Android OS Report
Android OS Report
Android OS Report
Android is an operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers initially developed by Android Inc. Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005. The unveiling of the Android distribution on November 5, 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 84 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software license. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.
Android consists of a kernel based on the Linux kernel, with middleware, libraries and APIs written in C and application software running on an application framework which includes Java-compatible libraries based on Apache Harmony. Libraries written in C include the surface manager, OpenCore media framework, SQLite relational database management system, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics API, WebKit layout engine, SGL graphics engine, SSL, and Bionic libc. Android uses the Dalvik virtual machine with justin-time compilation to run Dalvik bytecode, which is usually translated from Java bytecode.
Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java. There are currently approximately 300,000 apps available for Android, from a total of 500,000 apps over the life of Android. Apps can be downloaded from third-party sites or through online stores such as Android Market, the app store run by Google.
The Android operating system consists of 12 million lines of code including 3 million lines of XML, 2.8 million lines of C, 2.1 million lines of Java, and 1.75 million lines of C++. Android was listed as the best-selling smartphone platform worldwide in Q4 2010 by Canalys with over 190 million Android devices in use by October 2011.
Chapter 2 History:
2.1 Foundation:
Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire
Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences". Despite the obvious past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on software for mobile phones.
Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through December 2006. Reports from the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noted that Google wanted its search and applications on mobile phones and it was working hard to deliver that. Print and online media outlets soon reported rumors
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that Google was developing a Google-branded handset. Some speculated that as Google was defining technical specifications, it was showing prototypes to cell phone manufacturers and network operators. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.
2.5 Licensing:
With the exception of brief update periods, Android has been available under free and open source software licenses from October 21, 2008 until March 2011. Google published the source code for their Linux kernel changes under the GNU General Public License version 2, and the rest of the code (including network and telephony stacks) under the Apache License version 2.0. Google also keeps the reviewed issues list publicly open for anyone to see and comment.
The Open Handset Alliance develops the GPL-licensed part of Android that is their changes to the Linux kernel, in public, with source code publicly available at all times. The rest of Android is developed in private, with source code released publicly when a major new version is released. Typically Google collaborates with a hardware
manufacturer to produce a flagship device featuring the new version of Android, then makes the source code available after that device has been released. In early 2011, Google chose to withhold the Android source code to the tablet-only Honeycomb release, creating doubts over Google's commitment to open source with Android. The reason, according to Andy Rubin in an official Android blog post, was because Honeycomb was rushed for production of the Motorola Xoom, and they did not want third parties creating a "really bad user experience" by attempting to put onto smartphones a version of Android intended for tablets. Google later confirmed that the Honeycomb source code would not be released until after it was merged with the Gingerbread release in Ice Cream Sandwich.
Even though the software is open source, device manufacturers cannot use Google's Android trademark unless Google certifies that the device complies with their Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). Devices must also meet this definition to be eligible to license Google's closed-source applications, including the Android Market.
In September 2010, Skyhook Wireless filed a lawsuit against Google in which they alleged that Google had used the compatibility document to block Skyhook's mobile positioning service (XPS) from Motorola's Android mobile devices. In December 2010 a judge denied Skyhook's motion for preliminary injunction, saying that Google had not closed off the possibility of accepting a revised version of Skyhook's XPS service, and that Motorola had terminated their contract with Skyhook because Skyhook wanted to disable Google's location data collection functions on Motorola's devices, which would have violated Motorola's obligations to Google and its carriers.
Chapter 3 Design:
3.1 Linux:
Android's kernel is a fork of the Linux kernel and has further architecture changes by Google outside the typical Linux kernel development cycle. Android does not have a native X Window System nor does it support the full set of standard GNU libraries, and this makes it difficult to port existing Linux applications or libraries to Android. Certain features Google contributed back to the kernel, notably a power management feature called wakelocks, were rejected by mainline kernel developers, partly because kernel maintainers felt that Google did not show any intent to maintain their own code. Even though Google announced in April 2010 that they would hire two employees to work with the Linux kernel community, Greg Kroah-Hartman, the current Linux kernel maintainer for the -stable branch, said in December 2010 that he was concerned that Google was no longer trying to get their code changes included in mainstream Linux. Some Google Android developers hinted that "the Android team was getting fed up with the process", because they were a small team and had more urgent work to do on Android. However, in September 2010 Linux kernel developer Rafael J. Wysocki added a patch that improved the mainline Linux wakeup events framework. He said that Android device drivers that use wakelocks can now be easily merged into mainline Linux, but that Android's opportunistic suspend features should not be included in the mainline kernel. In 2011 Linus Torvalds said that "eventually Android and Linux would come back to a common kernel, but it will probably not be for four to five years."
