difference between android and linux?

[TRS-80]

Here is further info substantiating some of what zetabeta said: Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary

N.B.: That article was originally written in 2013(!), and updated in 2018.  It's only got worse since then.

Do you know how some of us pedantic neckbeards like to say 'ACKTCHUALLY, ALLOW ME TO INTERJECT, it's GNU Linux...', well yes it's a joke/meme, however this is the underlying truth.  Essentially, Android is what you get when you replace all the standard GNU system interfaces and userland around the Linux kernel with something different.

Android, IMO, is just enough like Linux to get you excited about it, but not enough to be actually useful, nor fit in with the rest of your otherwise homogeneous (GNU/Linux) computing environment.  Finally I had enough of Google's shenanigans and jumped ship to PinePhone.  And I (personally) am so glad for it, even with all the rough edges (which get less and less all the time BTW).