Mobile Development for Android Operating System

The arrival of mobile phones has made our being easier than previously and appreciation to the upgraded versions likes that of iPhone, touch screen phones, Smartphones etc. that a range of mobile technologies are compiled into one device. With the high-end handsets like iPhone and touch screen Smartphones, the users can access all computing applications on the go from their mobile phones. With the introduction of Android, mobile technology has reached its later level. Mobile development for Android is primarily based on Java.

Android is the software that has introduced an operating system for mobile phones. It also turns up with middleware and other key mobile applications. With its increasing popularity, it is quite understandable that Android will soon surpass iPhone from marketing point of view. Developers, who want to continue in this busy and competitive market, must adopt Android mobile development. So far, more than 80000 Android mobile applications have already been designed and developed for Android powered mobile phones.

Listed below are the versions of Android operating systems available for different mobile applications:

• Alpha (1.0)

• Beta (1.1)

• Cupcake (1.5)

• Donut (1.6)

• Eclair (2.0–2.1)

• Froyo (2.2–2.2.3)

• Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7)

• Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6)

• Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4)

• Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3.1)

• KitKat (4.4–4.4.4)

Owned by Google and a group of nearly 65 mobile companies, Android offers a scope to intervene into mobile application development. Android has given developers the facility to expand any Android mobile application on various platforms like Windows, Linux and Mac OS X

A few points to remember: If you are into Android development, you need to bear few points in mind before working on mobile development for Android.

• Android Apps must be integrated with more than one application module. typically, an Android application shows with a mixture of services, activities, content providers and broadcast receivers

• Each one of these components should perform different roles

• Each one of these modules must be activated independently

• Files should affirm the components along with their requirements. For example, if the component requires a separate hardware configuration, it should be specified in the corresponding file

• There are numerous non-code app sources such as layout, image and string files, which should be device-specific. For example, developers have to construct separate layout files for a mixture of screen sizes

Advantages of mobile development for Android: There is a trigger, called 'User-friendliness'. The mobile technology that hits the trigger, will win the crown of recognition. Let's check the benefits of Android enabled mobile phones over other handsets.

• Effortless data transfer across special mobile networks is one of the main advantages of Android. For example there is GSM, Bluetooth, EDGE, UMTS, EV-DO, CDMA, and Wi-Fi services in Android to transfer data

• Android powered phones offer independent libraries for 2D and 3D graphics. There are also a number of libraries for audio, video and images

• Android enabled phones have an extensive number of features such as Touchscreen, Video Camera, accelerometer and magnetometer, and GPS

• All the Android phones posses IPC or Interprocess communication message passing facility

• There is SQLite for saving data