5 little known facts about Android

As mobile phones have developed and we have been offered a wider variety of smartphones, alongside these advancements has come the debate over which one is the best. This debate is looked at from two sides; first there are the benefits of each phone. Secondly, how often they break and as a result how long you need to spend looking at the likes of www.lovefone.co.uk in order to get it repaired. 

A key runner in this competition is Android, with more than one billion mobile phones now powered by its operating system. Powering screens of all sizes, from watches, phones, tablets and TVs, to the upcoming Android Auto. The Google owned system allows you to create your own Android character, have a customisable home screen and choose from millions of apps. 

Since its development back in 2003, it has had a range of updates with names that will make your mouth water if you have a sweet tooth, including Cupcake, Éclair, Jelly Bean, KitKat and the most recent Lollipop. 

But aside from this how much do you really know about Android? Here are 5 little known facts that you may find interesting:

1. The Operating System wasn’t actually made by Google. Android Inc developed it in 2003, Google backed the company and bought it in 2005 for $50 million. The Android Operating System was originally developed as a platform for digital cameras, but the focus was later changed to smartphones when its potential was realised. Android is now also used to power devices such as Google Glasses and Watches. 

2. The green guy on your device has been created from the word Android, which means a human with a robot appearance and refers to a male robot (Gynoid is the female looking robot). However, the logo is not actually called Android. Although not an official name, it is called Bugdroid by the Google team. The name Android was the nickname of its co-creator Andy Rubin - the name was given to him at Apple before joining Google, due to his love of robots. 

3. The app store ‘Google Play’ has more than 1,500,000 apps available, many of which are free. Over 50 billion have been downloaded to date. 

4. There is an Android in Space! A British firm launched a Nexus phone into space to control a satellite. This was part of an experiment to see how well consumer-grade electronics stand up to the conditions in space. 

5. You may know that the release of Android updates have come in alphabetical order with each one being named after a sweet treat since the release of Android Cupcake in 2009. But did you know that the KitKat was the first and only one so far to take an actual brand name? It was believed that the 4.4 version of the phone would be called Key Lime Pie. However, it was announced in 2013 they were teaming up with Nestle for their new update. The release was marked with a competition to win prizes through specially branded KitKat bars.