Android Operating System

Consumers have started expecting smart phones to act like computers. This has led to growth of eight major operating systems (OS) such as Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Linux, Palm OS, BREW and Google Android, each with different standards designed to run many memory and graphic intensive applications (apps) on small processor. Description and short history of Android
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Android is an open source java based operating system running on Linux 2.6 kernel, designed to run on mobile phones. It includes an operating system, middleware and many applications. The Android software development kit (SDK) provides the tools and application programming interfaces (APIs) necessary for developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language. It was developed under the Open Handset Alliance which consists of a group of 48 hardware and software developers which includes Google, NTT DoCoMo, Sprint Nextel, and HTC, whose goal is to create a more open cell phone environment. Android was released by the Open Handset Alliance in November 2007 under the Apache license which is free software with open source license. Since Androids launch it has a cult following from the programmers who want to develop apps for it. Android allows the developers access to the full aspect of the phones operation. This can lead to lot of innovation from individual developers at a very short time which can lead to fast growth for Android. Google has provided lots of development tools and tutorials to help developers to create new apps. Some of the development tools provided are Help files, platform software development kit (SDK) and an online development community. This has helped the developers to create and launch around 9,000 apps designed to run on Android. Some of the most important and exciting feature of Android is that its architecture allows for third party applications to be developed and executed with the same priority as those been bundled in the core system. This is major different approach from other operating systems which gives embedded system applications a greater execution priority compared to third party apps. Also each app is executed using its own lightweight virtual machine which is designed to efficiently use memory and hardware resources in a mobile application. One of the most exciting features available to the Android developer is that he has access to everything the operating system has access to. So if the developer needs to create apps that dials the phone, then he has access to phones dialer. The potential available to the developers to innovate and create dynamic and exciting apps is now wide open.

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Android usage within an organization for its business processes

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Android was designed from scratch to enable developers to create innovative mobile applications that take full advantage of all the capabilities the mobile device can offer. Right now Android has been used on many different mobile devices such as HTC Hero, HTC Magic, Motorola Cliq, Dell Mini3 and some netbooks and E-book reader. Some of the requirements of the mobile operating system are similar to the operating system (OS) such as Windows that controls a desktop computer. But mobile OS is simpler and deals more with wireless versions of broadband and local connectivity, mobile multimedia formats, and different input methods. Some of the usages of Android are as follows: Application Framework - It contains the applications that are needed for mobile phones. For security purpose, the framework is based on UNIX file system permissions. Dalvik Virtual Machine: It is designed particularly for Android to run on limited environment, where some of the issues like limited battery, central processing unit (cpu) or memory can be solved. Optimized Graphics - Android has 2D and 3D graphics combination based on OpenGL ES 1.0 and Scalable Graphic Library (SGL). This provides to use all graphic related application in mobile like games, Google earth etc. Data Storage - SQLite is used for data storage. SQLite is very small relational database management system that is available to all applications. This will help mobile manufacturer to store their data. Connectivity - Android supports a wide variety of connectivity technologies like GSM, CDMA, Bluetooth, EDGE, EVDO, 3G and Wi-Fi. Web Browser - Android browser is based on the open source WebKit application framework. It includes LibWebCore [9] which is a modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an embeddable web view. Media Support - Android supports all advanced audio and video formats like MPEG-4, MP3, AMR, JPEG, PNG and GIF. Messaging - Android supports all available forms of messaging like SMS, MMS, and XMPP. Additional Hardware Support - Android is capable of using videos, cameras, touch screens, GPS, compasses and 3D graphics. Apart from the features available in Android such as generous SDK and well formed library, Google has allowed some of its existing features to be used. Developers could tie their apps into Google Maps and the Google Search. Some of the possibilities would be to write an app 2/10

that pulls up a Google Map of where an incoming call is coming from. If a contact is entered in the phone, then it can be synched with the Google contacts in the Gmail (email) account. With the help of offerings from Google, the developer has unlimited opportunity to innovate. Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual's mobile phone such as the user's contacts, calendar, or geographic location to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in their neighborhood, giving them a chance to connect. Advantages associated with Android OS Some of the advantages which Android is known for as follows:Applications run in their own processes this helps in security, protected memory when central processing unit (CPU) is doing memory intensive work such that it wont block any critical activities like answering the phone. Processes are started and stopped as needed to run an application component. Processes may be killed to reclaim resources When many different applications are running at the same time and if one application is consuming more memory resources it could be shut down to distribute the resources. Open source software Developers can create applications at significantly lower cost as Android runs on open source platform. This gives the consumer more choices to configure and expand the functionality of their smart phone device. Light weight and full featured OS The platform is designed to run very efficiently by using the least amount of resources. Optimizations primarily focus on reducing size, improving speed, conserving battery power, and lowering the overall memory overhead. This work has been done at several different layers of the stack. Java Programming - Android applications are developed using Java and can be ported easily to a new platform. User friendly application Most Android applications will be able to run smoothly on virtually any Android based device without requiring any further modification. Google goodies Includes features such as Search, Gmail, Maps, Talk and YouTube. Easy Access - Single sign in for fast and easy access to Google applications. Contacts or emails will not be lost as they are automatically backed up. Real time syncing - The contacts, emails, and calendar events are always available and up3/10

