- What is Android: Introduction, Features & Applications
- What is an Android Operating System & Its Features
- What is an Android Operating System?
- Features of Android Operating System
- Android Architecture
- Linux Kernel
- Libraries
- Android Runtime
- Application Framework
- Applications
- Android Emulator
- Android Versions
- Android Operating System vs. Apple iOS
- Windows Operating System
- How to Change the Operating System of Android Phone?
- Application of Android- Android Application Controlled Remote Robot
- Advantages
What is Android: Introduction, Features & Applications
Dec 7, 2017 · 8 min read
Android is an operating system for mobile phones that is based on the modified version of the Li n ux.Originally Android was developed by the Android Inc.In 2005, Google purchased the Android and took its development work and also its development team.Google wished that Android to be free and open source that can run on any kind of devices such as mobile phones, tablets and even televisions.Android is open source software that contains the operation system, middleware, and key applications.Android provides the open source facility means anyone can download the code and can modified that code and can use that code easily.
Why use Android? : When we moved to one new technology from older technology, then one question occur in our mind that why we use it. Now we are using Android to achieve the following objectives:
§ Market sharing: In the current era, there are lots of android users. Using android development, we can develop our own application and we can publish that application on Google Play.
§ Android provides the application programming interface (API) to develop the android application. Using this API, we can develop full featured application and after completion this app, we can publish this app on Google play and can earn some money.
§ Open Platform: Android provides the open platform facility. Android application can be developed using any kind of operating system.
§ Compatibility: Android provides cross-platform means android application can run on any type screen, size and resolutions including mobile phones, tablets etc. Google provides the facility to run the application only on the compatible devices such as mobile phones or tablets.
§ Geo-location and social networking: Using android application, users are able to share their location via social networking such as Facebook or Twitter.
Advantage of Android:
§ Android provides the unified approach to develop the android application. It means developers need to develop only Android and then application can run on different devices powered by Android.
§ Android is open source means anyone can download the code and can customize according to their need.
The biggest advantage of android is that when we want to check email and at this time, there is no laptop or computer but we have android phone then using the android phone, we can check the emails.
Features of Android:
§ Android provides the various features such as live RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, whether details etc.
§ Android provides the facility for push notifications, GPS, storage facility using SQLite.
§ Android provides the connectivity such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GSM, CDMA, LTE, Wi-Max, NFC etc.
§ Android provides the messaging facilities such as SMS, MMS.
§ Android provides the web browser that uses open-source layout web-kit engine and it is coupled with Google Chrome and support HTML5 and CSS3.
Android version 1.0 (API level — 1)
Android version 1.1 Petit Four (API level — 2)
February 9, 2009
Android version 1.5 Cupcake (API level — 3)
Android version 1.6 Donut (API level — 4)
September 15, 2009
Android version 2.0 Éclair (API level — 5)
October 26, 2009
Android version 2.0.1 Éclair (API level — 6)
December 3, 2009
Android version 2.1.7 Éclair (API level — 7)
January 12, 2010
Android version 2.1.7 Éclair (API level — 7)
January 12, 2010
Android version 2.2 Froyo (API level — 8)
Android version 2.2.1 Froyo (API level — 8)
January 18, 2011
Android version 2.2.2 Froyo (API level — 8)
January 22, 2011
Android version 2.2.3 Froyo (API level — 8)
November 21, 2011
Android version 2.3 Gingerbread (API level — 9)
December 6, 2010
Android version 2.3.1 Gingerbread (API level — 9)
December 10, 2010
Android version 2.3.2 Gingerbread (API level — 9)
Android version 2.3.3 Gingerbread (API level — 10)
February 9, 2011
Android version 2.3.4 Gingerbread (API level — 10)
Android version 2.3.5 Gingerbread (API level — 10)
Android version 2.3.6 Gingerbread (API level — 10)
September 2, 2011
Android version 2.3.7 Gingerbread (API level — 10)
September 21, 2011
Android version 3.0 Honeycomb(API level — 11)
February 22, 2011
Android version 3.1 Honeycomb(API level — 12)
Android version 3.2 Honeycomb(API level — 13)
Android version 3.2.1 Honeycomb(API level — 13)
September 20, 2011
Android version 3.2.2 Honeycomb(API level — 13)
Android version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich(API level — 14)
October 18, 2011
Android version 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich(API level — 14)
November 28, 2011
Android version 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich(API level — 15)
December 16, 2011
Android version 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich(API level — 15)
Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean(API level — 16)
Android version 4.1.1 Jelly Bean(API level — 16)
Android version 4.1.2 Jelly Bean(API level — 16)
Android version 4.2 Jelly Bean(API level — 17)
November 13, 2012
Android version 4.3 Jelly Bean(API level — 18)
Android version 4.4 Kitkat(API level — 19)
October 19, 2013
Android version 4.4.1 Kitkat(API level — 19)
December 5, 2013
Android version 4.4.2 Kitkat(API level — 19)
December 9, 2013
Android version 4.4.3 Kitkat(API level — 19)
Android version 4.4W Kitkat(API level — 20)
Android version 5.0 Lollipop(API level — 21)
November 12, 2014
Android version 5.0.1 Lollipop(API level — 21)
December 2, 2014
Android version 5.0.2 Lollipop(API level — 21)
December 21, 2014
Android version 5.1 Lollipop(API level — 22)
Android version 5.1.1Lollipop(API level — 22)
Android version 6.0 Marshmallow(API level — 23)
Android version 6.0.1 Marshmallow(API level — 23)
December 7, 2015
Android version 7.0 Nougat(API level — 24)
December 7, 2015
Android Framework or Android architecture:Android operating system composed of different software components that are arranged into a stack. The following diagram shows the android architecture:
Android architecture is categorized into following components:
Tools required Android development: Now we are ready to start android application development using the various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Macs.
