| Contents

Ê What is Android ?
Ê Why Android is a good option?
Ê History and Licensing of Android
Ê Android Platform : Overview
Ê Features
Ê Update History
Ê Software Development Kit
Ê Native Code
Ê Some Information
Ê Final Verdict
Ê Bibliography
| What is Android ?
Ê Android is a mobile operating system running on Linux kernel.
kernel

Ê Initially it was developed by Google and then by Open Handset Alliance.

Alliance.

Ê It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language , controlling

the device via Google-developed Java libraries.
| Why Android is a good option?
Ê Android was designed as a platform for software development so it has :

ƥ Full community support.

ƥ Full tool support.

Ê Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License,
License, making it
a free software and open source license.

Ê It is a software for mobiles that includes an OS, middleware and key

applications.
 | History

Ê In July 2005, Google Inc. took over Android Inc. ƛ a small startup company
based in Palo Alto, California, USA.

Ê After takeover, Google started developing a mobile device platform powered

by the Linux kernel trying to provide Ɲa
Ɲ flexible and upgradeable systemƞ..

Ê Finally on 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance,

Alliance, a consortium of
several companies which include Texas Instruments,
Instruments, Broadcom Corporation,
Corporation,
Google,, HTC
Google HTC,, Intel
Intel,, LG
LG,, Motorola
Motorola,, NVIDIA
NVIDIA,, Samsung Electronics,
Electronics, etc. was
unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.

Ê Later on 14 more members joined the alliance including : Sony Ericsson,

Ericsson,
Toshiba Corp.,
Corp., etc.
| Open Handset Alliance
| Licensing
Ê One of the major advantage of Android is its licensing terms.

Ê Except its brief update periods, it has been available as open source.

Ê Google opened the entire source code (including network and telephony
stacks) under an Apache License.
License.

Ê Apache License benefits vendors to freely add proprietary extensions without

submitting those back to the open source community.
Android Platform : Overview
Ê Pics of Androidƞs home screen
| Features - I
Ê 
Adaptable to VGA
a
 
Adaptable VGA,, 2D graphics library,
library, 3D graphics library
based on OpenGL ES 1.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts.

Ê The Database Software SQLite is used for data storage purposes.

!  The

Ê M

Supports connectivity technologies including GSM

M

Supports GSM//EDGE
EDGE,, CDMA
CDMA,,
EV--DO,
EV DO, UMTS
UMTS,, Bluetooth
Bluetooth,, and Wi
Wi--Fi
Fi..

Ê 
SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging including threaded

 
SMS
text messaging.

Ê  The web browser available in Android is based on the open-
 The open-
source WebKit application framework.
| Features - II
Ê 
 Software written in Java can be compiled to be executed in
ð  
 Software
the Dalvik virtual machine,
machine, which is a specialized VM implementation designed
for mobile device use, although not technically a standard Java Virtual
Machine.

Ê  
  : It supports the following audio/video/still media formats:
H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB, AAC, HE-AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG
Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP.

Ê O 



 : Includes a device emulator, tools for

debugging, memory and performance profiling and a plug-in for the Eclipse
IDE.

Ê 

It supports multi-touch feature - available in newer phones like
HTC HERO.
| Features - III
Ê ?
 
 : Video/still camera, touch screen, GPS, accelerometer,
magnetometer, accelerated 2D bitblits (with hardware orientation, scaling,
pixel format conversion ) and accelerated 3D graphics.

Ê 
 : Supports ARM, MIPS,
a  
 : MIPS, x86 and Power architecture micro
processor architectures.

Ê !  
 : Eyes ƛ free user interfaces. Other user interfaces are
tones, vibrant alarm, sensors and actuators.

