Looks like an iPhone!
How do you like it? Good quality?
As far as Android goes, the system has to be modified by developers to match the hardware and there are some companies who make specialized systems based on Android. Aliyun OS is a Linux distribution designed for smartphones based on the Android Open Source Project. It is developed by AliCloud, a subsidiary of Chinese company Alibaba Group. It revolves around the idea of bringing cloud functionality to mobile devices. Alyun OS may only be shipping on C2s to the Chinese market at this point, but that's why I asked which you received. Android is more like Linux OS is for computers in the sense that it's open source and anybody can modify it as they see fit. For comparison, Apple completely controls iOS on the iPhone/iPad as it does OS X for the computer hardware... no customization or variation by other companies. So Android on one phone could, in principle, look and function differently dependent upon make/model of phone. I suspect you'll see more variation as time passes, but for now the majority are, for the most part, the same animal with slightly different appearances.
If you have a notification pending, you can access it from your main screen by touching the top of your display and dragging your finger down to the bottom... you should see all pending notifications. From there you can tap each one to access options and activate updates for things such as google apps. So, even though a notification may pop up on the main screen and then disappear, you should be able to see any accumulated notifications via this process.
Don't worry about being new to Android, as I am also; I received my first Android 4 months ago and learn new things all of the time. It takes time and some education to adapt from the iPhone, which was my previous experience.
Just be patient, do your homework and ask questions as necessary.
Hope that helps and please feel welcome to participate at ChinaPhoneArena forums!
Best Wishes!