Have you wanted to learn about Android development, but perhaps you don't know where to start? Perhaps you are brand new to the world of programming and want to learn how to program quickly while doing something fun like developing an Android app? If so, this brand new course series might be just what you are looking for. This is the first course in a series of 4 courses designed to take you from knowing nothing about Android and very little about programming in general to building your own Android apps and games. Here is a breakdown of the courses: course 1: Understanding Android - this course; course 2: Creating Android Apps Without Code Using App Inventor; course 3: Just Enough Java To Build An Android App; course 4: Building a Simple Game In Android. In this first course, we take a look at the very basics of Android and learn exactly what Android is and how it works. This course will go over the design and history of Android. Then we'll take a look at what exactly an operating system is so that we can better understand the Android operating system and how it works. After that we'll go over Android applications and exactly what makes them unique. And we'll finish up the course by talking about all the different ways you can develop Android applications and how the Android app markets work. By the time you finish this course, you should have a solid foundation in Android fundamentals and be ready to start learning how to develop Android applications in the upcoming courses in this series. Whatever your level of programming experience, this course series will get you building your own apps and games in Android quickly, and we'll have fun doing it. And even if you are already an Android developer, you may find the in depth understanding of how Android works that you will learn from this course valuable.