Topic:
Android Operating System
Developed by,
Students Name with Reg No
Vadivelan.U
S141144300413
Android,
Inc. was founded in Palo Alto,
California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin.
Android is an operating system based on the Linux kernel with a user interface based on direct manipulation, designed
primarily for touchscreen mobile
devices such as smartphones and tablet
computers. The operating system uses touch inputs that loosely correspond to
real-world actions, like swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to
manipulate on-screen objects, and a virtual
keyboard. Despite being primarily designed for touchscreen input, it also has
been used in televisions, games
consoles, digital cameras, and
other electronics.
As of 2011, Android has the largest installed base of
any mobile OS and as of 2013, its devices also sell
more than Windows, iOS and Mac OS devices combined. As of July 2013 the Google
Play store has had over 1 million
Android apps published, and over 50 billion apps downloaded. A developer survey conducted in
April–May 2013 found that 71% of mobile developers develop for Android .
Android's source
code was released by Google under open source licenses, although most Android
devices ultimately ship with a combination of open source and proprietary
software. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later bought in
2005.
Since
April 2009, Android versions have been developed under
a confectionery-themed code name and released in alphabetical
order:
v Cupcake
(1.5)
v
Doughnut (1.6)
v
Eclair (2.0–2.1)
v
Froyo (2.2–2.2.3)
v
Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7)
v
Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6)
v
Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4)
v
Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3.1)
v
KitKat (4.4–4.4.4)
v
Lollipop (4.5)
Ginger Bread(2.3)
Improvements and new features
The
new stuff in Android 2.3 includes:
·
New
UI theme with simpler colour scheme
·
Redesigned
on-screen keyboard
·
New
copy-and-paste functionality
·
Better
power management
·
Better
application management
·
New
downloads manager
·
Near-field
communications (NFC) integration
·
SIP
calling over the Internet
·
New
camera app for accessing multiple cameras
·
Support
for extra large screens (i.e. tablets)
The next Android: Screenshots of version 2.3, Gingerbread
Honeycomb(3.0)
Improvements and new features
1. Optimized
Tablet UI - You
will find this very interesting as the general layout of UI has extravagant
space on the home screen for icons and widgets. With this well optimized Table
UI you are free to accommodate many required things just on home screen
2. Redesigned
widgets – With
the updated set of Android 3.0 UI widgets, it becomes easier for developers to
add new content to their existing applications. The new UI widgets concentrate
on bigger screens such as tablets and including the new holographic UI theme.
Don’t miss out on the new widgets comprising a 3D stack, search box, a
date/time picker, number picker, calendar, popup menu, and others.
3.
Elegant Notification Bar – You will find the notification bar at the
bottom of the screen so as to offer quick access to notifications. Back, Home,
and Recent Apps are the three buttons you will find on the System Bar. In the
present System Bar there is a new “lights out Mode” which can be dimmed for
full-screen viewing, for example videos.
4.
Customizable Home Screen – Home screen is more or less the similar to
previous version on Android where you can add widgets, apps and shortcuts.
However, when you are allowed to swipe between five different screens along
with an awesome new 3D look for the home screen is definitely fun and this is
what the new version offers!
5.
Action-bar – Action bar is placed at the top of the
screen where users can access contextual options, navigation, widgets, or
content. This one is always present when any application is in use,
however its content, theme, and other properties are handled by the application
and not by the system.
6. Redesigned Keyboard and Improved Copy/Paste – To make typing fast and accurate, Android 3.0
has a soft keyboard on larger screen size. These reshaped, repositioned and new
keys (Tab key) are certainly welcomed by users that offer richer and more
effective text input. Copy/paste now becomes simpler for users by just
selecting a word by press-hold and then moving the selection area as needed by
dragging a set of bounding arrows to new positions.
7. Browser
Enhancements –
Browser enhancements include tabbed web pages, form auto-fill, bookmark syncing
with Google Chrome, and private browsing. Other updated areas would include
Browser, Contacts, Email and Camera that can be used more efficiently with your
larger screen tablet.
8. Visual
multi-tasking –
Users have had the benefit of multitasking in Android for now and latest
version is even better. When you launch apps to handle multitask, you can make
use of Recent Apps list in the System Bar to see and switch between one application
to another. The System Bar also has the snapshot list that state when you
viewed it last.
9.
