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Short note: Android framework

Mumbai University > Computer Engineering > Sem6 > Mobile Communication and Computing

Marks: 5M/10M

Year: May15, Dec 15

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About Android:

  • Android is a mobile operating system that is based on a modified version of Linux.
  • Since 2005, the Android OS is owned by Google and distributed as open-source software under Apache license.
  • With the advent of smartphone era, android has become the most popular Operating System running on Smartphones due to some of it’s features like

    • Unified Development approach
    • better storage,
    • better connectivity features (4G LTE, Wi-Fi )
    • Multi-tasking, Multi-touch,
    • Better Hardware and Media Support etc.

    The diagram above shows the architecture of the Android OS. It is basically made up of five layers as described below:

  • Linux Kernel:

    • As mentioned earlier, the Android OS is based on Linux Kernel.
    • Android uses Linux for all memory management, process management, networking and other operating systems services.
    • Inside the Linux kernel, it contains all the low-level device drivers meant for the various hardware components of and Android Device.

    (Extra Info: A driver is a software which is meant to interconnect between Software System and the peripheral like camera, printer, Bluetooth, etc.)

  • Libraries:

    • It contains the shared library files usually written in C or C++ and compiled for the particular architecture and the make of the phone.
    • It is preinstalled by the vendor.
    • It contains all the code that provides the main features of an Android OS.
    • For e.g., SQLite library is used for providing database support to the applications.
  • Android Runtime:

    • It provides a set of core libraries that enables developers to write and develop Android apps using the Java programming language.
    • It also contains the Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM). It is Google’s implementation of Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
    • It is specifically developed for Android to satisfy the limited memory and battery availability.
    • The Java codes are compiled and made as dalvik executable with the extension .dex .
  • Application Framework:

    • This layer provides high level building blocks that can used for developing applications.
    • Some important parts of this framework include the Activity Manager that is used mainly to control the life cycle of an application. It provides a stack meant to keep track of user movement when ‘back’ button is pressed.
  • Applications:

    • This is the layer that the end-user sees or works with.
    • Here the various applications are kept which include the systems apps, pre-installed factory apps, self-developed apps, apps from Play store, etc.
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