What is Android?

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What is Android?
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Android is a software stack for mobile devices.
The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs
necessary to begin developing applications on the
Android platform using the Java programming
language. Android delivers a complete set of
software for mobile devices. The software
includes an operating system, middleware and key
mobile applications. Middleware is computer
software that connects software components or
applications. The software consists of a set of
services that allows multiple processes running
on one or more machines to interact.   In July of
2005, Google acquired Android, Inc. a small
company based in California, USA. When Google
took over little was known about the function of
Android, Inc. the only thing that was known was
that they made software for mobile phones. Today
we see that Google has been very busy
incorporating the use of Android to create a new
hot mobile phone which is now available through
T-mobile. The very first phone to run the Android
Operating System was the HTC Dream, which was
released very recently on October 22, 2008.
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Android history timeline
August 28th, 2008 Android Market announced
September 23rd, 2008 Android 1.0 SDK
release Developers have access to first 1.0
compatible SDK.
July 2005 Google purchased a little known company
called Android Inc.
November 12th, 2007 Early look SDK released
September 23rd, 2008 T-Mobile G1 World's first
Android-powered phone announced.
October 21st, 2008 Android Open Source
Project Source code is released
April 17th, 2008 Android Developer Challenge I.
5 million in total awarded to developers for
great Android applications
November 5th, 2007 Open Handset Alliance
announces Android
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Android Architecture This diagram shows the
major components of the Android operating system.

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Android 1.5 Platform Highlights
The Android 1.5 platform introduces many new
features for users and developers. Below is a
list of the new features which will make Android
even better!
Performance Improvements Faster Camera start-up
and image capture Much faster acquisition of GPS
location (powered by SUPL AGPS) Smoother page
scrolling in Browser Speedier GMail conversation
list scrolling
New Features On-screen soft keyboard Works in
both portrait and landscape orientation Support
for user installation of 3rd party keyboards User
dictionary for custom words Home screen Widgets
Bundled home screen widgets include analog
clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and
search Live folders Camera Gallery Video
recording Video playback (MPEG-4 3GP
formats) Bluetooth  Stereo Bluetooth support
(A2DP and AVCRP profiles) Auto-pairing Improved
hands free experience
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Continued New Features
Browser Updated with latest Webkit browser
Squirrelfish JavaScript engines Copy 'n paste in
browser Search within a page User-selectable
text-encoding UI changes include Unified Go and
Search box Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited
screen Contacts Shows user picture for
Favorites Specific date/time stamp for events in
call log One-touch access to a contact card from
call log event System New Linux kernel (version
2.6.27) SD card file system auto-checking and
repair SIM Application Toolkit 1.0 Google
applications (not available in the Android 1.5
System Image that is included in the Android SDK)
View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts,
SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications Batch
actions such as archive, delete, and label on
Gmail messages Upload videos to YouTube Upload
photos on Picasa
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New to Android?
Android uses the java programming language and
for anyone who has learned Java the Hello World
example is a good reminder of that very first
class or online tutoring session. First you will
need to download the Android SDK kit and if you
are using Eclipse install the ADT Plug-in, this
is very easy and all of the information you need
to do this can be found at http//developer.andro
id.com/sdk/index.html. Below is an example of the
Hello World program. You will see that the coding
is similar to that of java but not exactly the
same. You can also see that it is fairly simple
and this makes everyone happy ?
package com.example.helloandroid import
android.app.Activity import android.os.Bundle
public class HelloAndroid extends Activity
/ Called when the activity is first created.
/ _at_Override public void onCreate(Bundle
savedInstanceState) super.onCreate(savedInst
anceState) setContentView(R.layout.main)

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Running your application

• If you decide to use Eclipse (probably your best
  choice) the ADT plug-in that you
• install makes it very easy and simple to run your
  applications.
• Select run -gt run
• Select Android Application

The Eclipse ADT will automatically create a new
run configuration for your project and the
Android Emulator will automatically launch. Once
the emulator is booted up, your application will
appear and should look like this
You can see that this process is very Simple,
quick, convenient and easy. This is one reason
why Android is such a great Application
development kit. If you prefer not to use
Eclipse don't worry because the Android SDK
includes a tool named "android" that can be used
to create all the source code and directory stubs
for your project, as well as an ant-compatible
build.xml file. This allows you to build your
project from the command line, or integrate it
with the IDE of your choice. So many Options!!!
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Phones using Android
Here is the complete list of all phones currently
on the market using Android.
HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 -G1 launched
October 22nd, 2008 Available
internationally HTC Magic/T-Mobile MyTouch
3G -HTC Magic Launched May 1, 2009 and July
10th, 2009 in Japan HTC Hero/T-Mobile G2
Touch/Sprint HTC Hero -HTC Hero Launched
July 24th for Orange UK. T-Mobile G2
Touch Huawei U8230/ Pulse -Available in
T-Mobile UKreleased in Europe this October
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Phones using Android continued
Samsung Galaxy -Launched in July
Available with European Carriers HTC
Tattoo/HTC Click -Launched October 8th
2008 on 2009 Vodaphone Motorola
CLIQ -Available October 19th,
2009 on T-Mobile and Orange
UK Motorola Droid -Available
Samsung Moment/InstinctQ November
6th - Available November 1st
2009 on Verizon from Sprint
wireless. Most
advanced droid phone available

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Conclusion
In conclusion, Android seems to be the future of
mobile OS's and mobile software Development. In
today's increasingly complicated technology this
OS just adds to all of the fun, making phones
cooler and development easier. It also seems as
though Android could easily move its way into the
market from phones to netbooks and desktops as
developers become more accustomed with it, and
this will only create more business. Currently
there are about 20 Android phones available on
the market with more than 75 million Android
handsets forecasted by 2012. This statistic is
very impressive and proves that there is indeed
a bright future for Android. Since Android is
an open source (meaning it is available to
anyone) developers and handset manufacturers have
full access to it. This means that developers and
manufacturers all over the world are taking
advantage of the Android operating system. This
also means that the Business should grow very
rapidly! Go Android Go!!!!!!!!
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Bibliography
Below is a list of all of the websites I used in
the making of this report
http//developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-
android.html http//www.android.com/about/timelin
e.html http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(oper
ating_system)History http//www.techcrunch.com/2
009/10/19/android-galore-a-complete-list-of-the-an
droid-phones-and-their-specs-droid-best/ http//w
ww.linkedin.com/answers/technology/wireless/TCH_WI
R/597621-43529102