What is android ?
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an Operating system, middle-ware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to develop applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.
The Android operating system (OS) is based on the Linux kernel. Unlike Apple’s iOS, Android is open source, meaning developers can modify and customize the OS for each phone.
Therefore, different Android-based phones often have different graphical user interfaces GUI’s even though they use the same OS.
Android phones typically come with several built-in applications and also support third-party programs. Developers can create programs for Android using the free Android software developer kit (SDK).
We write android programs in Java Programing language and run through a Java virtual machine JVM. They use “Dalvik” JVM through Android 4.4 and after replace it by Android Runtime or “ART” in Android 5.0.
Android History
- Andy Rubin founded Android Inc in October 2003 in Palo Alto, CA, US.
- Google Acquired Android Inc in 17th August 2005.
- First phone running Android is HTC Dream which is also marketed as T-Mobile G1 and released on 22nd October 2008.
- 5th November 2007 is known as birthday of Android as first beta released on that day.
Andy Rubin founded Android Incorporation in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003. Google acquired android Incorporation on 17th August 2005. Since then it is a subsidiary of Google Incorporation. Google formed Open Handset Alliance(OHA) on 5th November 2007.
The first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, it came to the market as the T-Mobile G1 in the USA, released on October 22,2008. There were two Pre-commercial Android release between 2007 and 2008, these are Android Alpha and Beta. Android beta release on 5 November 2007, a date is the Android’s “birthday”.