This software was released with an open source license by Google in 2008. Since then, Android is rapidly gaining traction in the cell phone marketplace, primarily due to the revolutionary open source development kit that enabled volumes of applications to become available to run on it.
If you’re the owner of an Android-powered smartphone, updates to your phone’s OS occur over the air, also called OTA. Android has the ability to receive updated software as it becomes available. What this comes down to is that you can prompt an install to happen over your cellphone provider’s data network, instead of having to connect your phone to a PC. Doing updates in this manner leaves you free to update your phone’s operating system no matter where you are. It takes only a few simple steps to learn how to update your Android smartphone:
Instructions
Press the “Menu” button on your Android phone and tap “Settings” to open the “Settings” menu.
Within the “Settings” menu, scroll down to the last option, “About phone,” and tap on it. This will display the version number and build number of Android that is currently running on the phone.
Tap on “System updates.” If an update to the Android operating system is available, the phone will automatically download and install it. If there are no updates available, the screen will say, “Your system is currently up to date.”
Automatic Android Updates
As mentioned above one of the features of Android is that it can receive updated software right when it becomes available. This update feature runs in the background, ready to accept updates as they are released. Because there are so many Android based phones in use, not all of them receive updates to the Android operating system at the same time. Users of Android phones can either wait until updates become available on their phone, or they can manually check for Android updates. This function can be compared to the Windows Update feature found in Windows that downloads updates and asks you for permission when they are ready to install.
If the device is left to itself, the Android-based phone will place a notification on the phone’s home screen and prompt for confirmation to install. Once the updates are accepted, the user can go to device information to confirm that the latest version of Android is now on the phone.
Shortcut
An application available called AnyCut can help simplify the update process by creating a shortcut to “Device info.”
Install AnyCut by going to Android Market, and then touch “Search” and type in “AnyCut.”
Create a shortcut on the phone’s desktop.
Choose “AnyCut” from the list and choose “Device Info” as the “Activity.”
Scroll to the end of the list and press “Check for updates.”
Once the process is finished, exit to the home screen where you will be prompted to install the update.
One of the best features of the Android mobile phone operating system platform is its ability to receive updates as they become available. Also, there is a security advantage to Android updates which should be noted. As soon as vulnerabilities are detected, developers are able to correct them and distribute them automatically to the phones to protect users from damage.
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