Android

Google
 Android
An Open Handset Alliance Project
• http://code.google.com/android 
• Write apps to run on mobile phones
• Will be released as open source
• Can download the SDK today.
Android Features

• Application Framework
• Dalvik virtual machine
• Integrated (webkit) browser
• 2D and 3D graphics APIs with HW
• SQLite
• Video and audio codecs
• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi
• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer
Android Architecture
Challenges

• CPU typically runs 500-600 Mhz

• RAM available to an App may only be a few megabytes
• Disk (flash) access is very slow
• Lifecycle - apps must pause/quit often, and restore to give
the illusion that they are always running
• UI design
o typical screen may be HVGA (320x480)
o may be in portrait or landscape
o very high DPI - small text may not be readable
o touch resolution is very low (~25 pixel)
• Network access may be slow and (very) intermittent
Opportunities

• 100s of millions of mobile phone users

• Very high growth, esp. in Asia
• "Wild wild west" of application development
o think 1985 on the desktop (if you were born by then)
o no dominant 3rd party developers.... yet
o what will the killer app categories be?
o what does it mean to have any app + the internet in
your pocket?
• You can develop for it today!
Possibilities
Augmented Campus Reality
• camera + maps + compass
= heads up info
Games
• multi-player (bluetooth,
wifi, cell)
• location-based (scavenger
hunt)
Custom overlays for maps
• weather, traffic, friends
Web scraping
• news filters
• sport scores
• dook news eliminators
Distributed computing?
• 10,000 phones all donating
their idle time
• tiny terminal (phone) + fast
cpu/network (server)
Shared whiteboard
Project Suggestions
• Web Scrapers [movies, weather, sports, <topic> news]
o Find multiple web sources
o Scrape them for the relevant information
o Present in a custom UI on the phone
• Asynchronous games [chess, poker, risk]
o Develop an API for all games to communicate through
1.Establish connections by phone number
2.Send and receive game data
3.Ability to reopen connections 
• Planner/To-do list with location data
o Decide route to next class, meeting, etc
o Find a order/route for non time-critical tasks
o Connect to campus directory to find
teachers/classmates