TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO ANDROIDTECHNOLOGY DESIGN

FEATURES OTHER MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS VERSION HISTORY ANDROID APPLICATIONS FUTURE OF SMARTPHONE HOW ANDROID IS DIFFERENT CONCLUSION

Android technology
Introduction
World is contracting with the growth of mobile phone technology. As the number of users is increasing day by day, facilities are also increasing. Starting with simple regular handsets which were used just for making phone calls, mobiles have changed our lives and have become part of it. Now they are not used just for making calls but they have innumerable uses and can be used as a Camera , Music player, Tablet PC, T.V. , Web browser etc . And with the new technologies, new software and operating systems are required.

Operating Systems have developed a lot in last 15 years. Starting from black and white phones to recent smart phones or mini computers, mobile OS has come far away. Especially for smart phones, Mobile OS has greatly evolved from Palm OS in 1996 to Windows pocket PC in 2000 then to Blackberry OS and Android.One of the most widely used mobile OS these days is ANDROID.

Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Android is a software bunch comprising not only operating system but also middleware and key applications. Android Inc was founded in Palo Alto of California, U.S. by Andy Rubin, Rich miner, Nick sears and Chris White in 2003. Later Android Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005. After original release there have been number of updates in the original version of Android.

Design
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. Android uses the Dalvik virtual machine with just-in-time compilation to run Dalvik dex-code (Dalvik Executable), which is usually translated from Java bytecode. 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.

 Features
Current features and specifications
1. 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.

2. Storage
SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes.

3. Connectivity
Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, NFC and WiMAX.

4. 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.

5. Multiple language support

Android supports multiple languages.

6. Web browser
The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. The browser scores 100/100 on the Acid3 test on Android 4.0.

7. 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.

8. 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, BMP.

9. 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 Android, and by the operating system in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).

10.

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.

11.

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. 12.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.

13.

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.

14.

Multitasking

Multitasking of applications is available.

15.

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.

16.

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.

17.

Screen capture

Android supports capturing a screenshot by pressing the power and volumedown buttons at the same time. Prior to Android 4.0, the only methods of capturing a screenshot were through manufacturer and third-party customizations or otherwise by using a PC connection (DDMS developer's tool). These alternative methods are still available with the latest Android.

18.

External storage

Most Android devices include microSD slot and can read microSD cards formatted with FAT32, Ext3fs or Ext4fs file system. To allow use of highcapacity storage media such as USB flash drives and USB HDDs, many Android tablets also include USB 'A' receptacle. Storage formatted with FAT32 is handled by Linux Kernel VFAT driver, while 3rd party solutions are required to handle other popular file systems such as NTFS, HFS Plus and exFAT.

 Other Mobile Operating Systems

There are different other Mobile operating systems also present in market in competition with Android. Apple's iOS and Windows Phone give strong competition to Android. A simple comparison between features and specifications of latest version of Android and other Operating Systems can be seen in the table given below.

 Version history

v5.x Jellybean
Android 5.0 named as Jellybean is about to launch in the market.

ANDROID APPLICATIONS: Communication 1. Android Privacy Guard(APG) 2. ConnectBot 3. Funambol 4. Orbot Emulators 1. Scummvm Games 1. Fish Fillets NG

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. General

Frozen Bubble GLtron Nethack Android Simon Tatham's Puzzles Warmux

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Android's Fortune Barcode Scanner FBReaderJ Rockbox Tomdroid

Future of smartphone
The next generation of smartphones is going to be contextaware, taking advantage of the growing availability of embedded physical sensors and data exchange abilities. One of the main features applying to this is that the phones will start keeping track of your personal data, but adapt to anticipate the information you will need based on your intentions. There will be all-new applications coming out with the new phones, one of which is an X-Ray device that reveals information about any location at which you point your phone. One thing companies are developing software to take advantage of more accurate location-sensing data. How they described it was as wanting to make the phone a virtual mouse able to click the real world. An example of this is where you can point the phone's camera while having the live feed open and it will show text with the building and saving the location of the building for future use.

 How Android Is Different

One of the key differences between Android technology and other smart phone systems is that it is open for modification. This gives vendors the opportunity to change and enhance their products based on their own preferences. This has created many versions of Android phones, which can vary by vendor, as well as a range of other devices that use this platform. In 2011, Google introduced a new arena for Android when it announced plans to launch Android@Home, a network that could allow users to automate and control home appliances

 CONCLUSION
Cell phones have really evolved earlier features like camera and music player but now latest hardwares not Only support such features but advanced use of such features as well as Bar code scanner, text scanner etc which has made life better and simpler and Android has played an instrumental role in this evolution with thousands of applications available in Android market And open chance for developers to make it more Advanced and better. In a way Android has changed its users' life completely.