3.2 Features:
Handset layouts: The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts. Storage: SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes. Connectivity: Android supports connectivity technologies including
GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, NFC and WiMAX. Messaging: SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text messaging and now Android Cloud to Device Messaging Framework (C2DM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging service. Multiple language support: Android supports multiple human languages. The number of languages more than doubled for the platform 2.3 Gingerbread. Web browser: The web browser available in Android is based on the opensource WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. The browser scores a 95/100 on the Acid3 Test. Java support: While most Android applications are written in Java, there is no Java Virtual Machine in the platform and Java byte code is not executed. Java classes are compiled into Dalvik executables and run on Dalvik, a specialized virtual machine designed specifically for Android and optimized for batterypowered mobile devices with limited memory and CPU. J2ME support can be provided via third-party applications. Media support: Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: WebM, H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP. Streaming media support: RTP/RTSP streaming (3GPP PSS, ISMA), HTML progressive download (HTML5 <video> tag). Adobe Flash Streaming (RTMP) and HTTP Dynamic streaming are supported by the Flash plugin. Apple HTTP
Live Streaming is supported by RealPlayer for Mobile, and by the operating system in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Additional hardware support: Android can use video/still cameras,
touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, magnetometers, dedicated gaming controls, proximity and pressure sensors, thermometers, accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics. Multi-touch: Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was originally disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple's patents on touchscreen technology at the time). Google has since released an update for the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively. Bluetooth: Supports A2DP, AVRCP, sending files (OPP), accessing the phone book (PBAP), voice dialing and sending contacts between phones. Keyboard, mouse and joystick (HID) support is available in Android 3.1+, and in earlier versions through manufacturer customizations and third-party applications. Video calling: Android does not support native video calling, but some handsets have a customized version of the operating system that supports it, either via the UMTS network (like the Samsung Galaxy S) or over IP. Video calling through Google Talk is available in Android 2.3.4 and later. Gingerbread allows Nexus S to place Internet calls with a SIP account. This allows for enhanced VoIP dialing to other SIP accounts and even phone numbers. Skype 2.1 offers video calling in Android 2.3, including front camera support. Multitasking: Multitasking of applications is available. Voice based features: Google search through voice has been available since initial release. Voice actions for calling, texting, navigation, etc. are supported on Android 2.2 onwards. Tethering: Android supports tethering, which allows a phone to be used as a wireless/wired Wi-Fi hotspot. Before Android 2.2 this was supported by thirdparty applications or manufacturer customizations.
Screen capture: Android has native support for screenshot capture ability by pressing the power and volume buttons at the same time on an Android device. This native support came about with the release of Android's 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update which is first seen on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Previously Android did not feature native support for screen capturing which would have likely been due to security concerns. Furthermore previously, manufacturer and third-party customizations as well as using a PC connection (DDMS developer's tool) were the only known methods of capturing a screenshot on Android.
4.1 Applications:
Android will ship with a set of core applications including an email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, browser, contacts, and others. All applications are written using the Java programming language.
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Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application may then make use of those capabilities (subject to security constraints enforced by the framework). This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the user. Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including: A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser. Content Providers that enable applications to access data from other applications (such as Contacts), or to share their own data. A Resource Manager, providing access to non-code resources such as localized strings, graphics, and layout files. A Notification Manager that enables all applications to display custom alerts in the status bar. An Activity Manager that manages the lifecycle of applications and provides a common navigation backstack.
4.3 Libraries:
Android includes a set of C/C++ libraries used by various components of the Android system. These capabilities are exposed to developers through the Android application framework. Some of the core libraries are listed below: System C library: A BSD-derived implementation of the standard C system library (libc), tuned for embedded Linux-based devices. Media Libraries: Based on PacketVideo's OpenCORE; the libraries support playback and recording of many popular audio and video formats, as well as static image files, including MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG. Surface Manager: Manages access to the display subsystem and seamlessly composites 2D and 3D graphic layers from multiple applications.
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LibWebCore: A modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an embeddable web view. SGL: The underlying 2D graphics engine. 3D libraries: An implementation based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs; the libraries use either hardware 3D acceleration (where available) or the included, highly optimized 3D software rasterizer. FreeType: Bitmap and vector font rendering. SQLite: A powerful and lightweight relational database engine available to all applications.
The Dalvik VM relies on the Linux kernel for underlying functionality such as threading and low-level memory management.
