INTRODUCTION

Android is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices

based on the Linux operating system and is developed by Google and the Open
Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in a Java-like
language that utilizes Google-developed Java libraries, but does not support
programs developed in native code.
The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced
with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware,
software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile
devices. When released in 2008, most of the Android platform will be made
available under the Apache free-software and open-source license.

THE BIRTH OF ANDROID

Google Acquires Android Inc.
In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc., a small startup company based
in Palo Alto, CA. Android's co-founders who went to work at 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 (one of
the first engineers at WebTV). At the time, little was known about the functions of
Android Inc. other than they made software for mobile phones.

Open Handset Alliance Founded

On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several
companies which include Google, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile,
Sprint Nextel and NVIDIA, was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards
for mobile devices. Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the
OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, an open source mobile device
platform based on the Linux operating system.

Hardware
Google has unveiled at least three prototypes for Android, at the Mobile
World Congress on February 12, 2008. One prototype at the ARM booth displayed
several basic Google applications. A 'd-pad' control zooming of items in the dock
with a relatively quick response

Features of Android OS

Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of

components

Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices

Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine

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

Android Framework
Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core
applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of
components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application
may then make use of those capabilities (subject to security constraints enforced by
the framework). This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the
user.

Android Version Market Share

Fig: 1.1

Need for Mobile Application

The customers in todays world are on the move and theyre using mobile
application platforms to get there. Whether they use mobile phones, tablets, or other
mobile devices they have all the information they need. That's why mobile apps are
so much important in todays market.
You need to understand that mobile apps allow customers to have all your
information at their fingertips. Also, it is important that your app works on multiple
mobile application platforms. But for beginning, start with one platform.
Smartphone is indeed the most important gadget that a student must possess
in the current era. With the help of a smartphone a student can download various
applications that can even fulfil his academic needs.
These days, many of the educational institutions are developing their own
mobile applications in order to educate their students. In the face of this trend, it is
very important for reputed colleges to possess a smartphone application.
Mobile apps are now integral part of almost every business, irrespective of
their size and industry. When the mobile industry is booming like it is right now, it
is most advisable for any and every business to develop mobile apps to promote their
products and services.
In conclusion, mobile phone is indeed the way all communication is headed
today and so embracing this technology guarantees to produce the right results for
us.

Why Android?
Before we discuss the answer we must know, what are the other platforms
for developing a mobile application are. We have IOS, Windows, Firefox OS,
Blackberry OS, Android and so on.
But we have decided to develop on Android because it provides a more
agile environment where we can perfect and test our app design, learn the best
marketing channels and easily deploy our app on various app stores.
Android has got biggest addressable smartphone market. According to
Google, 850,000 Android devices are activated every day.

Fig: 1.2
In addition Google Play provides a robust search capability, making it easier
for users to search for apps of interest. Android applications can easily be deployed
on Google play store and Amazon App store.
Google Play also provides a perfect environment for apps in their early
stages: developers can react to feedback quickly and have an app update available on
Google Play literally in a few hours.

Software and Hardware requirements

Device - Smartphone

Operating System - Android

Minimum version API-14:Android 4.0 (I.C.S)

Minimum RAM 512MB

Disk Space 30MB

Minimum CPU Speed 1GHz

Features of our application

Simple Access To Student Resources

Attendance Monitor

Additional Resources

Advanced Assessment Matrix

Formula Book

Planner

Instant Notification

Simple Access to Student Resources

As we have mentioned in the beginning there are few considerable
drawbacks in the college website for which we have tried to find solutions in our
application.
The first is with the most often used page by a student that is student
resources. There are altogether 240 links of various faculties in Student Resources
among which a student have to search for his concerned faculty.
The name of the faculty teaching electronics in CSE will be present in EEE
or ECE department making it more difficult for a student to search.

Solution
One can overcome the problem with student resources by using our
application which sort the faculties not based on a particular department but based
on class.
That is links of all the faculties teaching a particular class will only be
displayed to a student studying in that class.

Attendance Monitor
Most of the time, students are not aware of their accurate attendance
percentage. Not being aware of their attendance, students often miss the classes and
fall in the condo-nation list at the end of the semester and end up paying extra fees
as a penalty.
Students can keep a track by manually updating their attendance in the app
on a daily or weekly basis. They can at any point of time can view their total
attendance percentage by checking the app.
Attendance monitor saves the attendance marked by students for present and
absent classes. The attendance percentage is then calculated using the formula,
% attendance = No. of present classes / Total No. of classes
Where total no. of classes = present classes + absent classes

Additional Resources

A student can view the following information at any point of time.

i) Class Time-Table
ii) Course Syllabus
iii) Academic Calendar
iv) Course Handouts

Advanced Assessment Matrix

Another considerable issue in the website could be with assessment matrix.
A student must have to open the assessment matrix of the faculties and then search
for his roll no. and view his marks along with the marks of 150 other students.
In addition he can view marks of only one subject at a time. To find his total
marks hell have to view several matrices and then do a manual calculation.

Solution
Students using our application can have a view of only their marks that too
all subject marks together.
They can also easily perform various calculations like total, average etc. In
addition to this they can even analyze the subjects which requires them to put extra
efforts.

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Formula Book
Students can download set of formulas required in their course and have a
quick glance of them anywhere and at any time. This would help them to remember
and recollect the formulas easily.
The user interface of the formula book has been made user friendly. Students
can either press control buttons or swipe the screen to toggle between formulas.

Planner
One of the most useful feature for many of the students is a planner. Usually
student sets a plan in their minds or may write it down on a piece of paper but this
isnt an effective way for planning.
Using our application students can make their preparation plans in their
smart phones and set alerts to alert them about the task to be completed as per the
plan. They can even make events in the calendar of the smartphone from the
application itself.

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Instant Notifications
The current system of passing a message or notice to students is not much
efficient. For example to inform students about a seminar/event on the next day, the
notice is either displayed on the notice board or the organizers move from class to
class making announcements during the college hours.
And to pass any information to students after the college hours usually we make use
of social networking sites, whatsapp etc.

Solution
In our application we provide a service to receive instant notifications.
The administrator at any point of time can notify either all the application users or a
selected group (ie. Only those users who belong to particular branch(s)).
As soon as a user connects to internet, will instantly receive the notification

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Output Screens

Fig 1.3

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Fig: 1.4

Fig: 1.5

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Fig: 1.6

Fig: 1.7

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Fig: 1.8

Fig: 1.9

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References / Bibliography
- Reto Meier. Professional Android 4 Application Development.
John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2012
- Mike McGrath. Building Android Apps. In Easy Steps Limited.
2012
- developer.android.com
- stackoverflow.com
- tutorialspoint.com
- en.wikipedia.org

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