Operating System: Android supports following platforms:
· Windows XP or later
· Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
Computer Hardware: Before we start installing the required software. First we have to check the following hardware requirement:
· A laptop with 1.6GHz processor with at least 1GB RAM
Installing and configuring tools: We have to install the following tools:
· Java JDK 1.5 or later
· Eclipse IDE or Android Studio
Developing and publishing first application in Eclipse:
· Now we are ready to develop our first android application in Eclipse. First we create a simple “Hello Android” application. To develop this project, there is no need of coding.
· Now we create the first android application.
· Now select File => New => Android Application Projectshown in following diagram and click on Android Application Project.
· When we click on this then a dialog box will open and you have to fill all the details and click on Next and click on Finish button then you will show the following window:
To run the application, we need an emulator called AVD.AVD is a virtual Android device which is able to perform such operation like walk, talks, and act like a physical Android device.To configure the AVD to run any version of Android, the SDK must be downloaded and installed.
How to run Android Application: To run the android application, we have to follow some steps:
· Right click on our project in Project explorer.
· Now select Run As => Android Application
· When we click on Android Application then compilation process starts and some processes like building workspace takes place and after some time, AVD launch the application and starts the application and display the main activity of the application.
· If we have more than one activity then we can change the order of activity means we can run any activity when application will launch.
What is Android activity? :
An activity is a screen in the android application that provides the user interface for the application.An activity provides the user interface to the application.An activity is similar to a GUI form or java swing frame.An activity can present the several user interface components such as label, button, spinner (combo-box), list etc.An activity provides the user interface by which user can perform action to do something such as user wants to select the subject from the spinner, then this work can be easily done.
Creating Android Activity: We have already develop an android project. In that project, we have created an activity called MainActivity. Now we have to open the MainActivity.java file as follows:
public class MainActivity extends Activity
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
In our application, the entry point is onCreate() method. When any activity is created then the android system provides the default implementation code to the onCreate() method. Here we can define our own custom code to perform the specific actions. We can write the code below the setContent(R.layout.activity_main); Always remember we have to call the following method inside the onCreate() method.
This line is very important to run the application because this line is responsible to direct the base Activity class to build the work for the MainActivity class. If we don’t use this line then we get runtime error.
Android Toast: In android, toast is like a notification or like a simple popup message that appears on the screen and disappears automatically after some time.For example, when we send any message to anyone then one message shown to us “Message Sent” and this message disappears after some seconds; it is known as toast.
How to create Toast? :
You can create toast using following syntax:
Context context = getApplicationContext();
CharSequence text = “Hello eitworld”;
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What is an Android Operating System & Its Features
The Android operating system is most frequently used on different mobile platforms around the world. It is occupied approximately 75% of shares in the worldwide market by the end of 2020. A company like Open Handset Alliance has developed the first Android that depends on the customized version of the Linux kernel as well as other open-source software. At the initial stage of 2005, Google sponsored the project & it obtained the entire company. In September 2008, the first Android device was released in the market to dominate the mobile industries due to several features like user friendly, the support of the community is huge, customization, manufacturing of android devices in large companies. Consequently, the market examines the demand to develop Android-supported devices with smart developers. So, the Android operating system became a complete set of operating systems for different devices like wearables, mobiles, notebooks, smart TVs, tablets, set-top boxes, etc.
What is an Android Operating System?
Android is a Linux-based operating system it is designed primarily for touch screens mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The operating system has developed a lot in the last 15 years starting from black and white phones to recent smartphones or mini computers. One of the most widely used mobile OS these days is android. The android is software that was founded in Palo Alto of California in 2003.
