At the heart of all computer, devices are the operating system or OS. Development and execution of application software are based on the OS and the software platform as a whole. In this chapter, you learn about the Android OS—the recommended software platform for Intel Atom-based machines—to build your competence for subsequent development of embedded applications.
Android Overview
Android is a comprehensive operating environment based on the Linux kernel (in 2014, Kernel version 3.10.x has been used by major OEMs). Initially, the deployment target for Android was the mobile phone category, including smartphones and lower-cost flip-phone devices. However, Android’s full range of computing services and rich functional support have the full potential to extend beyond the mobile phone market for use on other platforms and applications, such as tablets.
In addition to the kernel, the Android OS for x86 requires some drivers and technologies, including those commonly found on mobile devices:
• USB driver for host and client • Video driver for video encode as well as decode • Display and Graphics: 2D and 3D rendering; planes, pipes, ports • Flash memory driver • Camera driver: usually a Linux-based v41 (video for) driver • Audio driver: usually an Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) based advanced Linux (sound system), driver • Near field communication (NFC) • Wi-Fi Driver: IEEE 802.11-based driver • Keyboard driver • Security (DRM, trusted boot, and so on) • Bluetooth driver • Binder IPC: a special driver of Android, with separate device nodes to provide inter-process communications (IPC) functions • Power management:
With Android’s breadth of capabilities, it would be easy to confuse it with a desktop OS; Android is a layered environment and includes rich functions. Android applications are generally written in the Java programming language and can include many different kinds of resource files (in the res directory). An APK package is generated after the Java program and other related resources are compiled. android training
Google also provides support for multiple APK files. This is a feature of Google Play that allows developers to publish different APKs for the application that are each targeted to different device configurations. Android offers many core applications including Home, Contact, Phone, and Browser. Also, you can use the APIs in the application framework layer to develop your applications. The Android UI subsystem includes • Windows • Views • Widgets for displaying common elements such as edit boxes, lists, and drop-down lists It also includes an embeddable browser built on WebKit, the same open-source browser engine powering the Apple iPhone’s Mobile Safari browser. http://thetechnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Andr... Android boasts a healthy array of connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and wireless data over a cellular connection (for example, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, and 4G/LTE). A popular technique in Android applications is to link to Google Maps to display an address directly within an application.
Support for location-based services (such as GPS) and accelerometers is also available in the Android software stack, although not all Android devices are equipped with the required hardware. android app development course.
There is also camera support. Historically, two areas where mobile applications have struggled to keep pace with their desktop counterparts are graphics/media and data-storage methods. Android addresses the graphics challenge with built-in support for 2D and 3D graphics, including the OpenGL ES library. The data-storage burden is eased with the popular open-source SQLite database included on the Android platform.
