Whats the difference between a smartphone and an android phone??

dlambirl · 10-01-2011 04:46PM #1

As the title says - what is the difference between a "Smartphone" and an "Android" phone??

drunkmonkey · 10-01-2011 04:52PM

Android is an operating system that works on mobile phones, laptops and other media devices. It is not a make of phone, just an operating system.

A Smart Phone is a phone that runs an operating system just like your computer would run windows.

Any phone can be classed as a smart phone once it goes beyond the basic phone uses.

Today most phones are smart phones. The most common operating systems are, Symbian (nokia) Android (htc, lg, sony) & iOS (apple).

dlambirl · 10-01-2011 05:12PM

Oh, so they are both the same??

Can Smartphones download apps??

Mimikyu · 10-01-2011 05:16PM

This post has been deleted.

Abelloid · 10-01-2011 05:19PM

'Smart phone' is just a generic term applied to many phones with internet and email access.

coylemj · 10-01-2011 11:22PM

The term 'Smartphone' encompasses many different models of phone that run different operating systems, think of 'smartphone' as the mobile phone equivalent of 'laptop' i.e. a generic term for a piece of h/w that can run several apps.

Now on 99% of laptops the owner runs one of three operating systems: Mac, Windows or Linux so think of Android as being the smartphone equivalent of one of these, commonly known as an 'OS' for 'operating system'. HTC, Samsung and LG manufacture mobile phones capable of running Android. Note however that not every phone made by these companies runs Android - the HTC Touch for example runs Windows Mobile, the Microsoft OS for smartphones.

So all Android phones are smartphones but not all smartphones run Android, the rest mainly run Symbian (Nokia), Windows Mobile (various) or iOS (Apple) and let's not forget the Blackberry, manufactured by RIMM.

Whats the difference between a smartphone and an android phone??

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