to-date. Licensing - The generous use of Apache Software License (ASL) throughout the Android middleware layer makes it possible for handset makers and mobile carriers to make proprietary customizations on top of the platform stack. In short, Androids expandability, ease of use and low cost should make it a very formidable competitor in the smart phone market. Disadvantages associated with Android OS
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As Android is an open source OS, it is more vulnerable to been hacked. Android could be exploited and harmed by hiding Stealthy Trojans in animated images, particular viruses passed from friend to friend, used for spying and identity theft, all these threats will be active for a long run. One disadvantage of open source model is that some developers create apps which generate unsolicited messages which can be annoying. Due to the limitations of Dalviks automatic memory management responsiveness can be poor.

Architecture of setting Android within an organization Linux Kernel - architecture of Android is based on Linux kernel 2.6. It helps to manage memory management, process management, security model, networking and core operating system infrastructure that are needed for mobile devices. Therefore mobile manufacturer should use Linux as their main operating system and then they have to install all other drivers that are required. Native libraries - written in C and C++ language. This layer gives core power to Android. It is responsible for performance of various components. Some of the components that are used in these libraries are as follows: Surface Manager responsible to build different drawing surfaces onto screen. Its main task is to synchronize the screen display. Open GL/ES and SGL - contains graphic libraries. Open GL is used for 3D graphics and SGL is used for 2D graphics. Most of the drawings are based on 2D graphics. One of the most important features of Android is 2D and 3D graphics can be combined in the same app. Media Framework - contains all the softwares which are used for audio and video purpose. Free Type - used to render font. SQLite - used for data storage. Webkit used for open source browser engine.

Android run time - main components of Android run time are

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Dalvik virtual machine (VM) runs dx files; which converts generated byte code from .class to .dex file. So these files when they are converted to .dex become much more efficient byte codes that can run efficiently on small processors. Core library - is written in java programming which contains input/output (IO), collection classes and utilities.

Application framework - is written in java programming language. Application framework is a toolkit which all the application uses. It comes with the phone that is home apps, phone apps which is written by Google or individual developer. Here all applications use same framework and same API. Some of the components that are used in these layers are: Activity manager - manages the lifecycle of application. The applications that are running in different processes can have a smooth integrated navigation experience. Package manager - keeps tracks of applications which are installed on the mobile device. Telephony manager - contains API that is used to build the phone application. Content providers - allows the application to share their data with other applications. Resource manager - used to store localized strings, bit maps, layout file description of all the external part of application.

Application layer is the top layer which includes home, contacts, browser applications which are used by user, and these application uses same application framework that are provided by lower layers. By installing different applications the mobile manufacturer can make their mobile device unique.

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.
Google
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The following diagram shows the major components of the Android operating system. Each section is described in more detail above Steps of process for implementing the technology in an organization When android was built it was designed to be as flexible as possible. There was lot of work done to write the library which is only 250 kilobytes. Also lot of effort was taken to develop the platform which is capable of running mid to lower end devices. One of the distinguishing features of the platform is how it handles access to data. So even though the platform can be run in a stripped down version of mass market phones, the initial mobile devices will be mid to higher end phones just because of the data access capabilities of the platform. Some of the software features are integrated browser based on the open source, WebKit engine, SQLite for relational data storage. The media supported are audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG , PNG, GIF) The minimal hardware requirements for the mobile devices are 32 megabytes of RAM, 32 megabytes of flash, and a 200-megahertz online processor. Some of the companies in the Open Handset Alliance are working to bring that to even lower-power phones. Android support cellular networking standards such as GSM, EDGE, 3G which are dependent on the hardware on which they are used. Also LAN capabilities such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are supported depending on the hardware. 6/10

