Android Operating System

Yogita Pathak
Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Contents

Mobile OS
Android History
Android Versions
Models
Architecture
Challenges
Merits and Demerits
Market Share
Opportunities
References
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Mobile Operating System

A mobile operating system (OS) is a software that allows smart phones, tablet
PCs and other devices to run applications and programs.
Examples
Symbian OS
BlackBerry OS
Apples iOS
Windows Phone OS

Android OS

History
The Android was built upon the open Linux kernel, and developed by
Android, Inc., which is owned by Google.
Open Handset Alliance - to develop open standards for mobile devices

Variety of Android

Phone

HTC G1,
Droid,
Tattoo

Suno S880

Motorola Droid (X)

Samsung Galaxy

Sony Ericsson
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Tablets

Velocity Micro Cruz

Dawa D7

Gome FlyTouch

Toshiba Android
SmartBook

Acer beTouch

Cisco Android Tablet

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Architecture

Applications

Android provides a set of core applications:

Email
SMS Program
Calendar
Maps
Browser
Contacts
Etc

All applications are written using the Java language.

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Common file structure for Apps

code
files

Autogenerated
resource list

images
UI layouts

constants

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GUI

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Application Framework

Enabling and simplifying the reuse of components

Developers have full access to the same framework APIs

used by the core applications.
Users are allowed to replace components.
Each application can publish its capabilities which other
apps can use

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Libraries

Including a set of C/C++ libraries used by components of

the Android system
Exposed to developers through the Android application
framework

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Runtime

Core Libraries
Providing most of the functionality available in the core
libraries of the Java language
APIs
Data Structures
Utilities
File Access
Network Access
Graphics etc.
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Runtime

Software Development kit (Dalvik Virtual Machine )

Providing environment on which every Android
application runs
Each Android application runs in its own process, with
its own instance of the Dalvik VM.
Dalvik has been written such that a device can run
multiple VMs efficiently.

.dex format is optimized for minimal memory footprint.

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Linux Kernel

Relying on Linux Kernel for core system services

Memory and Process Management

Network Stack

Driver Model

Security

Providing an abstraction layer between the H/W and the rest

of the S/W stack
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Challenges

CPU typically runs 500-600 Mhz

RAM available to an App may only be a few megabytes
Disk (flash) access is very slow
Lifecycle - apps must pause/quit often, and restore to give the
illusion that they are always running
UI design
typical screen may be HVGA (320x480)
may be in portrait or landscape
very high DPI - small text may not be readable
touch resolution is very low (~25 pixel)
Network access may be slow and (very) intermittent

@2011 Mihail L. Sichitiu

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Merits
Highly customizable
Services can run in the background
Notifications let you know of background events
Multitasking
Widget
Can install a modified ROM
Easy access to thousands of applications via the Google
Android Android App Market
Google Maniac

Demerits
Advertising
Continuous Internet connection

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MarketShare
Feb10

May10

Apr11

RIM

42.1%

41.7%

29%

Apple

25.4%

24.4%

25%

Google

9%

13%

33%

Microsoft

15.1%

13.2%

7.7%

Palm

5.4%

4.8%

2.9%

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Opportunities
Moving towards Home Appliances

@2011 Mihail L. Sichitiu

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References
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-different-types-of-mobilephone-operating-systems.htm
http://developer.android.com/training/index.html
http://developer.android.com/training/articles/security-tips.html

http://android-developers.blogspot.in/
http://www.anddev.org
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/

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Queries

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Thanks

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