What is Android?

What is Android?

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.


The Amazing Features Of Android:

1. Application Framework: Which enables the reuse and replacements of component.

2. The Usage of Dalvi Virtual Machine: It is optimized for low memory requirements, and is designed to allow multiple VM instances to run at once, relying on the underlying operating system for process isolation, memory management and threading support. Dalvik is often referred to as a Java Virtual Machine, but this is not strictly accurate, as the bytecodeJava bytecode. Instead, a tool named dx, included in the Android SDK, transforms the Java Class files of Java classes compiled by a regular Java compiler into another class file format (the .dex format).

3. Integrated browser: Which is based on the open Source WebKit Engine.

4. Optimized graphics: powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)

You can get more information about Optimized Graphics

5. SQLite: Which is mainly for structure Data Storage.

SQLite is a mostly ACID-compliant relational database management system contained in a relatively small (~500kb) C programming library.

Unlike client-server database management systems, the SQLite engine is not a standalone process with which the program communicates. Instead, the SQLite library is linked in and thus becomes an integral part of the program. The program uses SQLite’s functionality through simple function calls, which reduces latency in database access as function calls are more efficient than inter-process communication. The entire database (definitions, tables, indices, and the data itself) is stored as a single cross-platform file on a host machine. This simple design is achieved by locking the entire database file at the beginning of a transaction.

You can get More Information on SQLite about the Features, Adoptions and More.

6. Media support: Android will support advanced audio/video/still media formats such as MPEG-4, H.264, MP3, and AAC, AMR, JPEG, PNG, GIF.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(mobile_phone_platform)

7. GSM Telephony: Which is a hardware dependent.

What is GSM?

GSM is a Global System For Mobile Network. GSM uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1,800 MHz frequency band.

REF: http://www.tech-faq.com/gsm.shtml

8. Hardware Support: Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, WiFi,Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer

Architecture of Android:

Source: code.google.com/android/