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On 18 August 2008 the Android 0.9 SDK beta was released. This release provided an updated and extended API, improved development tools and an updated design for the home screen. Detailed instructions for upgrading are available to those already working
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with an earlier release. On 23 September 2008 the Android 1.0 SDK (Release 1) was released. According to the release notes, it included "mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added". It also included several API changes from the 0.9 version. Android applications are packaged in .apk format (which is simply a ZIP file with a particular internal file layout that allows it to be run in place, without unpacking ) and stored under /data/app folder on the Android OS (the folder is accessible to root user only for security reasons). APK package contains .dex files (compiled byte code files called Dalvik executable), resource files, etc.
In August 2010, Google launched "Voice Actions for Android", which allows users to search, write messages, and initiate calls by voice.
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Those firmware packages are updated frequently, incorporate elements of Android functionality that haven't yet been officially released within a carrier-sanctioned firmware, and tend to have fewer limitations. CyanogenMod and VillainROM are two examples of such firmware. On 24 September 2009, Google issued a cease and desist letter to the modder Cyanogen, citing issues with the re-distribution of Google's closed-source applications within the custom firmware. Even though most of Android OS is open source, phones come packaged with closed-source Google applications for functionality such as the application store and GPS navigation. Google has asserted that these applications can only be provided through approved distribution channels by licensed distributors. Cyanogen has complied with Google's wishes and is continuing to distribute this mod without the proprietary software. He has provided a method to back up licensed Google applications during the mod's install process and restore them when it is complete.
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Chapter 6 Applications:
6.1 Android market:
Android Market is the online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An application program ("app") called "Market" is preinstalled on most Android devices and allows users to browse and download apps published by third-party developers, hosted on Android Market. As of December 2010 there were about 200,000 games, applications and widgets available on the Android Market. In April 2011 Google said there had been more than 3 billion Android apps installed and at end of June 2011 there are 6 billion apps installs from the Android market. The operating system itself is installed on 130 million total devices.
Only devices that comply with Google's compatibility requirements are allowed to preinstall Google's closed-source Android Market app and access the Market. The Market filters the list of applications presented by the Market app to those that are compatible with the user's device, and developers may restrict their applications to particular carriers or countries for business reasons.
Google has participated in the Android Market by offering several applications themselves, including Google Voice (for the Google Voice service), Sky Map (for watching stars), Finance (for their finance service), Maps Editor (for their MyMaps service), Places Directory (for their Local Search), Google Goggles that searches by image, Gesture Search (for using finger-written letters and numbers to search the contents of the phone), Google Translate, Google Shopper, Listen for podcasts and My Tracks, a jogging application. In August 2010, Google launched "Voice Actions for Android" which allows users to search, write messages, and initiate calls by voice.
Alternatively, users can install apps from third party app stores such as the Amazon Appstore, or directly onto the device if they have the application's APK file.
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Some Android malware incidents have been reported involving rogue applications on Android Market. In some cases applications which contained trojans were hidden in pirated versions of legitimate apps. Google has responded by removing malicious apps from the Android Market, and remotely disabling them on infected devices. Security firms such as AVG Technologies and Symantec have released antivirus software for Android devices.
6.3 Privacy:
Android smartphones have the ability to report the location of Wi-Fi access points, encountered as phone users move around, to build vast databases containing the physical locations of hundreds of millions of such access points. These databases form electronic maps to locate smartphones, allowing them to run apps like Foursquare, Latitude, Places, and to deliver location-based ads.
One design issue is that average users cannot monitor how applications access and use private and sensitive data (e.g. location and hardware ID numbers). Even during installation, permission checks do not often indicate to the user how critical services and data will be used or misused. Third party monitoring software such as TaintDroid, an academic research-funded project, can identify personal information sent from applications to remote servers.
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Chapter 7 Uses:
The Android operating system is used on smartphones, laptops, netbooks, tablet computers, Google TV, wristwatches, headphones and other devices.
The main hardware platform for Android is the ARM architecture. There is support for x86 from the Android-x86 project, and Google TV uses a special x86 version of Android.
The first commercially available phone to run Android was the HTC Dream, released on 22 October 2008. In early 2010 Google collaborated with HTC to launch its flagship. Android device, the Nexus One. This was followed later in 2010 with the Samsung-made Nexus S and in 2011 with the Galaxy Nexus.
iOS and Android 2.3.3 'Gingerbread' may be set up to dual boot on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch with the help of OpeniBoot and iDroid.
The world's first TV running Android, called Scandinavia, has also been launched by the company People of Lava.
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Chapter 8 Marketing:
The Android logo was designed along with the Droid font family made by Ascender Corporation. Android Green is the color of the Android Robot that represents the Android operating system. The print color is PMS 376C and the RGB color value in hexadecimal is #A4C639, as specified by the Android Brand Guidelines. The custom typeface of Android is called Norad (cf. NORAD). It is only used in the text logo.
