Android has been a country of broadband and dial-up usage.
Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google , based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets . Android 's user interface is mainly based on direct manipulation , using touch gestures that loosely correspond to real-world actions , such as swiping , tapping and pinching , to manipulate on-screen objects , along with a virtual keyboard for text input . Android applications ( `` apps '' ) can be downloaded from the Google Play store , which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017 .