It’s hard to believe that some talk casually about androids as if it’s second-nature. In some science fiction world, it’s an apocalyptic holocaust of dynamic proportions when fearless machines wage war on the sick and weakened flesh of the John Connor mentality, these cyborgs of death implanting laser-like bullets into the heads of the terrified innocent! “We are not human, we are androids”, indeed! You have to love science fiction, though.

Sadly, though, when people talk about ‘androids’, they’re not talking about shiny metal robots carrying guns. No. What they’re talking about is actually a lot smaller–and those smaller ‘androids’ don’t carry any guns.

‘Android’ in modern-day technology terminology is actually a word to describe a type of software used in smart phones. It’s software designed by the global giant called Google, and you can find the system installed in several phones already. An “android” phone is not a phone, by the way. Most “android” aficionados would cringe and shrivel up like dry plants if you had asked that. So take precautions and don’t. Please. Also, don’t confuse an android phone with a product such as the Verizon “Droid”, which is a completely different brand that has nothing to do with Google. While a ‘droid’ is technically an ‘android’, it’s not the same thing in smart phone language.

To better understand ‘Android’, know that it’s basically a bundled service powered by Google that includes basically everything and anything surrounding Google, like Google Maps, Gmail, Google Earth, Google Calendar, and YouTube. Now if you know Google well, you’d know that their capacity for state-of-the-art service is king. So you can imagine the power and efficiency of an “android” phone. Top-notch.

So here’s what you do: the next time someone says, “What is an android phone?” you’ll know what to say. Repeat everything in this little article, and you’ll be the king of conversation. Not to mention they’ll be jealous of your sleek Google Nexus One!