What is Android?
Android is an open-source and Linux based operating system for mobile devices such as tablets computers and smartphones. It was developed by Google and later the OHA(Open Handset Alliance). To write the android code the Java language can be used.
The unified approach is provided by android to application development for mobile devices it means developers need to develop only for android and their applications should be able to run on different devices powered by android.
It is open-source and free, most of the source code of android is released under open-source Apache license. It allows anyone to download the source code and change it according to their requirements.
What is OHA (Open Handset Alliance )?
The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a business alliance of 84 companies such as Google, Samsung, AKM, Synaptics, KDDI, Garmin, Teleca, eBay, Intel, etc. It was initiated on 5th 5th November 2007 and led by Google. The purpose of OHA is to develop open mobile device standards and provide the best experience to consumers at a lower cost.
Features of Android:
- Storage: It uses SQLite, a lightweight relational database for data storage which is helpful when limited mobile memory storage is to be considered.
- Media Support: It supports a large number of media formats for images, audio, and video like H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR WB, AAC, MP3, MIDI, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF & BMP.
- Messaging: Both SMS and MMS are supported in it
- Web Browser: Based on Open Source WebKit, it is coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine supporting HTML5 and CSS3.
- Connectivity: It supports a large group of networks like GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, WiFi, LTE, and WiMAX.
- Hardware Support: It supports accelerometer sensor, camera, digital compass, proximity sensor & GPS and a lot more.
- Multi-Touch: It supports multi-touch screen.
- Multi-Task: It supports multitasking, users can jump from one task to another task and at the same time, various applications can run simultaneously.
- Tethering: It supports the sharing of the Internet as wired or wireless hotspots.
Categories of Android applications:
There are many applications of android in the market. Some categories are:
- Entertainment
- Communication
- Productivity
- Personalization
- Music and Audio
- Social
- Media and Video
- Travel and Local etc.