Multiselect, Clipboard, and
Drag-and-drop – This
will be really convenient for developers when handling various items in lists
or grids, where developer can offer a new multiselect mode to choose multiple
item for one action. The new clipboard will let developers copy any type of
data into and out of their applications. Further, neat drag-and-drop will help
to easily manage and organize files.
10. New Connectivity options – New APIs for Bluetooth A2DP and HSP let
applications offer audio streaming and headset control. Support for Bluetooth
insecure socket connection lets applications connect to simple devices that may
not have a user interface.
11. Support for Multi-core Processors – Android 3.0 is the first version of the
platform designed to run on either single or multi-core processor
architectures. Many other changes in the Dalvik VM, Bionic library, and
elsewhere add support for symmetric multiprocessing in multicore environments.
This will do nothing but help all the applications including those that are
single-threaded.
12. Hardware acceleration for 2D graphics – Android honeycomb offers a new
hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderer, which offers a performance boost to many
common graphics operations for applications running in the Android framework.
When the renderer is enabled, most operations in Canvas, Paint, Xfermode,
ColorFilter, Shader, and Camera are accelerated.
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Improvements and new
features
Refined, evolved UI
Focused
on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common
actions more visible and lets you navigate with simple, intuitive gestures.
Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions
engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for
high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel
to the user interface.
Virtual buttons in the System Bar let you
navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual
buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for
full-screen viewing. You can access each application's contextual options in
the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the
screen.
Multitasking is a key
strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0.
The Recent Apps button lets you jump instantly from one task to another using
the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps
used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.
Rich and interactive notifications let you
keep in constant touch with incoming messages, play music tracks, see real-time
updates from apps, and much more. On smaller-screen devices, notifications
appear at the top of the screen, while on larger-screen devices they appear in
the System Bar.
Home screen folders and favorites tray
New
home screen folders offer a new way for you to group your apps and shortcuts
logically, just by dragging one onto another. Also, in All Apps launcher, you
can now simply drag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall
it, or disable a pre-installed app.
On smaller-screen devices, the home
screen now includes a customizable favorites tray visible from all home screens. You can
drag apps, shortcuts, folders, and other priority items in or out of the
favorites tray for instant access from any home screen.
Resizable widgets
Home
screens in Android 4.0 are designed to be content-rich and customizable. You
can do much more than add shortcuts — you can embed live application content
directly through interactive widgets. Widgets let you check email, flip through
a calendar, play music, check social streams, and more — right from the home
screen, without having to launch apps. Widgets are resizable, so you can expand
them to show more content or shrink them to save space.
New lock screen actions
The
lock screens now let you do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen,
you can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the
notifications window to check for messages. When listening to music, you can
even manage music tracks and see album art.
Quick responses for incoming calls
When
an incoming call arrives, you can now quickly respond by text message, without
needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen,
you simply slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send
and end the call. You can add your own responses and manage the list from the
Settings app.
Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs
Android
4.0 makes managing notifications, recent apps, and browser tabs even easier.
You can now dismiss individual notifications, apps from the Recent Apps list,
and browser tabs with a simple swipe of a finger.
Improved text input and spell-checking
The
soft keyboard in Android 4.0 makes text input even faster and more accurate.
Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default
dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as
double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion
is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three
words at a time.
To
fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates
and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, you can
choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the
dictionary. You can even tap to see replacement suggestions for words that are
spelled correctly. For specialized features or additional languages, you can
now download and install third-party dictionaries, spell-checkers, and other text
services.
Powerful voice input engine
Android
4.0 introduces a powerful new voice input engine that offers a continuous
"open microphone" experience and streaming voice recognition. The new
voice input engine lets you dictate the text you want, for as long as you want,
using the language you want. You can speak continously for a prolonged time,
even pausing for intervals if needed, and dictate punctuation to create correct
sentences. As the voice input engine enters text, it underlines possible dictation
errors in gray. After dictating, you can tap the underlined words to quickly
replace them from a list of suggestions.
Control over network data
Mobile
devices can make extensive use of network data for streaming content,
synchronizing data, downloading apps, and more. To meet the needs of you with
tiered or metered data plans, Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing
network data usage.
In
the Settings app, colorful charts show the total data usage on each network
type (mobile or Wi-Fi), as well as amount of data used by each running
application. Based on your data plan, you can optionally set warning levels or
hard limits on data usage or disable mobile data altogether. You can also
manage the background data used by individual applications as needed.
