ANDROID OS

Contents

1.1 Brief history of Android operating system
1.2 Android
1.3 Features of android
1.4 Future of android
1.5 Android products
1.6 Released preinstalled
1.7 Forthcoming
1.8 Conclusion
1.9 References

































1.1 Brief History of Android

Android Inc was acquired by Google on July 2005, a small startup company based in Palo Alto, California, USA. Android's co-founders who joined Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears once VP at T-Mobile, and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV. At the beginning of the Android a little was known about the functions of Android Inc. apart from the made software for mobile phones. This eventually created a rumor that Google was planning to penetrate the mobile phone market, although it was unclear what functions it might perform in that market.

1.2 Android

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel.
The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 48 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free-software and open source license.

1.3 Feature of Android operating system

The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library and traditional smart phone layouts.

 Storage

The Database Software SQLite is used for data storage purposes.

 Connectivity

Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

 Messaging

SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging including threaded text messaging.

 Web browser

The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit application framework.


 Java support

Software written in Java can be compiled to be executed in the Dalvik virtual machine, which is a specialized VM implementation designed for mobile device use, although not technically a standard Java Virtual Machine.

 Media support

Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: 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, BMP.

 Additional hardware support

Android can utilize Video/still cameras, touch screens, GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, accelerated 2D bitblits (with hardware orientation, scaling, and pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.

 Development environment

Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, a plugin for the Eclipse IDE.

 Market

Similar to the App Store on the iPhone OS, the Android Market is a catalog of applications that can be downloaded and installed to target hardware over-the-air, without the use of a PC. Originally only freeware applications were supported. Paid-for apps have been available on the Android Market in the United States since 19 February 2009.

 Multi-touch

Android has native support for multi-touch but the feature is disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple patents on touch-screen technology). An unofficial mod has been developed that enables multi-touch, but requires super user access to the device to flash an unsigned kernel.

1.4 Future of Android

Expert suggest that by end of 2012, Android could be the second largest mobile phone Operating System with 14% of the market share, behind Symbian (with 36% market share) and in front of iPhone OS (with 13% market share). Gartner suggests "Android is simply licensed to more manufacturers with strong companies like HTC, LG, and Dell behind it".





1.5 Android product

Towards the end of 2009 there will be at more than 15 phone models using Android worldwide, according to Google. In addition to the mobile devices that ship with Android, some users have been able to install it on mobile devices shipped with other Operating Systems.

1.6 Released (preinstalled)

Manufacture
Name
Notes

Archos Archos 5 Internet Tablet
Dell Dell mini3i
General Mobile General Mobile DSTL1 World’s first Android dual-SIM mobile on the market. Released in August 2009.
Highscreen PP5420 Formerly Windows Mobile phone, released on 11 July 2009 in Russia.
Huawei T-Mobile Pulse (Huawei U8220)
Lenovo Lenovo OPhone First handset to use the OPhone platform developed by China Mobile on Android. It supports the local TD-SCDMA 3G standard.

LG GW620 Etna
Motorola Motorola Heron, Motorola Tao
Philips V900
Qigi i6 (formerly Windows Mobile) device running Android in December 2008. The device is manufactured by Chinese ODM TechFaith.

Samsung Samsung I7500 (Samsung Galaxy), Samsung Moment (aka InstinctQ)
Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson XPERIA X3




1.7 Forthcoming

 Dell is rumored to be working on Android phones and multimedia devices.

 HKC Pearl, which claims to dual-boot Windows Mobile 6.1 and Android. It is an HTC clone device.
.
 HKC Imobile v413, an Android phone which is a clone of the HTC Touch.

 In September 2008, Motorola confirmed that it was working on hardware products that would run Android.

 Huawei plans to release a U8230

 Archos is planning to launch a new device, which would combine significant media capabilities with an Android operating system.

 Lenovo is working on an Android-based mobile phone Ophone that supports the Chinese 3G TD-SCDMA standard.

 Sony Ericsson is waiting for better multimedia support in Android 2.0.

 GiiNii Movit Mini is a Internet device based on Google's Android operating system.

 Acer is rumored to be releasing phones called the L1, C1, E1, F1, and A1 (unconfirmed) late in 2009.

 Chinese ODM Yuhua's first Android phone, the dual-SIM DSTL1 will be released under the General Mobile brand in June. The company is planning more Android devices.

 Skytone, distributor and software developer of the Skytone Alpha-400 announced the release of an Android netbook, the Alpha-680.

 Zii EGG – Developer Edition.

 INQ announced it is developing phones on the Android platform with a release date in 2010.

 Samsung is to release the Behold II on T-Mobile in Q4 2009.







1.8 Conclusion

By the end of 2012 android will bring the revolution in the mobile phone software market with its entire inherent feature and provide a better service which is always expected by the user of this generation.


1.9 References

http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.android.com
http://www.helloandroid.com