Ê M



?
  : Dell Mini3i,
Mini3i, General Mobile DSTL1,
DSTL1,
Highscreen PP5420,
PP5420, HTC Dream(G1),
Dream(G1), HTC Magic,
Magic, HTC Hero(G2),
Hero(G2), HTC Click,
Click,
Motorola Heron,
Heron, Philips V900,
V900, Samsung 15700,
15700, Sony Ericsson Xperia X3,etc.
X3,etc.
 Devices

HTC HERO

SONY ERICSSON XPERIA X3

MOTOROLA HERON
 DELL MINI 3I

PHILIPS V900
HTCƞs Android model
GPS feature in Android
Iris recognition feature
| Update History
Ê Android has seen a number of updates since its original release. These updates
to the base Operating System typically fix bugs and add new features.

It was launched on 30 April 2009. Its some features are

:
ƥ Ability to record and watch video with camcorder
1.5(Cupcake)
1.5 (Cupcake) mode.
ƥ Expanded ability of Copy and Paste including web
pages.
ƥ Animations between screens.
 Launched on 30 September 2009. Included features
are :
1.6 (Donut)
ƥ Improved Android Market experience.
ƥ Updated Voice Search, with faster response and
deeper integration, including ability to dial contacts.
ƥ Support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1xVPN, Gestures,
etc.
ƥ Speed improvements for searching, the camera.

Launched on 26 October 2009. Its features are :

2.0 (Éclair) ƥ Optimized hardware speed.
ƥ ƠCar Homeơ app.
ƥ Revamped UI.
ƥ Improved Google Maps 3.1.2.
ƥ Digital Zoom.
ƥ Bluetooth 2.1.
| Software Development Kit
Ê It includes a comprehensive set of development tools. These includes a
debugger, libraries, a handset emulator, documentation, sample code and
tutorials.

Ê Currently supported development platforms are Linux

Linux,, Mac OS X 10.4.8,
10.4.8,
Windows XP or Vista
Vista..

Ê Requirement also includes Java Development Kit,

Kit, Apache Ant and Python 2.2 or
later.

Ê Officially supported IDE is Eclipse 3.2 or later.

| Native Code
Ê Libraries written in C and other languages can be compiled to ARM Native
Code and installed using Android Native Development Kit. They can be called
using !

  from Dalvik VM.

Ê Android uses Skia Graphic Library (SGL) to arbitrate and control access.

Ê Skia has backend for both win32 and Cairo, allowing development of cross-
cross-
platform applications.
| Restrictions and Issues
Ê Linux is its kernel
kernel,, but acc. to Google
Google,, it is not a conventional Linux
distribution. It doesnƞt have X Windows System nor does it supports full set of
standard GNU libraries. This makes it difficult to reuse existing Linux
applications or libraries on Android.

Ê It doesnƞt use established Java standards.

standards.

Ê Poor responsiveness, due to limitations of Dalvikƞs automatic memory

management.

Ê Due to security issues, it doesnƞt allow apps to be installed on an SD card.

| Some Findings
Ê Android uses proven technologies like Java
Java,, Linux and XML
XML..

Ê It offers a rich API for application development.

Ê It doesnƞt have many limitations like other platforms have.

Ê It currently offers over 10,000 applications for download.

| Some Figures
Ê 1.14 billion handsets delivered in 2007 (computers 271.2 million)6.

Ê 118 million were smart phones.

Ê Currently more than 11 mobile platforms are there in market.

Ê Symbian leads with 65% share, ahead of Microsoft on 12%, RIM on 11%,
Apple on 7%, and Linux at 5%.
| Final Verdict
Ê Because of its open source nature and unique OS design, OHAƞs Android
greatly improves programming scope for developers.

Ê Provides a better user experience than most OSƞs out there in the market.

Ê Most of the applications are fast, responsive and seamless.

Ê Experts says, web browsing experience in Android is good.

Ê Overall, it will be a thing to be watched in near future.

 Bibliography

Ê www.wikipedia.com

Ê For images : www.google.com

Ê Digit Fast Track To Your Mobile Phone (October 2009)

Ê www.thinkdigit.com
r



 Thank
youƦ!!!!