3. Android is a Linux-based operating
system for mobile devices such
as smartphones and tablet computers,
developed by Google in conjunction with
the Open Handset Alliance. Android was
initially developed by Android Inc, whom
Google financially backed and later
purchased in 2005.
4. The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007
was announced with the founding of the Open
Handset Alliance, a consortium of
86 hardware, software,
and telecommunication companies devoted to
advancing open standards for mobile
devices. Google releases the Android code
as open-source, under the Apache
License. The Android Open Source
Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance
and further development of Android
5. Android has a large community of developers
writing applications ("apps") that extend the
functionality of the devices. Developers write
primarily in a customized version of Java,and
apps can be downloaded from online stores
such as Google Play (formerly Android
Market), the app store run by Google, or
third-party sites.
6. In June 2012, there were more than 600,000
apps available for Android, and the estimated
number of applications downloaded from
Google Play was 20 billion.
7. Android became the world’s leading
smartphone platform at the end of 2010.For
the first quarter of 2012, Android had a 59%
smartphone market share worldwide. As of
third quarter 2012, there were 400 million
devices activated and 1.3 million activations
per day.
8. Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto,
California, United States in October 2003
by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich
Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications,
Inc.), Nick Sears[20] (once VP at T-Mobile), and
Chris White (headed design and interface
development at WebTV) to develop, in Rubin's
words "...smarter mobile devices that are more
aware of its owner's location and preferences".
9. Despite the obvious past accomplishments
of the founders and early employees, Android
Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it
was working on software for mobile phones
10. That same year, Rubin ran out of money.
Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin,
brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope
and refused a stake in the company.
11. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is
led by Google, and is tasked with the
maintenance and development of
Android. According to the project "The goal
of the Android Open Source Project is to
create a successful real-world product that
improves the mobile experience for end
users.
12. AOSP also maintains the Android
Compatibility Program, defining an "Android
compatible" device "as one that can run any
application written by third-party developers
using the Android SDK and NDK", to prevent
incompatible Android implementations. The
compatibility program is also optional and
free of charge, with the Compatibility Test
Suite also free and open-source.
13. Android consists of a kernel based on
the Linux kernel 2.6 and Linux Kernel 3.x
(Android 4.0 onwards),
with middleware, libraries and APIs written
in C andapplication software running on
an application framework which includes
Java-compatible libraries based on Apache
Harmony.
14. Android uses the Dalvik virtual
machine with just-in-time compilation to run
Dalvik dex-code (Dalvik Executable), which is
usually translated from Java bytecode.
15. Android's kernel is based on the Linux
kernel and has further architecture changes
by Google outside the typical Linux kernel
development cycle.[36] Android does not have
a native X Window System by default nor
does it support the full set of
standard GNU libraries, and this makes it
difficult to port existing Linux applications or
libraries to Android.
16. Linux included the autosleep and wakelocks
capablities in the 3.5 kernel, after many previous
attempts at merger. The interfaces are the same
but the upstream Linux implementation allows
for two different suspend modes: to memory
(the traditional suspend that android uses), and
to disk (hibernate, as it is known on the
desktop). In August 2011, Linus Torvalds said that
"eventually Android and Linux would come back
to a common kernel, but it will probably not be
for four to five years".