Android Operating System
Android is a powerful operating system and it supports a large number of applications on Smartphones. These applications are more comfortable and advanced for users. The hardware that supports android software is based on the ARM architecture platform. The android is an open-source operating system that means that it’s free and anyone can use it. Android has got millions of apps available that can help you manage your life one or another way and it is available at low cost in the market for that reason android is very popular.
Android development supports the full java programming language. Even other packages that are API and JSE are not supported. The first version 1.0 of the android development kit (SDK) was released in 2008 and the latest updated version is a jelly bean.
Features of Android Operating System
The unique features/characteristics of the android operating system include the following.
- Near Field Communication (NFC)
- Alternate Keyboards
- IR Transmission
- No-Touch Control
- Automation
- Wireless App Downloads
- Storage & Battery Swap
- Custom Home Screen
- Widgets
- Custom ROMs
- Headset layout
- Storage
- Connectivity: GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, Bluetooth, WI-FI, EDGE,3G,NFC, LTE,GPS.
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, C2DM (could to device messaging), GCM (Google could messaging)
- Multilanguage support
- Multi-touch
- Video calling
- Screen capture
- External storage
- Streaming media support
- Optimized graphics
Android Architecture
The android is an operating system and is a stack of software components which is divided into five sections and four main layers that is
- Linux kernel
- Libraries
- Android runtime
- Application Framework
- Applications
Android Architecture
Linux Kernel
The android uses the powerful Linux kernel and it supports a wide range of hardware drivers. The kernel is the heart of the operating system that manages input and output requests from the software. This provides basic system functionalities like process management, memory management, device management like camera, keypad, display, etc the kernel handles all the things.
Linux is really good at networking and it is not necessary to interface it to the peripheral hardware. The kernel itself does not interact directly with the user but rather interacts with the shell and other programs as well as with the hardware devices on the system.
Libraries
The on top of a Linux kennel there is a set of libraries including open-source web browsers such as WebKit, library libc. These libraries are used to play and record audio and video. The SQLite is a database that is useful for the storage and sharing of application data. The SSL libraries are responsible for internet security etc.
Android Runtime
The android runtime provides a key component called Dalvik Virtual Machine which is a kind of java virtual machine. It is specially designed and optimized for android. The Dalvik VM is the process virtual machine in the android operating system. It is software that runs apps on android devices.
The Dalvik VM makes use of Linux core features like memory management and multithreading which is in java language. The Dalvik VM enables every Android application to run its own process. The Dalvik VM executes the files in the .dex format.
Application Framework
The application framework layer provides many higher-level services to applications such as windows manager, view system, package manager, resource manager, etc. The application developers are allowed to make use of these services in their applications.
Applications
You will find all the android applications at the top layer and you will write your application and install it on this layer. Examples of such applications are contacts, books, browsers, services, etc. Each application performs a different role in the overall applications.
Android Emulator
The Emulator is a new application in the Android operating system. The emulator is a new prototype that is used to develop and test android applications without using any physical device.
Android Emulator
The android emulator has all of the hardware and software features like mobile devices except phone calls. It provides a variety of navigation and control keys. It also provides a screen to display your application. The emulators utilize the android virtual device configurations. Once your application is running on it, it can use services of the android platform to help other applications, access the network, play audio, video, store, and retrieve the data.
Android Versions
The different android versions from the beginning to the present are mentioned below from 1.0 to 2.0. Here is the android operating system list.
Android Operating System Versions
Android Versions from 1.0 – 1.1
The first Android version like 1.0 was released in the year 2008 but it didn’t have any codename.
Android Version – 1.5
In the year 2009, the 1.5 android version was released which is named Cupcake.
Android Version – 1.6
The Android version – 1.6 was released in the year 2009 which is called Donut. The ability of this version is, it operates on different screen sizes as well as resolutions.
Android Versions from 2.0 – 2.1
Éclair 2.0 version was released after six weeks of the Donut version.
Android Version – 2.2
After four months of 2.1version invention, the Android 2.2 version was released which is called Froyo.
Android Version 2.3
The first true visual identity of Android version 2.3 was released in the year 2010 namely Gingerbread.
Android Version from 3.0 – 3.2
In the year 2011, the versions from 3.0 – 3.2 were released which is named Honeycomb
Android Version 4.0
Android 4.0 was released in the year 2011 which is called Ice Cream Sandwich.
Android Versions 4.1 – 4.3
Android Versions 4.1 to 4.3 were released between 2012 to 2013 which is called Jelly Bean.
Android Version 4.4
Android Version 4.4 was released in Late-2013’s which is called KitKat.
Android 5.0
The version of Android 5.0 was launched in the year 2014, Nov in the Nexus 6 device which is called Lollipop
Android 5.1
This version of Android 5.1 was released in March 2015 called Lollipop
Android 6.0
Android 6.0 Version like Marshmallow was released in Oct 2015.
