Technofriends

In one of my previous post a couple of days back, i had written about the news related to demo of few Google Android based mobile phones. With Texas Instruments having declared that they shall be demoing Android based phone prototype at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain ; i thought of making Android more understandable to the readers of this blog.

In this and the coming posts i shall be writing about the following ( this shall however be an ever evolving list, though its small as of now)

• What is Android?
• Basic Architecture of Android
• How to get started with Android.
• Simple Programming in Android.

So, to begin with, lets start with the understanding related to Android and why is there such a buzzword around it. Well, Android in simple terms is the first complete, open and free mobile platform which is being developed by the Open Handset Alliance

• Android is by motivation Open which means that it shall allow the developer to access core mobile device functionality through standard API calls. Assume this to be as simple as calling a method in an object.

• Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.

• Programs are written in Java and deployed over Dalvik virtual machine which is optimized for mobile devices.

• Android uses SQLite for structured data storage.

• Android provides Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components.

• Android offers Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)

• Android has an Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine.

• Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)

• Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE.

Developers can create applications for the platform using the Android SDK. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use which runs on top of a Linux kernel.

What is clear from all this is that Linux- the open source OS is definitely going to be a big player in the mobile arena. Android as already written, is based on Linux and there are other Linux based mobile OSes existing as well, some of them being OpenMoko, Limo and Otopia.

Also, Google and its partners in the Open Handset Alliance are of the view that the new phones ( built on Android) will have the power to make internet experience on a mobile “better than a PC”.

In my next post, i shall write about the Architecture of Android and shall also take you through my learnings exploring Android till now . Hoping to have a great Androding time with you all. Do share your thoughts about Android and experiences with it.

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Related posts:

1. ARM may show Google phone prototype next week
2. Developing Android Applications (Free online workshop on 5th August)
3. Google rolls out Android 2.2 Update for all Nexus One users
4. Download Android 2.2 SDK for Developing Android Froyo Apps
5. Android 2.1 SDK Released