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What does Android have to do with androids?

October 5, 2011 · by Anna Rohleder

If you're interested in mobile devices of any kind, you probably know that Google's open-source operating system (OS) for phones and tablets is called Android. But where did the name come from?

Android, Inc. was founded in 2003 as a mobile technology development company aimed at leveraging both the "smart" features of mobile phones, such as geolocation, as well as the personal nature of the device, i.e. its owner's interests and activities. Google acquired the company two years later as part of its initial foray into the mobile technology market.

Lots of high-tech companies have names that sound unusual or even random. Google itself is a good example! But in the case of Android, there does seem to have been some logic at work. Android robots are machines designed to look and act human. The second part of that is harder than the first, since the ability to think is largely what distinguishes human beings from other living creatures. Artificial intelligence breaks down "thinking" for machines into a number of separate processes, including observation of the environment, and sensing and responding to different kinds of stimuli.

At an extremely basic level, this is what the sensors built into smartphones are designed to do. Geolocation is what allows an app to give you a suggestion for a restaurant in the area where you live, for example. But communication based on the data drawn from sensors, cameras and satellites is not just a dialogue between the smartphone and you. Both the phone and its apps send that same information back to the app developer, to the Internet service provider, the OS developer and even the handset manufacturer. (Which also explains how apps can be free.)

The next step in this form of communication is for your phone or other mobile device to start "talking" with other devices and physical objects around you in the physical world. Such machine-to-machine interaction will allow your washing machine to send you a text message when your laundry is done, for example, but could also help whole cities manage their water supplies and electrical grids more efficiently.

They may not look much like the helpful humanoid robots we know from the movies, such as C3PO from Star Wars, but it might also turn out that the smartphones, smart machines and Android in our world will relate to us in ways we had not previously imagined.

Readers' comments 19

Left under the original article, as archived.

  • Andrei Daniel TicleanWednesday, October 5, 2011 3:17:18 PM

    What Opera has to do with fishes?:sherlock:

  • KarenWednesday, October 5, 2011 3:59:42 PM

    I still prefer my Windows 7 Phone...and yes, I'm a broken record. :p:

    Lovely article. :up:

  • Ishmaelghetto A'sWednesday, October 5, 2011 6:17:33 PM

    hey dats splendid,i lykt much

  • Rafael LuikWednesday, October 5, 2011 6:33:19 PM

  • Ivan KotlajaWednesday, October 5, 2011 7:06:04 PM

    Why are you writing about Google's Android when Google is obviously against Opera...

  • Andrei Daniel TicleanWednesday, October 5, 2011 7:24:25 PM

    Originally posted by smartydix:

    Why are you writing about Google's Android when Google is obviously against Opera...


    Google is against everyone since they got Chrome :devil:

  • toleranthinkThursday, October 6, 2011 2:03:08 AM

    will opera release its own mobile os after Jobs' death....you've the chance to go...when i first see the UI on win phone 7,i thought opera just lose a chance to be a leader in mobile os ,they just copy "speed dial"...i love google either the opera.:devil:

  • AbdallahjeiThursday, October 6, 2011 12:28:59 PM

    ¤ Android by any other name! Simple and right words to drive the point home! ¤

  • Asifor HeroThursday, October 6, 2011 8:43:24 PM

    let us just wait and see what will opera do and what is next in todo.

  • PatataThursday, October 6, 2011 9:09:25 PM

    Its really strange that you "love" android that much, while Google still doesn't care about Opera and about supporting Opera with their products at all.

  • Asifor HeroFriday, October 7, 2011 3:47:12 PM

    maybe opera have or know somethin they don't.

  • Ishmaelghetto A'sFriday, October 7, 2011 4:12:14 PM

    they do hv secret they neva share mayb

  • Cutting SpoonFriday, October 7, 2011 11:32:46 PM

    El Reg mentioned there is an UrbanOS in the works. And you thought our virus worries were big now...

