There are thousands of mobile phones available in the market which use Google’s Android operating system. And while using such a phone we all are amazed with the easiness in navigation, faster response, amazing applications and a host of other features. But have we ever wondered what is Google Android and how does it work. Let’s take a brief look at the two different versions of Google’s Android Operating System.Google Android operating system is a 12 million lines of codes written, and the company is enriching it every month to include new features and applications, and thus giving its users a better never-before experience. Over the last few years Android phones have gained immense popularity in the mobile world, both in India and overseas, largely because of sheer number of applications.

According to comScore Android held 31.2 per cent of the U.S. smartphone market in the three months ended in January, up from 23.5 per cent the previous three months, while Research in Motion fell to second place, with 30.4 per cent, followed by Apple, with 24.7 per cent. While Android is not yet stealing market share from Apple, it appears to be gaining ground against the iPhone as more manufacturers begin incorporating Google’s open-source platform into their phones. During the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company’s partners are now selling over 60,000 Android handsets on a daily basis. According to a Google representative, the application store now serves approximately 30,000 free and paid apps in total.

Google released Android 2.1 as a minor platform release deployable to Android-powered handsets starting in January 2010. Some of the salient features of smaprtphones using Android 2.1 system:

Voice controls – Controlling your phone using Android 2.1 is one such exciting feature. Not only turn-by-turn voice directions, but you can also send Tweets, SMS messages and emails just by telling your phone.

Google Earth – One of the most exciting application that goes hand in hand with Android 2.1 is the Google Earth app.

Email – The OS gives you the ability to have more than one Gmail account working from the same inbox

Weather App – The new weather app as featured on Android 2.1 will include dynamic weather.

Interactive wallpapers – There are lots of animated wallpapers available using the system.

Photo gallery – This features gives a new dimension to how you view pics using Android.

App Launcher – Android’s App Launcher gives you the conveniene to tap a button and everything smoothly zooms into place.

After the huge success of its 2.1 version, Google came out with Android 2.2—aka Froyo (or Frozen yogurt) which is the most usable, polished iteration of Android yet. The Android 2.2 version, which may appear compelling to a broad range of consumers, is a series of refinements to its existing operating system, thus making it more pleasing to use.

Regardless of the competition between Android apps v/s iPhone apps, both platforms are much popular globally. But so far, the Google miracle is ahead globally. Certainly, developing Android applications for any firm dealing software applications is a lucrative venture with vast possibilities.