ANDRIOD OPERATING SYSTEM

Author: Harsh Sukhramani

Vivekananda Education Society`s Polytechnic

ABSTRACT : device via Google-developed Java libraries.

[1]

Android is a mobile operating

system initially developed by Android Inc.
Android was bought by Google in 2005.
Android is based upon a modified version of
the Linux kernel. Google and other members
of the Open Handset Alliance collaborated
to develop and release Android to the world.
The Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
is tasked with the maintenance and further
development of Android. Unit sales for
Android OS smartphones ranked first among
Fig 1. Android Robot Logo
all smartphone OS handsets sold in the U.S.
in the second and third quarters of 2010,with 1.1 What is ANDROID ?
a third quarter market share of 43.6%.[1]
Android is a software stack for mobile
1. INTRODUCTION : devices that includes an operating system,
middleware and key applications. The
Android has a large community of
Android Software Devlopment Kit provides
developers writing application
the tools and Application Program Interface
programs ("apps") that extend the
necessary to begin developing applications
functionality of the devices. There are
on the Android platform using the Java
currently over 200,000 apps available for
programming language.[2]
Android. Android Market is the online app
store run by Google, though apps can be 1.2 Programming :
downloaded from third party sites (except on
C (core), C++ (some third party
AT&T, which disallows this). Developers
libraries), Java (UI).
write in the Java language, controlling the

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1.3 Software Development : (e.g., triggering a reboot, installing software

package(s) remotely).
As the android operating system was
invented it couldn’t fetch good response A preview release of the Android SDK was

from the user. It got many negative released on 12 November 2007. On 15 July

feedbacks so the android team developed a 2008, the Android Developer Challenge

kit called software development kit in this Team accidentally sent an email to all

the overcame all the difficuilties faced by entrants in the Android Developer Challenge

the users. After the development of SDK announcing that a new release of the SDK

android earned a very huge public support. was available in a "private" download area.
The email was intended for winners of the
The Android software development
first round of the Android Developer
kit (SDK) includes a comprehensive set of
Challenge. The revelation that Google was
development tools. These include
supplying new SDK releases to some
a debugger, libraries, a
developers and not others (and keeping this
handset emulator (based on QEMU),
arrangement private) led to widely reported
documentation, sample code, and tutorials.
frustration within the Android developer
Currently supported development platforms
community at the time.
include computers running Linux (any
On 18 August 2008 the Android 0.9 SDK
modern desktop Linux distribution), Mac
beta was released. This release provided an
OS X 10.4.9 or later, Windows XP or later.
updated and extended API, improved
The officially supported integrated
development tools and an updated design for
development environment (IDE)
the home screen. Detailed instructions for
is Eclipse (currently 3.4 or 3.5) using the
upgrading are available to those already
Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin,
working with an earlier release. On 23
though developers may use any text editor to
September 2008 the Android 1.0 SDK
edit Java and XML files then use command
(Release 1) was released. According to the
line tools (Java Development
release notes, it included "mainly bug fixes,
Kit and Apache Ant are required) to create,
although some smaller features were added".
build and debug Android applications as
It also included several API changes from
well as control attached Android devices
the 0.9 version. Multiple versions have been
released since.
2

Enhancements to Android's SDK go hand in
hand with the overall Android platform
development. The SDK also supports older
versions of the Android platform in case
developers wish to target their applications
at older devices. Development tools are
downloadable components, so after one has
downloaded the latest version and platform,
older platforms and tools can also be
downloaded for compatibility testing.
Android applications are packaged
in .apk format and stored
under /data/app folder on the Android OS
(the folder is accessible to root user only for
security reasons). APK package contains
.dex files (compiled byte code files
called Dalvik executable), resource files, etc.
[1]
1.4 Application framework :
By providing an open development
platform, Android offers developers the
ability to build extremely rich and
innovative applications. Developers are free
to take advantage of the device hardware,
access location information, run background
services, set alarms, add notifications to the
status bar, and much, much more.
Developers have full access to the same
framework APIs used by the core
applications. The application architecture is
ANDRIOD OPERATING SYSTEM
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.[2]
Security and Permissions :
Android is a privilege-separated operating
system, in which each application runs with
a distinct system identity (Linux user ID and
group ID). Parts of the system are also
separated into distinct identities. Linux
thereby isolates applications from each other
and from the system.
Additional finer-grained security features
are provided through a "permission"
mechanism that enforces restrictions on the
specific operations that a particular process
can perform, and per-URI permissions for
granting ad-hoc access to specific pieces of
data.
1.5 Application signing :
All Android applications (.apk files) must be
signed with a certificate whose private key
is held by their developer. This certificate
identifies the author of the application. The
certificate does not need to be signed by a
certificate authority: it is perfectly
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 ANDRIOD OPERATING SYSTEM

allowable, and typical, for Android
applications to use self-signed certificates.
The purpose of certificates in Android is to
distinguish application authors. This allows
the system to grant or deny applications
access to signature-level permissions and to
grant or deny an application's request to be
given the same Linux identity as another
application.
2. ANDRIOD 2.3 :
As there are many android softwares which
launched since 2005 android 2.3 is the latest
available software it has many new features
included in it few are listed below:
well as with other NFC devices, and is
thereby compatible with
existing contactless infrastructure already in
use for public transportation and payment.
NFC is primarily aimed at usage in mobile
phones.[3]
2.3 Camera :
The application now lets the user access
multiple cameras on the device, including a
front-facing camera for video calling and
back cameras for clicking pictures or
shooting videos.

2.2 Near Field

Communication :

Near Field Communication or NFC, is a

short-range high frequency wireless
communication technology which enables
the exchange of data between devices over
about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches)
distance. The technology is a simple
extension of the ISO/IEC 14443proximity-
card standard (proximity card, RFID) that
combines the interface of a smartcard and a
reader into a single device. An NFC device
can communicate with both existing
ISO/IEC 14443 smartcards and readers, as

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 ANDRIOD OPERATING SYSTEM

Control over applications :

A shortcut to the Manage Applications

control now appears in the
Options Menu in the Home
screen and Launcher, making it
much easier to check and
manage application activity.
Once the user enters Manage
Applications, a new Running tab
displays a list of active
applications and the storage
and memory being used by
each. The user can read further
details about each application
and if necessary stop an
application or report feedback
to its developer.

2.4 Internet calling :

The user can make voice calls over the

internet to other users who have Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) accounts. The user
can add an internet calling number (a SIP
address) to any Contact and can initiate a
call from Quick Contact or Dialer. To use
internet calling, the user must create an
account at the SIP provider of their choice
— SIP accounts are not provided as part of
the internet calling feature. Additionally,

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 ANDRIOD OPERATING SYSTEM

support for the platform's SIP and internet • http://developer.android.com/guide/b

calling features on specific devices is
determined by their manufacturers and
associated carriers.
asics/what-is-android.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_fie
ld_communication

• http://www.ibm.com/developerw
orks/xml/library/x-androidsecurity/

3. CONCLUSION :

We studied about android operation system,

about its security and latest android
operating system 2.3. Android phones are
the most running and it has become Number
1 operating system till date.

4. REFRENCES:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android
_(operating_system)