Showing posts with label Android. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Android. Show all posts
Monday, November 7, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Android
World is contracting with the growth of mobile phone technology. As the number of users is increasing day by day, facilities are also increasing. Starting with simple regular handsets which were used just for making phone calls, mobiles have changed our lives and have become part of it. Now they are not used just for making calls but they have innumerable uses and can be used as a Camera , Music player, Tablet PC, T.V. , Web browser etc . And with the new technologies, new software and operating systems are required.
Introduction
Operating Systems have developed a lot in last 15 years. Starting from black and white phones to recent smart phones or mini computers, mobile OS has come far away. Especially for smart phones, Mobile OS has greatly evolved from Palm OS in 1996 to Windows pocket PC in 2000 then to Blackberry OS and Android.
One of the most widely used mobile OS these days is ANDROID. Android is a software bunch comprising not only operating system but also middleware and key applications. Android Inc was founded in Palo Alto of California, U.S. by Andy Rubin, Rich miner, Nick sears and Chris White in 2003. Later Android Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005. After original release there have been number of updates in the original version of Android.
Features & Specifications
Android is a powerful Operating System supporting a large number of applications in Smart Phones. These applications make life more comfortable and advanced for the users. Hardwares that support Android are mainly based on ARM architecture platform. Some of the current features and specifications of android are:
Android comes with an Android market which is an online software store. It was developed by Google. It allows Android users to select, and download applications developed by third party developers and use them. There are around 2.0 lack+ games, application and widgets available on the market for users.
Android applications are written in java programming language. Android is available as open source for developers to develop applications which can be further used for selling in android market. There are around 200000 applications developed for android with over 3 billion+ downloads. Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. For software development, Android provides Android SDK (Software development kit).
Applications
These are the basics of Android applications.
• Android applications are composed of one or more application components (activities, services, content providers, and broadcast receivers)
• Each component performs a different role in the overall application behavior, and each one can be activated individually (even by other applications)
• The manifest file must declare all components in the application and should also declare all application requirements, such as the minimum version of Android required and any hardware configurations required
• Non-code application resources (images, strings, layout files, etc.) should include alternatives for different device configurations (such as different strings for different languages)
Google, for software development and application development, had launched two competitions ADC1 and ADC2 for the most innovative applications for Android. It offered prizes of USD 10 million combined in ADC1 and 2. ADC1 was launched in January 2008 and ADC 2 was launched in May 2009. These competitions helped Google a lot in making Android better, more user friendly, advanced and interactive.
Other Mobile OSs
There are different other Mobile operating systems also present in market in competition with Android. Apple's iOS and Windows Phone give strong competition to Android. A simple comparison between features and specifications of latest version of Android and other Operating Systems can be seen in the table given below.
According to Canalys, In Q2 2009 Android had 2.8% market share which had grown to 33% market share by Q4 2010 which made Android leader of smart phone OSs worldwide. The market share for commonly used mobile OSs is shown in the following pie chart.
A large no of mobile companies are using Android. A list of companies supporting Android in their hardware is:
Saturday, November 27, 2010
12 Open Source Android Applications
According to Gartner, Android is all set to become one among the most preferred mobile phone OS out there and burgeoning Android Market is a sign of things to come. Already some 100,000 apps and growing. But how many of these applications are open source after all? There are no reliable statistics. Here is a quick list of 12 useful and open source android applications you might be interested in.
There are Android users who don't have the vaguest idea of what open source is or what it stands for. Then there are those open source evangelists who bought Android phone primarily because of the reason that it is open source and based on Linux. This post is especially meant for those who are included in the second category.
Amazed
Amazed is a simple yet addictive accelerometer-based marble-guidance game available in the Android Market. In this game, your goal is to guide the white ball through the maze and reach the green end zone. The game may be simple, but it can give you a good feel of how your phones accelerometer works. Please do check out this collection of open source Android apps included in the apps-for-android package.
K-9 Mail
K9 is an open source email client based on the email application shipped with the initial release of Android. K-9 Mail is equipped with features like search, push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, filing, signatures, bcc-self and more. K9 is focused on making it ever more easier to manage large volumes of email in Android. More info here.
Say My Name
SayMyName is a simple application that speaks the name of the person calling. It uses Text-To-Speech Library to call out a name during a phone call. Detailed review here.
Android SuperGenPass
SuperGenPass is an open source password manager for Android. Instead of randomly generating and storing passwords, SuperGenPass combines a Web site's domain and your master password to generate a unique password for each web site you visit using a strong cryptographic hash. More info here.