Android 7.0
Android 7.0 version was released by Google in Aug 2016 called Nougat.
Android 7.1, 7.1.1 & 7.1.2 Nougat
Android 7.1 version was released in Oct 2016, called Nougat
Android 8.0
Android 8.0 version was released in Aug 2017 called Oreo.
Android 8.1.0
Android 8.1.0 version was released in Dec 2017, called Oreo
Android Version 9 Pie
Android version 9 Pie was released in Aug 2018
Android Version 10
Android version 10 was launched in September 2019
Android Version 11
Android version 11 was released recently on September 8th, 2020
Android Operating System vs. Apple iOS
Differences between the android operating system and apple iOS include the following.
Android
iOS
Windows Operating System
Windows operating system as compared to android is discussed below.
- An operating system like Windows is owned by Microsoft Incorporation & launched in the year 1985.
- It is used in all personal computers in all organizations. So the present stable version of this OS is Windows 10.
- Kernel type is Hybrid based.
- Chosen license is Proprietary & Source-available.
- The original version is commercial
- In all the PCs, it is the most frequently used operating system.
- It is used for media centers, workstations, PCs, embedded systems & tablets.
How to Change the Operating System of Android Phone?
In mobile phones, the operation of different applications can be run through an operating system. There are different kinds of OS available in the market where each OS has its own features. This OS used in the device plays a key role in determining the apps, software, and functions. So, some of the famous OS are Symbian, Palm, MXI, Windows Mobile, Mobile Linux, etc. Here, you can change an OS in some mobile phones by using the following steps.
- Go to Settings in android device => Select developer options => Enable USB debugging otherwise go to “about phone”, enable Build number & tap on it until you receive a message like you’re now a new developer.
- Download the change my software from this link (http://ow.ly/xTBl309o8fd)
- When the download is finished, connect your android mobile to your PC & open ‘Change My Software.
- Now, pick Android => Windows then install it on your Android phone.
- Click on continue & select a language if it asked
- When you choose the language, then automatically windows driver download will start. Once it is finished, then click on the button “Install”
- You will find an option like Remove Android.
- If you desire to double boot it, then you can pay no attention to the message otherwise click on the alternative there itself. Wait until the process is completed. Once the installation of files is completed then the mobile will reboot automatically.
- Similarly, the Change My Software’ is again you can use if you desire to go back to Android. For that, you need to connect the device to the PC & choose the condition of Restore to the original state option over the major menu.
Application of Android- Android Application Controlled Remote Robot
It controls the robotic vehicle using an android application. The Bluetooth device is interfaced to the control unit on the robot for sensing the signals transmitted by the android application. The remote operation is achieved by any smart-phone or table etc with android OS based on touch screen operation. The transmitting end uses an android application device remote through which commands are transmitted and at the receiver side, these commands are used for controlling the robot in all directions such as forward, backward and left or right, etc.
The receiver end movement is achieved by two motors that are interfaced to the microcontroller. The serial communication data sent from the android application is received by a Bluetooth receiver that is interfaced to the microcontroller.
Android Application
Advantages
The advantages of the Android operating system include the following.
- Android is a Linux based open-source operating system, it can be developed by anyone
- Easy access to android apps
- You can replace the battery and mass storage, disk drive, and UDB option
- Its supports all Google services
- The operating system is able to inform you of a new SMS and Emails or the latest updates.
- It supports Multitasking
- Android phone can also function as a router to share the internet
- It’s free to customize
- Can install a modified ROM
- Its supports 2D and 3D graphics
- We can install Millions of apps-
- Backup and restore of apps can be possible
- It supports Third-party apps
- Addition & removal of unwanted features:-
- High job demands for Android developers
- Notifications can be displayed very clearly
- Huge community support
- The Internet can be shared from device to device
- It is an Open source
- Different types of mobile models you can select
- Add/ Remove Unwanted
- Internal memory is Expandable
- Cloud storage
- It supports big screens at a reasonable price
- Foldable Android devices
- Different apps can run at the same time
- Several widgets on display
The disadvantages of the Android operating system include the following.
- Apps work in the background
- Battery discharges easily due to a lot of processes within the background.
- Requires Google account
- Less security, so fake apps can be easily installed to steal your data from strange resources
- Mobiles with low specification run very slow
- Generally, you require additional code on Java language as compared to Objective-C.
- Android developers have a critical time
- Difficult layouts & animations are tough to code within Android.
- Protection of Virus is required
- For developers of the app, Google is strict
- Several ads within apps
- Some apps quality is not good
- For elders, it is not friendly
Thus, this is all about an overview of the android operating system. This is a mobile operating system, developed by Google. The applications of an android operating system include the following in cell phones, touch screen devices & tablets. Here is a question for you, what is the latest Android version 2020?
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