Graphics hardware acceleration needed for graphics intensive apps is supported by Android. Camera, GPS and Compass are also supported by Android. Touch screen and accelerometer needed for motion sensing can be run on Android. The software updates are done manually using the settings update option in the mobile device. Androids usage and maintenance HTC, a Taiwan based mobile manufacturer used Android 1.5 OS on its Hero mobile phone. Some of Heros unique selling features related to Android OS are HTC Scenes, Social Network Integration, Android Market, Visual Voicemail, Sprint Navigation Enabled, Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing [1]. HTC has developed its own signature software layer called Sense that sits atop Android OS. HTC Sense is a widget based user interface that combines many kinds of customization. HTC has built a lot of apps and widgets for Sense.
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Sense includes large widgets with extra features that go beyond the plain Android experience supplied to everyone by Google. So the Hero looks and behaves somewhat differently. For instance, a contact page in the address book application consolidates that contact's Facebook and Flickr accounts. HTC Sense can be used to create different screen desktops that reflect different aspects of ones life. These desktops give a sense of owning different phones for work, play or travel life. Sense also offers something called Scenes which are entire collections of sets of screens and apps, either canned or customized, that can change the phone software's look and feel. With just a couple of clicks, users could switch between a work-oriented "scene," that prominently features apps such as a stock tracker and their work email, and an entertainment-oriented scene filled with the music player, photo album and other apps. Sense gives the Hero seven screens on which to place apps, versus Android's standard three screens. [2] The social network integration option lets people to stay close to each other with all their text and Twitter exchanges, email conversations, Facebook status, Flickr photo albums and phone logs, neatly organized by people. Android Market provides direct access to around 8000 downloadable apps and fun games to user, which they can download and install on their phone. Visual Voicemail gives user a quick and easy access to just the messages they want to listen to by letting them go directly to a specific message, without needing to listen to or skip past previous message Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing has built-in speaker independent voice command lets user to use their voice to look up contacts, place phone calls and get key information from their device. 7/10

Microsoft Exchange is built into the OS which allows for keeping up with personal and corporate email, calendars and contacts [8]. Android mobile phone platform is very secure. There are several solutions to protect Google phone from various attacks. One of them is security vendor McAfee, a member of Linux Mobile (LiMo) Foundation. This foundation joins particular companies to develop an open mobile-device software platform. Many of the companies listed in the LiMo Foundation have also become members of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). As a result, Linux secure coding practice should successfully be built into the Android development process. Another solution for such attacks is SMobile Systems mobile package. Security Shield is an integrated application that includes anti-virus, anti-spam, firewall and other mobile protection is up and ready to run on the Android operating system. Currently, the main problem is availability for viruses to pose as an application and do things like dial phone numbers, send text messages or multi-media messages or make connections to the Internet during normal device use. It is possible for somebody to use the GPS feature to track a persons location without their knowledge. Hence SMobile Systems is ready to notify and block these secure alerts. But the truth is that it is not possible to secure mobile device or personal computer completely, as it connects to the internet. And neither the Android phone nor other devices will prove to be the exception.

Return of Investments and benefits using Android The ROI and benefits of using Android depends on the type of company using it. Some of them are as follows Handset manufacturers (OEMs) - cheaper bill of material which can directly waive 25% of total direct cost on licensing fee, technical development support from the open community and also the support from Google on the virtual java engine called Dalvik Virtual Machine. Also the licensing fee from SUN Microsystemss Java Micro Edition (JME) which is used in Java application engine for mobile platforms can be avoided. Mobile operators opportunity to customize and differentiate product offerings supported by wider and faster range of innovations which can come from diversified applications and a bigger pool of developers. Software companies - the open-source platform enables the software companies to streamline their product integration to fully utilize each stack of the Android platform. Semiconductor companies - Android opens a bigger market beyond mobile phones, as it has a great potential to go through into markets beyond mobile phones like netbooks, set top boxes, VoIP phones, security and monitoring systems, and digital photo frames. 8/10

Commercialization companies - future potential of mobile industry can be unlocked by Android Market where around 8,000 apps running on Android can be bought. Google - the aim is to increase its revenue from advertising as the community grows. Google has better advantage compared to the current mobile telecommunication players, because essentially they are aiming for two different things. Googles aim is to increase its advertising revenue which has no correlation to other mobile telecommunication business model where they aim to sell more mobile phones and also gain a higher market share of the mobile phone users market. [6]