  • AbdallahjeiSaturday, October 8, 2011 7:14:33 AM

    ¤ What's all this fuss about Android OS versus Opera. When Android realised what was in store for them and they gave Ubuntu the 'yes' sign, we threw the microsoft os inside the bins! ¤

  • Joseph D. LienMonday, October 10, 2011 4:33:24 AM

    Maybe Google competes directly with Android in the browser market, but keep in mind that a good chunk of Opera's revenue also comes from Google... not only that, but Android is a platform with a huge potential to garner users for mobile versions of Opera.

  • windelmaribaoMonday, October 10, 2011 2:14:29 PM

    thanks for everything steve..

  • JulianMonday, October 10, 2011 11:46:36 PM

    At least it is funny: :lol:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odhQIgBOEZU

  • Rafael LuikTuesday, October 11, 2011 2:21:54 AM

    Originally posted by jjsl6:

    At least it is funny: :lol:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odhQIgBOEZU

    :lol: :lol: :lol:

  • Peter & Elizabeth (Love & Wonder)Wednesday, October 12, 2011 12:37:27 AM

    I'm a Mac user, a Windows user, an Opera AND Android user. Why do we have to create parity, or, in better terms, division - when it comes to the platforms we use? I was a die-hard Mac person, who watched the original OS change from what Mac users knew - and loved - to a system that had been developed by NeXT, another "pie" that the late Steve Jobs had his finger into, prior to returning full-time as Apple's 'temporary' CEO. This new OS utilized a Unix shell, and with the availability of Motorola PowerPC chips going by the wayside (Motorola was tooth and nail into developing cell phone technology, at this point) - this new kernel, "cocoa" and shell became the new version of Mac OS, known as X (10). Enter the Intel chipset, and Macs became a whole lot more competitive in the PC game. Tears were shed, by many a Mac user (I was one of them). However, when I got a chance to try Mac OS X, I was pleasantly surprised, and I became a convert. Unix gave Mac OS stability - in other words, you didn't HAVE to have a reset button at the ready on your trusty Mac, when things decided to lock up (it wasn't the PC "blue screen of death", but, it interrupted work flow, on many occasions). I had an iPhone recently, and, due to a KILLER deal, I moved over to the Android platform - at least, when it came to my smartphone - which is an HTC Evo 4G, running Android Supersonic. There's Linux in there, boys and girls. Linux is the read-headed stepchild to Unix - with WICKED workarounds. Ah! There's a corollary within the movement here... I can feel it. So, my phone works with my wife's PC, for Nandroid back up, su updates, and 'flashing' ROMS. It works with my Mac, for just about everything else - and, here's the 'point after', as Americans call the 'field goal' in American football, after the initial touchdown has been scored: I RUN BOTH OPERA MOBILE AND MINI ON THIS ANDROID Smartphone. They work well. I never use Chrome-to-Phone, because Google already has one helluva grip over us mere mortals, and our data. When I'm not in need of GPS/GSM services, I just turn them off - so "big brother" isn't following me - at least, not as closely. So, the moral of this story is:
    Imagine what we can all do, with these wonderful technologies at our disposal. My smartphone hadn't been in my possession for a month, and, what did I do? Sssshh... don't tell anybody... I HACKED IT (thanks to help from a wonderful Android community called Android Forums, and the person that helped me was a cat with the screen name 'ocnbrze'). It now has Root, and I can do wonderful things with this phone, that an iPhone cannot. When upgrade time comes next year, I'll be able to get an iPhone 5... but, I'm willing to bet you that I will probably stay with an Android phone! The only time that my wife and I used Google Chrome on her PC, is when we wanted to stream video from Netflix. Now, we can even stream video through our Android smartphones... with a converter HDMI cable, and, the resulting video may not be 1080p - but, it is HD 720p. Not too shabby for a smartphone, no? We can all benefit - from the interleaved and closely-woven technologies... that will create a future when us mere mortals can be truly, one-hundred-percent - FREE. My two-point-9999999999 cents worth. Thank you for reading. :up:

About this article

Published inChoose Opera
DateOctober 5, 2011
AuthorAnna Rohleder
Tagswhat is Android, what is an Android, Android OS, machine-to-machine interaction, smartphones, robots
OriginalInternet Archive

The Red O » Developers » Choose Opera » What does Android have to do with androids?

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