In all probability, even if you have not used one, you must have heard of something called as Android if the world of personal electronics remotely interests you. Android smartphones are the highest selling smartphones in the world, and rule the roost when it comes to leading the smartphone race. To put it all very simply and in the broadest of terms possible, Android is an OS that is made by Google and its partners which is sourced to the OEM partners that put Android on their manufactured devices. As an OS, Android is based on Linux Kernels and is being developed by Google.

Interestingly, at its inception, all the way back in 2003, Android Inc was aiming to develop a smart and intelligent operating system for Digital Cameras. They later realised that the market was too small for cameras and as a result focussed energies into developing an OS for mobile devices in order to compete against Symbian and Windows Phone. The project largely remained a secret until 2005 when Google bought out Android Inc for $50 million. It was then that the news really started spreading that Google was set to venture into the mobile phone market. Thanks to the marketing prowess and financial muscle of Google, Android was pitched to several OEMs and carriers with the promise of providing a system that is continuously. While the gossip spread about the impending arrival of Google into the mobile space thanks to the several patents filing, it was not until 2006 that we saw the glimpse of a working Android phone. The phone was codenamed 'Sooner' and was a QWERTY keypad device with a touchscreen. Soon after in 2007, the Open Handset alliance was formed with the coming together of several phone OEMs (Samsung, HTC, Sony), carriers (Sprint and T-Mobile) and chipset makers (Qualcomm and Texas Instruments). We had to wait till 2008 for the first commercial Android smartphone, which was the HTC Dream. Since then Google has had a major Android release almost annually. The first letter of the release name has always been in alphabetical order and corresponded to a dessert. For example, after Android 'Alpha' and 'Beta', the first commercial Android release (1.5) was called Cupcake. It was followed by Android 1.6 a.k.a Donut, Android 2.1 Eclair. Android 2.2 was called Froyo, Android 2.3 was named Gingerbread while Android 4.0 came to be called Ice Cream Sandwich and so on.

Most of the OEM partners of Android modify the stock Android experience by adding a skin on top which adds software features and stand out from the competition. The flip side to skinning is that any major update by Google then takes good few months to roll out to these Android phones as the OEMs can only start working on them when Google finally releases the codes. To fight this, Google has introduced Nexus line of devices which are basically phones made by the selected OEM partners of Android and run Android in its most native state. These Nexus devices are always first ones to receive any major Android update. The first Nexus device was the Nexus One manufactured by HTC and that has been followed by the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 manufactured by Samsung, LG and Motorola respectively. Android has also been used to power several tablets made by Motorola, Samsung, Dell, Acer, Asus etc. Just like smartphones, there is a Nexus line of tablets which features a couple of generations of Nexus 7 manufactured by Asus, Nexus 9 by HTC and Nexus 10 by Samsung. The monikers of 7, 9 and 10 in this case have always represented the screen size of the tablets.

In terms of market shares of 2014, Android boasts of over 1.14 billion users which is almost 75% of the smartphones that exist. Such is the popularity of Android phones that for majority of people, that the term smartphone has become synonymous with Android. With phones available right from the budget price of about Rs 3, 000 all the way up to a lakh, there is an Android phone that fits into every price range. With so many choices around, it is easy to miss out on an Android phone and that is why, we at Pricebaba have gone through the tedious process of picking up each and every Android phone present so that you can curate and make the pick which best suits your usage and budget. The result of our hard work is the page you see here, and we promise, you will never need to look at any other place in order to find yourself an Android phone.

Source: pricebaba.com