Short case study on usage of Android Barnes and Noble (B&N) launched an E-book reader called Nook on the third week of October of this year. Nook offers several unique features such as Android OS, two screens etc. Nook is the second e-reader which runs Android as OS after Alex E-reader. The closest competitor to Nook is Kindle, which is based on Kindle OS. E-reader is an electronic book where books, newspaper, magazine and any reading material can be downloaded for a fee through Wi-fi connection. Once the e-books are downloaded they can be used just like regular books. Some of the features supported by Android on the Nook are Touch control and navigation, PDF and JPG format, 3G and Wi-Fi enabled and LendMe technology which allows to share books digitally between Phone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac OS. Advantages & Disadvantages The Nook features closely match the Kindle, including the $259 price. Nook hardware features include a Micro SD slot, supplementing the 2GB built-in memory and Wi-Fi to supplement AT&T 3G connectivity. Kindle uses Sprint, lacks Wi-Fi. While standby battery life is shorter than the Kindle (10 days vs. 14 days), the Nook battery is removable and replaceable, the Kindle's is not. Nook could offer more features than Kindle because of the saving incurred by using free Android OS. Bookmarks can be added, sentences can be highlighted and around 500,000 public domain titles can be downloaded from Google for free which are not available to kindle users. The Nook will load and read Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, which the Kindle cannot do. Nook users can loan their e-books for 14 days at a time to other Nook owners as well as iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, and PC devices (Mac and Windows) running free B&N reader software
Some of the disadvantages of Nook are that it lacks the Kindles text to speech tool and there is no web browser. Also B&N does not sell books outside the US.
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Google Android OS was developed for smart phones, but its proven attractive to makers of other devices like net books and E-book reader. Android runs on processors that use ARM architecture, which are made by companies other than Intel. This has the potential to break their dependency on Microsoft software and Intel chips which could lead to reduced costs to the device manufacturers. Android is open source free software compared to Microsoft Mobile OS and iPhone OS. This can lead to lot of cost savings to the device manufacturer who can pass on the cost savings to the customer. Usage & Maintenance The choice of Android OS on the Nook lets the developers make new apps which can increase the functionality of the device. Android OS was primarily selected for its navigation and user interface capabilities.
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Barnes & Noble is planning on developing a full-functioning Web browser for its lower 3.5inch color touch display for the Nook. It would also be willing to open up the platform to thirdparty Android developers. Nook is capable of being much more than a typical e-reader with future browsing and open application support. Developers could make browser, touch screen capability and virtual keyboard. The application capability of Android can help Nook add many new apps which can improve its unique selling point. Barnes & Noble is planning to roll out an SDK for Android developers. Customers will primarily use the Nook's lower screen to shop for e-books on the Barnes & Noble e-bookstore and perform other navigation functions, using the touch screen and wireless access from AT&T or Wi-Fi. There will be daily content accessible over wireless that Barnes & Noble provides, with some special offers to customers who are using the Nook while visiting one of the more than 700 Barnes & Noble stores, which are already Wi-Fi enabled. The lower color screen will also provide a virtual touch keyboard for searches, annotations to e-books and notes, and for sending books to lend to others using Barnes & Noble e-reader software on a variety of devices, including some Black Berry, Motorola smart phones and iPhone and iPod touch devices. Conclusion In conclusion, with all upcoming applications and mobile services Google Android is stepping into the next level of Mobile Internet. Android participates in many of the successful open source projects. That is, architect the solution for participation and the developers will not only come but will play well together. This is notable contrast with Apple and other companies, where such architecture of participation is clearly belated. The first Android based official devices may well be launched sometime in the second half of 2008. Obviously, that's an age away when it comes to handset design, and Android may well find itself competing against the forthcoming Nokia touch screen phones and maybe even the iPhone 2. Who knows? References [1] Admin, HTC Hero Official Specifications, Oct 12, 2009, [Online], Available: http://www.iphonekiller.com/htc-hero-official-specifications/ 10/10

[2] Walter S. Mossberg Sprint's HTC Hero May Be Your Scene In Smart Phones, WSJ, October 1, 2009,[Online],Available:http://online.wsj.com [3] David Coursey,B&N's Nook, e-Reader for The Masses, PCWorld, October 21, 2009, [Online], Available: http://www.pcworld.com [4] Matt Hamblen, Android-based Nook e-reader could upset Apple's and Microsoft's tablet plans October 21, 2009,Computerworld, [Online],Available:http://www.infoworld.com/ [5] Android Developers, 2009, [Online], Available: http://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html [6] Tomas Katysovas,A first look at Google Android, Internet Technologies 2. 2007-2008 Free University of Bolzano, [7] Matthew Miller, Hands on review: HTC Hero from Sprint is truly super, October 5th 2009, ZDNet, [Online], Available: http://blogs.zdnet.com/ [8] Casey Chan, HTC Hero: Software & HTC Sense Review,Oct 15, 2009 ,Android Central,[Online],Available: http://www.androidcentral.com [9] Hatem Ben Yacoub, Whats on Android, 15 November 2007, openhandsetmagazine, [Online], Available: http://openhandsetmagazine.com/

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