Datasheet

What It Isn’t
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In mobile development it was considered normal for third-party applications to receive different
hardware access and execution rights from those given to native applications written by the phone
manufacturers, with MIDlets often receiving few of either.
The introduction of Java MIDlets expanded developers’ audiences, but the lack of low-level hardware
access and sandboxed execution meant that most mobile applications are regular desktop programs or
web sites designed to render on a smaller screen, and do not take advantage of the inherent mobility of
the handheld platform.
The Future
Android sits alongside a new wave of mobile operating systems designed for increasingly powerful
mobile hardware. Windows Mobile, the Apple iPhone, and the Palm Pre now provide a richer, sim-
plified development environment for mobile applications. However, unlike Android, they’re built on
proprietary operating systems that in some cases prioritize native applications over those created by
third parties, restrict communication among applications and native phone data, and restrict or control
the distribution of third-party apps to their platforms.
Android offers new possibilities for mobile applications by offering an open development environment
built on an open-source Linux kernel. Hardware access is available to all applications through a series
of API libraries, and application interaction, while carefully controlled, is fully supported.
In Android, all applications have equal standing. Third-party and native Android applications are
written with the same APIs and are executed on the same run time. Users can remove and replace any
native application with a third-party developer alternative; even the dialer and home screens can be
replaced.
WHAT IT ISN’T
As a disruptive addition to a mature field, it’s not hard to see why there has been some confusion about
what exactly Android is. Android is not:
➤ A Java ME implementation Android applications are written in the Java language, but they
are not run within a Java ME virtual machine, and Java-compiled classes and executables will
not run natively in Android.
➤ Part of the Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS) or the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
Android runs on an open-source Linux kernel, but, while their goals are similar, Android’s
complete software stack approach goes further than the focus of these standards-defining
organizations.
➤ Simply an application layer (like UIQ or S60) While Android does include an application
layer, ‘‘Android’’ also describes the entire software stack encompassing the underlying oper-
ating system, the API libraries, and the applications themselves.
➤ A mobile phone handset Android includes a reference design for mobile handset manufac-
turers, but there is no single ‘‘Android phone.’’ Instead, Android has been designed to support
many alternative hardware devices.
➤ Google’s answer to the iPhone The iPhone is a fully proprietary hardware and software
platform released by a single company (Apple), while Android is an open-source software