- What is Android?
- The open Android
- The popular Android
- The Android you’re holding
- What does all this mean?
- Samsung needs to bring back its iPod competitor
- VoLTE: How to use it and why you should care
- PlayStation reportedly planning service to compete with Xbox Game Pass
- These are the best rugged Android phones
- What is Android: Introduction, Features & Applications
What is Android?
You see the word Android used a lot on the Internet, and it gets used interchangeably for a few different things. I’m not even talking about robots (though some Androids could be running on Android), I’m talking about the mobile platform we all love. And TV set-top boxes. And laptops. Pretty much everything except robots. OK, even robots.
Seriously, when we (or anyone else on the Internet talking about products based on Google’s operating system) say Android we’re usually talking about one of three different things.
The open Android
Google maintains an open-source operating system named Android. It’s got all the low-level «stuff» as well as the needed middleware to power and use an electronic device, and it is freely given away to anyone who wants to grab the code and build the operating system from it. There is even a full application framework included, so third-party apps can be built and installed, then made available for the user to run as they like.
The «proper» name for this is the Android Open Source Project, and this is what people mean when they say things like Android is open and free. Android, in this iteration, is free for anyone to use as they like.
You might have dabbled with this type of Android if you have used custom ROMs. Many third-party developers have taken AOSP and built it as-is for popular phones and tablets. It’s pretty bare-bones, but does have everything you need to power and use a smartphone. Or possibly a robot.
The popular Android
There’s a very good chance the Android you have in front of you isn’t just powered by the open Android — it needs some extra bits included to make a very different version of Android. Don’t feel confused just yet.
Whether you have a Nexus phone or a Samsung phone or a Motorola phone or any other brand of phone running Android, they all use a version of Android that has those extra bits. These extras aren’t part of the open Android, and you can’t freely distribute any of them (even it happens all the time, and generally nobody seems to be too bothered about it).
Your Galaxy S6 runs Android. So does your HTC M9. Or your Sony Xperia. Even your Nexus 5. But they are all very different from each other, and are also different from the open version of Android — which they are ultimately based on.
But they are still Android. We want the extras, whether they be the Google applications and Google Play, or the features that Samsung has added. This is the Android we all use and love.
The Android you’re holding
If you’re the type of person reading about Android on the Internet regularly, you know the phone you’re holding is a Samsung Galaxy S5. Or an LG G3. Or whatever. But for many folks (most people, I’d wager) they are holding an Android.
The same way that a Lumia 635 is a Windows Phone, or a BlackBerry Passport is a BlackBerry, or even an iPhone 4S is an iPhone, your Sony Xperia Z3V is an Android.
Lumping everything together isn’t such a bad idea. All (modern) Androids can run the same apps, use the same services from Google, and have our unrivaled love and affection. OK, maybe not that, but generally all Androids running Android as built from Android are as similar as they are different.
What does all this mean?
For starters, it makes things a bit confusing for folks not familiar with it all. Google uses the same name for two very different things (and so do we) because it mostly works. As consumers, we tend to make it worse because we like to call all Androids an Android (please, not Droid.) In the end, Android is Android — even if a few things have been added on top and it looks a bit different from other Androids.
- When someone from Google takes to Twitter and says «mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git:/ /android. git.kernel.org /platform/ manifest.git ; repo sync ; make» they are talking about one type of Android.
- When Google (or HTC or ASUS or anyone else) triumphantly tells us about how cool Android is on their latest phone or tablet, they are talking about another type of Android. Specifically, their type of Android.
- When your friend texts you to let you know they just bought a new Android from the AT&T store, they are talking about yet another type of Android.
We’ll leave dreaming of electric sheep for another blog post .
Samsung needs to bring back its iPod competitor
I don’t want to buy an iPod Touch. Since I want a reasonably priced PMP with acceptable audio hardware that can install a few crucial apps, I might have to.
VoLTE: How to use it and why you should care
VoLTE — or Voice over LTE — is the new standard for calling throughout the U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe. Not only does it facilitate much higher call quality between cell phones, but it allows devices to stay connected to LTE while on a call, improving data speeds for everyone.
PlayStation reportedly planning service to compete with Xbox Game Pass
Sony is planning to create a service similar to Xbox Game Pass, according to a new report. The service could launch as early as sometime in the spring of 2022, with multiple tiers.
These are the best rugged Android phones
Living the rough and tumble life? Get yourself a smartphone that can handle everything you throw at it — or throw your phone at.
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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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