Logos
Typeface
Text logo
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In February 2010 ComScore said the Android platform had 9.0% of the U.S. smartphone market, as measured by current mobile subscribers. This figure was up from an earlier estimate of 5.2% in November 2009. By the end of Q3 2010 Android's U.S. market share had grown to 21.4%.
In May 2010, Android's first quarter U.S. sales surpassed that of the rival iPhone platform. According to a report by the NPD group, Android achieved 25% smartphone sales in the US market, up 8% from the December quarter. In the second quarter, Apple's iOS was up by 11%, indicating that Android is taking market share mainly from RIM, and still has to compete with heavy consumer demand for new competitor offerings. Furthermore, analysts pointed to advantages that Android has as a multi-channel, multicarrier OS, which allowed it to duplicate the quick success of Microsoft's Windows Mobile. In Q4 2010 Android had 59% of the total installed user base of Apple's iOS in the U.S. and 46% of the total installed user base of iOS in Europe.
As of June 2011 Google said that 550,000 new Android devices were being activated every dayup from 400,000 per day a month earlier in May 2011, and more than 100 million devices have been activated. Android hit 300,000 activations per day back in December 2010. On July 14, 2011 550,000 Android devices are now activated by Google each day with growth 4.4% per week. On the 1st of August 2011 Canalys estimates Android has about 48% of the smartphone market share. On October 13, 2011, Google announced that there are 190 million Android devices in the market.
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Versions:
Distribution 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich 3.x.x Honeycomb 2.3.x Gingerbread 2.2 Froyo 2.1 Eclair 1.6 Donut 1.5 Cupcake
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Developers have reported that it is difficult to maintain applications on multiple versions of Android, owing to compatibility issues between versions 1.5 and 1.6, especially the different resolution ratios in use among various Android phones. Such problems were pointedly brought into focus as they were encountered during the ADC2 contest. The rapid growth in the number of Android-based phone models with differing hardware capabilities also makes it difficult to develop applications that work on all Android-based phones. As of August 2010, 64% of Android phones run the 2.x versions, and 36% still run the 1.5 and 1.6 versions.
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infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property." Oracle has named Boies, Schiller & Flexner as part of its legal team. Specifically the patent infringement claim references seven patents including United States Patent No. 5,966,702, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Preprocessing and Packaging Class Files", and United States Patent No. 6,910,205, entitled "Interpreting Functions Utilizing a Hybrid of Virtual and Native Machine Instructions". It also references United States Patent No. RE38, 104, (the '104 patent) entitled Method and Apparatus for Resolving Data References in Generated Code authored by James Gosling best known as the father of the Java programming language. According to Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney, Android is based on a clean room reverseengineered version of Java, called Dalvik, which was developed without using any Sun technology or intellectual property. Oracle says Dalvik is a competitor to Java and infringes several of its patents, which are listed in the complaint, and its Java copyright. While officially claiming that "Android is not Java", Google at the same time calls the suit an "attack on Java community", making a distinction between "official Java" and "Java in general". The Free Software Foundation has said that Google could have avoided this suit by building Android on top of Iced Tea whose GPL license provides some protection against patents, instead of implementing it independently under the Apache License. It has also called the suit a "clear attack against someone's freedom to use, share, modify, and redistribute software". However, the FSF also criticized Google, writing that "It's sad to see that Google apparently shunned those protections in order to make proprietary software development easier on Android.", and remarking that Google had not taken any clear position or action against software patents.
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Chapter 10 Bibliography:
Ed, Burnette (November 10, 2009). Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform (2nd ed.). Pragmatic Bookshelf. ISBN 1934356492. http://pragprog.com/titles/eband2/hello-android. Rogers, Rick; Lombardo, John; Mednieks, Zigurd; Meike, Blake (May 1, 2009). Android Application Development: Programming with the Google SDK (1st ed.). O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0596521472. http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596521509. Ableson, Frank; Collins, Charlie; Sen, Robi (May 1, 2009). Unlocking Android: A Developer's Guide (1st ed.). Manning. ISBN 1933988673.
http://www.manning.com/ableson/. Conder, Shane; Darcey, Lauren (September 7, 2009). Android Wireless Application Development (1st ed.). Addison-Wesley Professional.
ISBN 0321627091. http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321627091. Murphy, Mark (June 26, 2009). Beginning Android (1st ed.). Apress. ISBN 1430224193. http://www.apress.com/book/view/1430224193. Hashimi, Sayed Y.; Komatineni, Satya; MacLean, Dave (February 26, 2010). Pro Android 2 (2nd ed.). Apress. ISBN 1430226595.
http://www.apress.com/book/view/1430226595.
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