ur first steps programing for this platform, including API's brought to you by Google, both for control of the device's features and for integration of all services, apart from a debugger, an emulator for you to test the apps on your PC, and a huge amount of information for you to use when learning to program on Android using Java.
Android is a Linux-based kernel operating system that uses a virtual machine to run the apps, and offers support for all the usual features on modern devices, such as 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, touch screens, among others which are all now commonplace on any smartphone or tablet.