Android Fundamentals

Android Inc was founded in palo Alto of California by Andy Rubin,Rich Miner,Nick Sears and Chris White in 2003.Later Android Inc was acquired by Google in 2005.

Android is a open source.

                Android is an Operating System based on Linux with a Java Programming language. It provides tools e.g. a compiler, debugger and a device emulator as well as its own Java Virtual machine (Dalvik Virtual Machine). Android is a software stack for mobile  devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.

1.    Operating System- Linux Kernel is known as operating system.Linux Kernel keep hardware part only.It interacts with hardware .Normal kernel version starts with 2.5.

2.    Middleware-Libraries and Android Runtime come in middleware category.

DVK(Dalvik Virtual Machine) is lies between applications,application framework & Kernel so we can say that it works as middleware.

3.    Key Applications-Applications and Application framework is known as key application.Android is a powerful operating system supporting a large number of applications in mobile development.

Versions of Android:

Android 1.0-Astro

Android 1.1-Bender

Android 1.5- Cupcake

Android 1.6-Donut

Android 2.1/2.0.1/2.1-Eclair

Android 2.2-froyo

Android 2.3/2.3.3/2.3.4/2.3.5/2.3.6/2.3.7-GingerBread

Android 3.0/3.1/3.2-HoneyComb

Android 4.0-Icecream Sandwitch

Upcoming Version-JellyBean

Features Of Android

·         Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components

·         Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices

·         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)

·         SQLite for structured data storage

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

·         GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)

·         Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)

·         Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)

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