Mobile Android Development Chp.

1 Ali Karim Sir

Chapter 1. Android and it tools

Syllabus:
1.1 Introduction to Android, open handset alliance, Android Ecosystem.
1.2 Need of Android, Features Of Android.
1.3 Tools and software required for developing an Android Application
1.4 Android Architecture.
-----
1a. Explain the given basic terms related to Android system.
1b. Explain with sketches Android architecture for the given application.
1c. Identify tools and software required for developing the given Android application with
justification.
1d. Explain significance of the given component in Android architecture.

Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto of California. U.S. by Andy Rubin. Rich Miner. Nick
Sears and Chris White during 2003. After that it was acquired by Google in 2005.

Q. What is Android?
Ans:
➢ Android is a stack of software for mobile devices that are an Operating System, Middleware
and Key Applications.

Figure 1.1: Android Operating System

➢ Android is a Linux-based operating system which is designed for touchscreen mobile devices
like smartphones and tablet computers.
➢ It is an open source technology that allows the software to be freely modified and
distributed by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and developers.
➢ Android was unveiled during 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance.

Q. Describe “Open Handset Alliance”?

Ans:
➢ Open Handset Alliance (OHA) was formed in November 2007.The OHA is the group that is in
charge of the Android smartphones operating system.
➢ It was created by Google. The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a business alliance that
consists of 47 companies for developing open standard platform for mobile devices.
➢ The members of OHA include handset manufactures, chip makers, commercialization
companies, software companies, and mobile operators

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 1

Mobile Android Development Chp. 1 Ali Karim Sir

Q. What is Android Ecosystem?

Ans:
If we want to learn about Android and develop Android applications, it is very important for
us to understand the entire ecosystem of Android and the stakeholders of this ecosystem.

The stakeholders are the consumers that own Android devices. But there are others as well:
➢ Google: It develops Android.
➢ OEILs (Original Equipment Manufacturers): They manufacture the hardware, and as well
the custom application components?
➢ Application Development Companies: They are the major contributors to the ecosystem
and employ Android developers, and also contract out the product development to services
companies.
➢ FreeLance Android developers: Developers have the skill-set to contribute to the ecosystem
for Android development, they are who create their own applications, and publish them on
Google plavstore. Freelancers can also generate money by developing applications for
product companies.

Q. Why Android is needed???

Ans:
There are some points:
1. Browser
2. Desktop
3. Connectivity
4. Multi Notification
5. Endless Personalization
6. Market
7. Open Source
8. Google Integration
9. Open to Carrier
10. Future

1. Browser: The Android browser is one of the best browsers on the mobile market. It generally
loads pages faster than Safari or any other browser, has flash support and simply does everything a
browser should do.
e.g.:
iPhone has safari browser. It is stable, has no flash support, so you cannot watch YouTube videos or
any related contents, it is not flexible but monopolistic.
2. Desktop: The Android phone adds widgets to the desktop. The purpose for the widget
e.g:
➢ The Facebook widget allows you to update your Facebook desktop.

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 2

Mobile Android Development Chp. 1 Ali Karim Sir

➢ The people widget allows you to make possible different actions for different contacts right
from your desktop.
➢ The message widget allows you to immediately see your email from the desktop.

3. Connectivity: On one page/desktop you could be able to have four connecting device tool
button.
➢ Turn on/off Bluetooth
➢ Turn on/off WiFi
➢ Turn on/ off mobile network
➢ Turn on/off OPS
These buttons let you switch on/off instantly which will help you to conserve battery life.

4. Multi-Notification: Android phones have multi-notification system. With android the app
have access to the notification system and call ail report.

5. Endless Personalization: The Android cell phone allows client to configuration their mobile to look
and behave exactly like they want.
6. Market: Android has an android market. The Android apps are free and work as well.
7. Google Integration: The Android has inbuilt Google support.
e.g., Google map, Email etc.
8. Open Source: The code of android OS as well as the apps is available.
9. Open to Carrier: If you know java then you are open to android world.
10. Future: The future mobile phones are basically going to be smart phones.

