22nd October 2008
Android operating system released

Android was an operating system based on the Linux kernel, and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It was Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later bought in 2005. It is in direct competition with Apple's iOS. The first publicly available smartphone to run Android was the HTC Dream. The Dream was released to mixed, but mostly positive, reception. It used a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A system on a chip with 192 MB of RAM, and came with 256 MB of internal storage, which could be expanded by up to 16 GB using a Micro SD card slot. It also had a touch operated screen. Development of Android has led to it becoming the most popular mobile OS, having been factory installed on a wide range of devices.