Designed for accessibility
A
variety of new features greatly enhance the accessibility of Android 4.0 for
blind or visually impaired users. Most important is a new explore-by-touch mode
that lets you navigate without having to see the screen. Touching the screen
once triggers audible feedback that identifies the UI component below; a second
touch in the same component activates it with a full touch event. The new mode
is especially important to support users on new devices that use virtual
buttons in the System Bar, rather than dedicated hardware buttons or
trackballs. Also, standard apps are updated to offer an improved accessibility
experience. The Browser supports a script-based screen reader for reading
favorite web content and navigating sites. For improved readability, you can
also increase the default font size used across the system.
Rich and versatile camera capabilities
The
Camera app includes many new features that let you capture special moments with
great photos and videos. After capturing images, you can edit and share them
easily with friends.
When
taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased
shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images. Stabilized image zoom
lets you compose photos and video in the way you want, including while video is
recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, you can
now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video
continues to record.
An
improved Picture Gallery widget lets you look at pictures directly on the home
screen. The widget can display pictures from a selected album, shuffle pictures
from all albums, or show a single image. After adding the widget to the home
screen, you can flick through the photo stacks to locate the image you want,
then tap to load it in Gallery.
Sharing with screenshots
You
can now share what's on your screens more easily by taking screenshots.
Hardware buttons let them snap a screenshot and store it locally. Afterward,
you can view, edit, and share the screen shot in Gallery or a similar app.
Cloud-connected experience
Android
has always been cloud-connected, letting you browse the web and sync photos,
apps, games, email, and contacts — wherever you are and across all of your
devices. Android 4.0 adds new browsing and email capabilities to let you take
even more with them and keep communication organized.
Face Unlock
Android
4.0 introduces a completely new approach to securing a device, making each
person's device even more personal — Face Unlock is a new screen-lock option
that lets you unlock your device with your face. It takes advantage of the
device front-facing camera and state-of-the-art facial recognition technology
to register a face during setup and then to recognize it again when unlocking
the device. Just hold your device in front of your face to unlock, or use a
backup PIN or pattern.
Android 4.3, Jelly Bean Improvements and new
features
Android 4.3, an even
sweeter Jelly Bean, is available now on Nexus phones and tablets.
Restricted profiles: limit
access to apps and content, at home with your family and at work. Bluetooth
Smart support makes Android ready for a whole new class of mobile apps that
connect to fitness sensors. Games look great thanks to the 3D realistic, high
performance graphics powered by OpenGL ES 3.0.
Audio
·
Virtual surround sound - enjoy movies from
Google Play with surround sound on Nexus 7 (2013 edition) and other Nexus
devices.
Surround sound is powered by
Fraunhofer Cingo™ mobile audio technology.
Dial pad
·
Autocomplete - just start touching numbers or
letters and the dial pad will suggest phone numbers or names. To turn on this
feature, open your phone app settings and enable “Dial pad autocomplete.”
Graphics
·
OpenGL ES 3.0 - Android now supports the
latest version of the industry standard for high performance graphics.
·
Wireless Display for Nexus 7 (2013 edition)
and Nexus 10 - project from your tablet to a TV.
Internationalization and localization
·
Additional language support - Android is now
translated in Africaans, Amharic (አማርኛ), Hindi (हिंदी), Swahili (Kiswahili), and Zulu (IsiZulu).
·
Hebrew, Arabic, and other RTL (right-to-left)
- now supported in the home screen, settings, and Phone, People, and Keep apps.
Keyboard & input
·
Easier text input - an improved algorithm for
tap-typing recognition makes text input easier.
·
Lower latency input for gamepad buttons and
joysticks.
Location
·
Location detection through Wi-Fi - use Wi-Fi
to detect location without turning on Wi-Fi all the time.
Networking
·
Bluetooth Smart support (a.k.a. Bluetooth
Low-Energy) - devices like Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (2013 edition) are now Bluetooth
Smart Ready.
·
Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 support - display song
names on a car stereo.
Settings
·
Disabled apps tab - check which apps are
disabled in Settings > Apps.
System
·
Restricted profiles - put your tablet into a
mode with limited access to apps and content.
·
Setup wizard simplification - getting started
on Android is easier thanks to the ability to correct previous input, and
because of streamlined user agreements.
·
Faster user switching - switching users f
rom
the lock screen is now faster.
·
Enhanced photo daydream - navigate through
interesting albums.
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