What is Android?

Mobile Application
Development
Introduction
What is Android?
• Android is an operating system based on the Linux

kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile
devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
• Google’s Andy Rubin describes Android as follows:
“The first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile
devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and
applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone but
without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile
innovation.”
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Brief History of Android
• Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed

financially and later bought in 2005.
• The project responsible for developing the Android system is

called the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) and is primarily
lead by Google with Open Handheld Alliance (OHA). OHA ,
established on 5th Nov 2007, is a group of 84 technology and
mobile companies, including Google, Intel, Dell, HTC and China
Mobile…
• The consortium was created in order to develop and promote

Android as a free open-source operating system with support 3
Brief History of
Android (Cont.)
Android was unveiled in

2007. The first publicly
available smartphone
running Android, the HTC
Dream, was released on
October 22, 2008.
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Market share of mobile operating
systems worldwide 2009-2023
• Android maintained its position as the leading mobile

operating system worldwide in the fourth quarter of
2023 with a market share of 70.1 percent.
• Android's closest rival, Apple's iOS, had a market

share of 29.2 percent during the same period.
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-share-held-by-mobile-operating-systems-since-2009/
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https://explodingtopics.com/blog/iphone-android-users
Android OS market share by version
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https://gs.statcounter.com/android-version-market-share/mobile-tablet/worldwide/#monthly-202301-
Variations in Device Capabilities
• Screen Size
• Touchscreen
• Processing Power
• GPS
• RAM
• Accelerometer
• Storage
• Gyroscope
• Battery Life
• Barometer
• GSM/EDGE
• Magnetometer
• Wi-Fi
• Dedicated gaming control
• Bluetooth
• Proximity and pressure sensors
• Stylus Support
• Accelerated 2D and accelerated 3D
• Video Camera graphics
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Extra Resource
To learn more about the versions of Android and

features included in that versions, see the following
resources
• https://www.androidauthority.com/history-android-os-name-789
433/
• https://codesubmit.io/blog/history-of-android-operating-system/
#how-did-android-start
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Android
Versions,
Name and
API Level
11
Features of Android
• Storage — SQLite, a lightweight relational database, for data storage.
• Connectivity — GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, WiFi, LTE, and
WiMAX.
• Messaging — both SMS and MMS.
• Web browser — Based on the open-source WebKit, together with Chrome’s V8
JavaScript engine
• Media support — 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, WAV,
JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP
• Hardware support — Accelerometer Sensor, Camera, Digital Compass, Proximity
Sensor, and GPS
• Multi-touch — multi-touch screens
• Multi-tasking —multi-tasking applications
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• Tethering — Supports sharing of Internet connections as a wired/wireless hotspot
Architecture
of Android
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Architecture of Android (Cont.)
Linux Kernel
• Core services (including hardware drivers, process

and memory management, security, network, and
power management) are handled by a Linux 2.6
kernel.
• The kernel also provides an abstraction layer between

the hardware and the remainder of the stack.
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Libraries
• Running on top of the kernel, Android includes various

C/C++ core libraries such as libc and SSL, as well as:
• A media library for playback of audio and video media
• A Surface manager to provide display management
• Graphics libraries that include SGL and OpenGL for 2D and 3D
graphics
• SQLite for native database support
• SSL and WebKit for integrated web browser and Internet security
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Android Run time
• What makes an Android phone an Android phone rather than a mobile
Linux implementation is the Android run time.
• Including the core libraries and the Dalvik virtual machine, the Android
run time is the engine that powers your applications and, along with
the libraries, forms the basis for the application framework.
• Core Libraries: While Android development is done in Java, Dalvik is not a
Java VM. The core Android libraries provide most of the functionality available
in the core Java libraries as well as the Android-specific libraries.
• Dalvik Virtual Machine: Dalvik is a register-based virtual machine that’s
been optimized to ensure that a device can run multiple instances efficiently. It
relies on the Linux kernel for threading and low-level memory management.
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Application Framework
• The application framework exposes the various capabilities of the
Android OS to application developers so that they can make use of
them in their applications.
• Consist of API which allows high-level interactions with the Android
system from Android applications.
• Managing the lifecycle of applications
• Providing access to non-code resources (localized string, graphics, and layout
files)
• Enabling applications to access data from other applications or to share their
own data
• Providing user interface components
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• etc.
Application Layer
At this top layer, you will find applications that ship with the
Android device (such as Phone, Contacts, Browser, etc.), as well
as applications that you download and install from the Android
Market. Any applications that you write are located at this layer.
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What is Android?

Uploaded by

What is Android?

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Mobile Application

• Android is an operating system based on the Linux

• Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed

• The project responsible for developing the Android system is

• The consortium was created in order to develop and promote

Android was unveiled in

• Android maintained its position as the leading mobile

• Android's closest rival, Apple's iOS, had a market

To learn more about the versions of Android and

• Core services (including hardware drivers, process

• The kernel also provides an abstraction layer between

• Running on top of the kernel, Android includes various

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