Today we will talk about Mobile Phones operating system (OS). We will discuss the differences between the Symbian and the Android OS and phones. This article help you to determine what's best for you guys. Here are some information about this two popular mobile phones OS.
What is a Symbian Operating System?
Symbian OS is an open source operating system
for mobile phones primarily used on Nokia advanced or data enabled
smart phones. Symbian OS runs exclusively on ARM processors and has
evolved from Psion's EPOC which was developed as a rudimentary operating
system for early electronic organizers. The Psion EPOC OS was refered
to EPOC16 beginning in the late 1990's to help distinguish it from the
newer 32bit Operating system EPOC32, which eventually became Symbian
OS. Psion software created a joint venture
with several mobile hardware manufacturers, Ericsson®, Motorola®, and
Nokia® called Symbian and eventually took on the name Symbian Software,
renaming EPOC32 Symbian OS.
The key advantage of EPOC32 over its
16bit predecessor is the ability to multi-task, perform multiple
functions at once. In newer devices, this might mean being able to surf
the web using the phone and not lose your content when answering an
incoming call.
Many third party manufacturers were able to license
the 32bit EPOC OS for their organizers and other mobile data devices.
Since the late 1990's,Symbian OS has become one of the most popular
mobile device operating systems available.
Several device
manufacturers from Nokia® to Sony/Ericsson® have committed to the new
and open project that Symbian has announced for its mobile phone operating system, Symbian OS. Wireless carriers such as AT&T® and T-Mobile® have also pledged support for the project.
Symbian OS has also adapted to include soft features such as global positioning software (GPS)
which will become as common as a camera in the very near future.
Service providers and other companies could then publish location based
services that interact with the GPS found in a mobile phone, appearing
on the display once the user is near an application.
In recent years, Microsoft® and Palm® have been the most discussed
providers of operating system software for mobile phones, but Symbian
has been powering phones for quite some time. The company announced in
2008 that the operating system would become open source very soon,
allowing other vendors and even users themselves to add to the already
widely established Symbian OS. The support for the much established
mobile platform is far and wide, though much of the press lately has
centered around Apple's iPhone® and other offerings, including the Google Android™ OS for mobile devices.
It will be interesting to see what hardware is developed for use with
Symbian OS in the future to compete with phones like the iPhone® and
the latest mobile devices from Palm® and Microsoft®.
What is an Android Phone?
An Android™ phone is a cellphone that uses the Google-developed Android™ operating system
and platform. Google partnered with the High Tech Computer Corporation
(HTCC) to build hardware for the G1 cellphone, the first mobile phone to run the Android™ platform. In 2008, T-Mobile premiered the G1 Android™ phone to the public.
On
the technical side, an Android™ phone runs on the Android™ operating
system, key applications and middleware. It's Linux kernel-based, has
applications that are written in the Java language and can even run
applications written in the C language. It is also a product, partly, of
the Open Handset Alliance, which encourages the use and advancement of open source software for cellphones.
One
of the biggest differences between a phone running the Android™
platform and others is that the software Android™ uses is a complex
operating system. In contrast, the majority of operational cellphones
run primitive real time applications.
In regard to its Internet
capabilities, the Android™ phone uses WebKit to power the G1's Chrome
Lite browser. Because WebKit also powers iPhone's Safari, the G1 is a competitor to the iPhone in terms of users' enhanced web experiences.
An
Android™ phone can also run multiple applications at the same time and
in the background of a phone, making multitasking easier and the
functionality of the phone more fluid than other cellphones.
Android™ phones are considered revolutionary in some circles because
of its open source, mobile platform. All developers, whether
professional or hobbyists, are encouraged to write programs and
applications for the Android™ operating system and contribute to the
evolving Android™ project by submitting them to the Android™ Market. G1 users then choose to download and use the applications on their phone by accessing the application library on their handset.
Android™ offers a Software Development
Kit to help developers create functional applications. While some parts
of the Android™ operating system are protected under the Apache License
to guard against applications that could compromise the phone's
functionality, much of it is released under the General Public License
which invites developers to make innovative modifications.
Comparable devices and their operating systems had before been
governed by strict proprietary rules. Developers interested in inventing
programs for the iPhone often encountered resistance when attempting to
create iPhone programs that closely mirrored applications owned by
Apple. For example, developers are prohibited from creating programs
that look or act like Apple's iTunes and it's hypothetically possible
for any current iPhone application developer
to have his or her applications pulled from the iPhone Store if Apple
chooses to compete in the same market with their version of the
developer's application.
Another important distinction of the Android™ platform is that it is
not tied to a specific manufacturer. Any manufacturer interested in
producing its own version of an Android™ phone is welcome to use the
platform for their own devices. The result could mean a large number of
competing cellphone companies using Android™ to power their mobile
phones and market their devices.
