HTC.

your question is similar to what is the diference between a computer and Windows.

hope this helps to explain.
Rob

[Deleted User]

'Smartphone' is a marketing term for any phone that does email, photos, applications, web access ect. There have been phones doing this for quite some time.

Now, to do such things, you need an operating system that supports them. Examples of this are PalmOS, Android, Apple iOS4, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS, Symbian.

Certain operating systems are only run on certain handsets. BlackBerry OS is only on BlackBerry phones. Apple iOS4 only runs on iPhones.

Android is the only Open Source phone operating system. This means it is free for manufacturers to provide it on their phones. You can get Android OS on handsets from Sony, Samsung, HTC and Motorola (there may be others). Similarly, you can get Windows Mobile OS and Symbian on various different phones from different manufacturers.

It's important to know that you can't run an 'android' app on a phone with a Symbian OS (and vice versa).

Android is developed by Google and the latest version is 2.2 (known as FroYo). New phones are currently being upgraded to this. It has an application market which lets you download new software and games. Because it is open source it means the phone can be customized a lot more than others can - e.g. you can download new methods for writing text messages (E.g. Swype - http://www.swypeinc.com/)

Any phone running Android can be considered a smartphone.