Android is an open source, Linux-based operating system primarily used for mobile devices. It was developed by Android Inc. which was later acquired by Google in 2005. It uses Java for application development and includes features like connectivity, storage, messaging, web browsing, media support and more. Android has an architecture that includes a Linux kernel at the bottom, native libraries in C/C++, a Java-based application framework, and applications at the top. Development requires Java JDK, Android SDK and optionally Eclipse IDE. The latest API level for Android is 19.