ANDROID TECHNOLOGY

Meaning : An automaton that resembles a human being

Outline
What is Android? What is OHA? History Versions Android Apps Android Architecture Features Uses Security

What is Android?
A free, open source and fully customizable software platform and operating system for mobile devices. Smart phones and Tablet computer etc. Developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005.

What is Android?
Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) Android is under version 2 of the Apache Software License (ASL)

What is OHA?
The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a consortium of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices.

What is OHA?
Develop technologies that will significantly lower the cost of developing and distributing mobile devices and services.

History
Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick and Chris White. Google acquired Android Inc. on August 17, 2005, making Android Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Google Inc.

History
The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is led by Google, and is tasked with the maintenance and development of Android. According to the project "The goal of the Android Open Source Project is to create a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users. "

Versions
Android has seen a number of updates since its original release, each fixing bugs and adding new features. Each version is named, in alphabetical order, after a dessert.

 2.3 Gingerbread : refined the user interface, improved the soft keyboard and copy/paste features, improved gaming performance, added SIP support (VoIP calls), and added support for Near Field Communication. 3.0 Honeycomb : tablet-oriented release, supports larger screen devices, support for multi-core processors, hardware acceleration for graphics. 3.1 Honeycomb : USB host mode for transferring information directly from cameras and other devices, and the Google Movies and Books apps. 3.2 Honeycomb : new "zoom-to-fill" screen compatibility mode, loading media files directly from SD card, and an extended screen support API.

 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich : brought Honeycomb features to smartphones and added new features including facial recognition unlock, network data usage monitoring and control, unified social networking contacts, photography enhancements, offline email searching, app folders, and information sharing using NFC.

Android Architecture

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.

Application Framework

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

Libraries

System C library - tuned for embedded Linux-based devices Media Libraries - 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 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

Android Runtime

Every Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine. The Dalvik VM executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format. The Dalvik VM relies on the Linux kernel for underlying functionality such as threading and low-level memory management.

Linux Kernel
Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. The kernel also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the rest of the software stack.

Development
Android applications can be developed by installing Android SDK from its official site. You can also publish your apps in Android Market. One can also begin to work on creating own applications for the platform by using http://code.google.com/android

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
Slate, 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 (C2DM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging service.

Features
Web browser
The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit layout engine.

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 battery-powered mobile devices with limited memory and CPU. J2ME support can be provided via third-party applications.

Features
Media support
Android supports the various media formats: MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB, MP3, MIDI, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, etc.

Multiple language support

Additional hardware support

Features
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 touch-screen 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 sending files , accessing the phone book, voice dialing and sending contacts between phones. Keyboard, mouse and joystick support is available in Android 3.1+, and in earlier versions through manufacturer customizations and third-party applications.

Features
Video calling
Android does not support native video calling, but some handsets have a customized version of the operating system that supports it.

Multitasking
Multitasking of applications is available.

Voice based features

Features
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 third-party applications or manufacturer customizations.

Screen capture
Android supports capturing a screenshot by pressing the power and volume-down buttons at the same time.

Android Apps
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. Apps can be downloaded from third-party sites or through online stores such as Android Market, the app store run by Google.

Android Apps
As of October 2011 there were more than 400,000 apps available for Android . As of December 2011 estimated number of applications downloaded from the Android Market exceeded 10 billion. Android apps are available in Android Market.

Uses
The open and customizable nature of the Android operating system allows it to be used on most electronics, including but not limited to: smartphones, fixed phones, laptops, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet computers, E-book readers, TVs (Google TV), wristwatches, headphones, Car CD and DVD players, digital cameras, Portable media players and other devices.

Security
Android applications run in a sandbox, an isolated area of the operating system that does not have access to the rest of the system's resources, unless access permissions are granted by the user when the application is installed. Before installing an application, Android Market displays all required permissions.

Why Android?
OS is similar to Windows that controls your desktop or laptop personal computers. Google fully developed Android and make it into an Open Source. Now, any phone manufacturer can use Android without expensive license fee from Google. Because it is Open, manufacturer can modify Android without restriction, allowing it to fit the device they are making - total freedom. This makes it a big incentive for any device manufacturers to adopt Android. The ability to run tens of thousands of apps is another big incentive.

Future

Video
Features of Android OS and its device. Highlights of Some Advanced Features.

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org http://developer.android.com http://www.youtube.com