Key Difference: Android is an open source, free, Linux-based operating system for smartphones and tablets. The system was designed and developed by Android Inc., which was funded and later purchased by Google in 2005. Smartphones are any mobile phones that are similar to a mini computer. Smartphones offer a variety of features that allows advanced computing capability and connectivity.

Android and smartphones are two words have become synonymous when purchasing cell phones or any new phone. For many people, android could be just another name for a smartphone. However, this is wrong. These two words through related are quite different from each other. Android is actually an operating system that powers Google and other smartphones, while smartphone is any type of phone that allows advanced computing capability. Android is one of the major players in smartphones and has been powering many popular phones such as Samsung Galaxy series, Sony Xperia series, HTC series, and many more.

Android is an open source, free, Linux-based operating system for smartphones and tablets. The system was designed and developed by Android Inc., which was funded and later purchased by Google in 2005. Android was announced to the world in 2007 along with a new alliance that devoted itself to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Android is a open source software, which means that it is free of cost and can be used, modified and re-sold. This is one of the reasons for its massive popularity, it allowed users to create and change any and all of Androids codes and settings trying to create the perfect OS. Android also has a large community of developers that constantly write applications and codes for the system.

Another popular feature of Android is the number of apps and the Google Play. Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market is an application distribution platform, where developers publish applications for the many Android users. The applications are also developed by an open community and many of them are free for downloading through Google Play. Android is also popular because of constant and frequents updates that are available by Google. Google releases major updates every six to nine months, with minor updates much faster. The latest Google update was the 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, which is Google’s 17^th update since the launch of Android.

Smartphone is a mobile phone that operates on an operating system, similar to a mini computer. Smartphones are basically that – a mini computer. They offer a variety of features such as calling capabilities, computing capabilities, video conferencing, online surfing, cameras, media players, GPS navigation units, etc. Any mobile phone that lets you do the work of a computer is considered as a smartphone. Smartphone are powered by operating systems such as Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, etc.  The term ‘smartphone’ was introduced into the market by Ericsson in 1997, when it used the word to describe its GS 88 ‘Penelope’ concept as a smartphone. There is no clear distinction that decides which phones are smartphone and which phones are not. However, with the increasing technology and offerings in a phone, the category has expanded to include all the new features that are currently available in the market.

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