Android Operating System

 Open Source

It is an open source operating system and that opens doors for small business and developers to customize it and develop innovative applications. This is why android has a large community of developers working on it, which result into more innovative ideas, applications and low cost applications. And customers have a wide range of applications from where they can choose any of them according to their requirements.

 

Multitasking

Android is able to run multiple applications at the same time regardless of whether they are system applications or developed by some external developers. Users here at android can listen music, read GPS data, receive notification without keeping them all open. But on the other hand OS like iPhone has limited multitasking and it only allows its native application to run in background. (Escallier, 2010)

 

Better Application Market

Android has a better application market as compare to other operating systems and it is growing very fast. Within just couple of years it has crossed 50,000 which is a rapid development. (Escallier, 2010)

 

Better Notifications

It has a convenient notification with different icons for the notifications you want. The notification bar can be pulled down to show the details of the notification. Also you can view the notification from the lock screen and this facility is available for the developer’s applications as well. (Escallier, 2010)

Application Freedom

Applications are allowed to do anything they want just like an application installed on a computer. For the security purpose applications ask the user for the permission at the time of installation for the tasks they will be performing unlike the other mobile operating systems which are very restricted.

 

Hardware freedom

Android lets you choose your hardware as it is based on java so it is hardware independent. While the other operating systems need their dedicated hardware.

 

Free Application

Android gives you more free application than any other mobile operating systems. As it is an open source operating system so there are many developers are developing applications for android platform that breaks the monopoly of the large companies that sell their applications on their fixed prices.

 

Programming with Android

Android development can be done over many platforms such as Mac OS, Linux and windows. A rich  is provided by android for the application programmers and an excellent documentation is also available. Mostly we use JAVA as a programming language for application development but it does not run the Java byte code. It converts JAVA byte codes in to DEX (Dalvik Executable Code) file which is zipped into an APK file.

In android application, user interface is defined in an xml file called layout. And we access this layout in a class extended from activity class.

 

Future of Android

The lack of openness in the mobile devices has stifled the innovation to date but with the introduction of open source operating system like android, it enables the developers all around the world to take part in its development and make rapid innovation.

Applications can be developed using Java so the developers do not need to learn any new language or technology to develop applications for android. They just need and SDK from android to deal with the android platform. This SDK comes with necessary tools such as emulator and compiler etc.

Technology innovations are decreasing the gap between computers, phones and notebooks. The mobile companies do not have to spent lots of money on the operating system for the OS of their device but due to the openness of android they just customize it and install it on their system.