Astrid
Astrid is a todo list/task tracking system for Google's Android based mobile OS platform built with your enhanced productivity in mind. Astrid's goal is to be simple to use with the features you need to stay productive and get things done. More info here.
Pedometer
Pedometer counts your steps by using the sensors in the phone. It even calculates your pace (steps per minute) and can help you maintain a desired pace by speaking to you. It will ask you to install the Text-to-Speach library if you enable this option. Pedometer runs as a service, so it keeps counting when the display is off. More info here.
Milege
Milege Android application tracks car mileage, gas costs, etc. It even allows importing and exporting of data in various formats and makes it a lot more easier to sync with your existing logs. More info here.
Count Down Alarm
CountDownAlarm is an Android application that provides a basic countdown timer that plays an alarm when it reaches zero - for use with things like cooking, laundry etc. More info here.
Secrets
Secrets for Android is an application to securely store and manage passwords and secrets on your Android phone. It uses techniques like strong encryption and auto-logout to help ensure that your secrets remain safe. Context-sensitive tips guide you along through its operation, making it easy to use. More info here. [image via]
Beem
Beem is a feature rich and easy to use Jabber client on Android. Beem is free and contains no ads. Been is an open source software and is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. More details here.
Four Squared
Foursquared is a simple open source Foursquare client for Android. Foursquared is distributed under an Apache 2.0 License. More info here.
Open Sudoku
OpenSudoku is a simple open source sudoku game. It's designed to be controlled both by finger and keyboard. It's preloaded with 90 puzzles in 3 difficulty levels, more puzzles can be downloaded from the web and it also allows you to enter your own puzzles. More info here. Thanks to this wiki listing of android applications.
[image via android wallpapers]
12 Open Source Android Apps Worth Checking OutThere are Android users who don't have the vaguest idea of what open source is or what it stands for. Then there are those open source evangelists who bought Android phone primarily because of the reason that it is open source and based on Linux. This post is especially meant for those who are included in the second category.
Amazed
Amazed is a simple yet addictive accelerometer-based marble-guidance game available in the Android Market. In this game, your goal is to guide the white ball through the maze and reach the green end zone. The game may be simple, but it can give you a good feel of how your phones accelerometer works. Please do check out this collection of open source Android apps included in the apps-for-android package.
K-9 Mail
K9 is an open source email client based on the email application shipped with the initial release of Android. K-9 Mail is equipped with features like search, push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, filing, signatures, bcc-self and more. K9 is focused on making it ever more easier to manage large volumes of email in Android. More info here.
Say My Name
SayMyName is a simple application that speaks the name of the person calling. It uses Text-To-Speech Library to call out a name during a phone call. Detailed review here.
Android SuperGenPass
SuperGenPass is an open source password manager for Android. Instead of randomly generating and storing passwords, SuperGenPass combines a Web site's domain and your master password to generate a unique password for each web site you visit using a strong cryptographic hash. More info here.
Astrid
Astrid is a todo list/task tracking system for Google's Android based mobile OS platform built with your enhanced productivity in mind. Astrid's goal is to be simple to use with the features you need to stay productive and get things done. More info here.
Pedometer
Pedometer counts your steps by using the sensors in the phone. It even calculates your pace (steps per minute) and can help you maintain a desired pace by speaking to you. It will ask you to install the Text-to-Speach library if you enable this option. Pedometer runs as a service, so it keeps counting when the display is off. More info here.
Milege
Milege Android application tracks car mileage, gas costs, etc. It even allows importing and exporting of data in various formats and makes it a lot more easier to sync with your existing logs. More info here.
Count Down Alarm
CountDownAlarm is an Android application that provides a basic countdown timer that plays an alarm when it reaches zero - for use with things like cooking, laundry etc. More info here.
Secrets
Secrets for Android is an application to securely store and manage passwords and secrets on your Android phone. It uses techniques like strong encryption and auto-logout to help ensure that your secrets remain safe. Context-sensitive tips guide you along through its operation, making it easy to use. More info here. [image via]
Beem
Beem is a feature rich and easy to use Jabber client on Android. Beem is free and contains no ads. Been is an open source software and is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. More details here.
Four Squared
Foursquared is a simple open source Foursquare client for Android. Foursquared is distributed under an Apache 2.0 License. More info here.
Open Sudoku
OpenSudoku is a simple open source sudoku game. It's designed to be controlled both by finger and keyboard. It's preloaded with 90 puzzles in 3 difficulty levels, more puzzles can be downloaded from the web and it also allows you to enter your own puzzles. More info here. Thanks to this wiki listing of android applications.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)