Gone are those days when one had to keep records as hard copies, consult their secretaries for reminders of events and meetings, resort to official documents to glance over some self service uiuc, or wait to get home in order to listen to his favorite music.
With the advent of modern devices like tablets, smartphones and cloud computing, customers now have direct access to applications which satiates their requirements in any field. These applications, although cheap and prim-prom, are extremely powerful. The users cannot only access the applications, but can also develop them on their own. They don’t require software experts for applications development or even maintenance. Android applications can be customized with just basic programming knowledge for software development.
Android is basically a mobile operating system developed by Google. Most of the mobile developers prefer Android as a platform since it is ready made, cheap, customizable and light weight for sophisticated high-tech devices. Google Play service is the marketplace where application developers can upload their products and end users can install these applications in their respective devices.
Several devices like Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy and Nexus use this operating system because of its attractive and compelling features. The main characteristic of an Android operating system is that its source code is open. This means that developers can modify, update and customize the operating system for each phone.
For developing Android applications, the programmer uses the Android Software Development Kit (Android SDK) which provides tools for creation, compilation and packaging of the application. The Android SDK has another tool called Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which allows connection to a virtual or real android device meant for managing the device or debugging the application.
As far as power supply to Android devices are concerned, they are usually battery operated. In the desktop operating system, source of power supply is assumed to be unlimited. But in mobiles and other android devices, power requirement is critical and always minimized by managing the memory (RAM). Whenever the applications are not in use, the system automatically suspends these from the memory as suspended applications do not consume power, but the applications remain in ‘open’ status technically.
Memory management is done automatically by Android devices. In case the device has low memory, it will kill the applications and processes which are lying inactive for long time. Apart from the 512 RAM and a 32-bit ARMv7, MIPS or x*^ architecture processor, Android devices have many optional hardware components, like a camera, GPS, game control, accelerometers, barometers, proximity sensors, pressure sensors, thermometers, touch screens etc.
Therefore, to develop or use highly precise, interactive and easy to use applications, most users prefer Android as a cheaper and effective platform for application development.