Q. Describe Features of Android.

Ans:
1. Open Source
2. Storage
3. Media support
4. Streaming media support
5. Multitouch
6. Web browser
7. Video calling
8. Multitasking
9. Accessibility
10. Voice based features
11. External storage

1. Open Source: Android is an open-source operating system. This way that the source code
for Android is open to the public, dissimilar iOS. Which is kept secret by Apple. This way that
anyone can work on the operating system, not only one company developers. Therefore app
developers for Android devices are able to implement extra features of their apps, due to
the access they have to contain the source code.

2. Storage: SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes.

3. Media support: Android supports the following audio video still media formats:
WebM, H263. H.264. AAC, HE-AAC (in 3GP or MP4 container),
MPEG-4 SP. AMP.. AMR-WB (in3GP container),
MP3, MIDI, WAV, JPEG.

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 3

Mobile Android Development Chp. 1 Ali Karim Sir

4. Streaming media support: RTPRTSP streaming (3GPP P55, ISMA), HTML

progressive download (HTMLS <video> tag) Adobe Flash Streaming (RTMP) and
HTTP Dynamic Streaming are supported by the Flash plugin.

5. Multitouch: Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made
available in handsets such as the HTC Hero These features was originally disabled at the
kernel level.

6. Web browser: The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source
WebKit layout engine, attached with Chrome’s VS JavaScript engine.

7. Video calling: Android does not support local video calling, but several handsets have a
customized version of the operating system that supports it, either through the UMTS
network or ended IP .

8. Multitasking: Multitasking of application, with unique handling of memory allocation, will

be existing.

9. Accessibility: Built in text to speech is provided by Talk back for people with low or no
vision. Enhancements for people through hearing disabilities are available as is other aids.

10. Voice based features: Google search through voice has been available since opening
release. Voice activities for navigation, calling, texting, etc. are supported on Android 2.2
forwards.

11. External storage: Most Android devices include micro SD slot and can read microSD
cards formatted with FAT32 file system. To allow use of high-capacity storage media such as
USB flash drives and USB HDDs, many Android tablets also include USB AE receptacle.

Q. Describe Tools and software required for developing an Android Application

Ans:
The android developer tools let you create interactive and powerful application for android
platform. The tools can be generally categorized into two types.
1. SDK tools
2. Platform tools

1. SDK tools:
SDK tools are generally platform independent and are required no matter which android
platform you are working on. When you install the Android SDK into your system, these tools get
automatically installed. The list of SDK tools has been given below –
Sr.No Tool & description

android
1
This tool lets you manage AVDs, projects, and the installed components of the SDK

ddms
2
This tool lets you debug Android applications

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 4

Mobile Android Development Chp. 1 Ali Karim Sir

Draw 9-Patch
3
This tool allows you to easily create a NinePatch graphic using a WYSIWYG editor

emulator
4
This tools let you test your applications without using a physical device

mksdcard
5
Helps you create a disk image (external sdcard storage) that you can use with the emulator

proguard
6
Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code

sqlite3
7
Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications

traceview
8
Provides a graphical viewer for execution logs saved by your application

Adb
9 Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate
with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device.

2. Platform tools
The platform tools are customized to support the features of the latest android platform.
The platform tools are typically updated every time you install a new SDK platform. Each
update of the platform tools is backward compatible with older platforms.

➢ Some of the platform tools are listd below .

➢ Android Debug bridge (ADB) .
➢ Android Interface definition language (AIDL) .
➢ aapt, dexdump , and dex etc.

Q. Describe Android Architecture?

Ans:
The Android OS can be referred to as a software stack of different layers, where every layer is a
group of several programs components. It includes operating system, middleware and important
applications. Every layer in the architecture provides different services.

Mostly Android has the following layers:

1. Applications
2. Application Framework
3. Libraries
4. Android Runtime
5. Linux Kernel
➢ When we are having blue color in architecture applications and framework it is written in
Java, execute in Dalvik)

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 5

Mobile Android Development Chp. 1 Ali Karim Sir

➢ When the color is green then it goes to c and C—+ code libraries. It we want to communicate
between java application and C, C— libraries then we have used JNI (Java native interface).
➢ If the color is yellow then it is developed, which executes a virtual machine whose name is
Dalvik Virtual Machine, native libraries, Daemons and services (written in C or C++).
➢ If the color is red it means it is a linear kernel which includes drivers for hardware,
networking, file system access and inter-process communication.

Ali Karim Sir Classes- Mumbra 9220990566 Page 6