Information
Week
covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent
applications in the area of mobile telephony.
On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of
technology companies including Google, device manufacturers such as HTC,
Sony and Samsung, wireless carriers such as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and
chipset makers such as Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, unveiled itself, with a
goal to develop open standards for mobile devices. That day android was unveiled
as its first product, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel. The first
commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream,
released on October 22, 2008.
Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have incrementally
improved the operating system, adding new features and fixing bugs in previous
releases. Each major release is named in alphabetical order after a dessert or sugary
treat; for example, version 1.5 "Cupcake" was followed by 1.6 "Donut". In 2010,
Google launched its Nexus series of devices – a line of smartphones and tablets
running the Android operating system, and built by manufacturing partners. HTC
collaborated with Google to release the first Nexus smartphone, the Nexus One.
Google has since updated the series with newer devices, such as the Nexus 5 phone
(made by LG) and the Nexus 7 tablet (made by Asus). Google releases the Nexus
phones and tablets to act as their flagship Android devices, demonstrating
Android's latest software and hardware features. From 2013 until 2015, Google
offered several Google Play Edition devices over Google Play. While not carrying
the Google Nexus branding, these were Google-customized Android phones and
tablets that also ran the latest version of Android, free from manufacturer or carrier
modifications[1].
From 2010 to 2013, Hugo Barra served as product spokesperson,
representing, Android at press conferences and Google I/O, Google’s annual
developer-focused conference. Barra's product involvement included the entire
Android ecosystem of software and hardware, including Honeycomb, Ice Cream
Sandwich, Jelly Bean and Kit Kat operating system launches, the Nexus
4 and Nexus 5 smartphones, the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets, and other related
products such as Google Now and Google Voice Search, Google’s speech
recognition product comparable to Apple’s Sirs. In 2013, Barra left the Android
team for Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. The same year, Larry Page
announced in a blog post that Andy Rubin had moved from the Android division to
take on new projects at Google. He was replaced by Sundar Pichai who became the
new head of Android and Chrome OS, and, later, by Hiroshi Lock homier when
Pichai became CEO of Google.
In 2014, Google launched Android One, a line of smartphones mainly
targeting customers in the developing world. In May 2015, Google announced
Project Brillo as a cut-down version of Android that uses its lower levels
(excluding the user interface), intended for the "Internet of Things"
(IoT) embedded systems.
Android "N" is the codename of an upcoming release of the Android
operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 9, 2016,
with factory images for current Nexus devices, as well as with the new "Android
Beta Program" which allows supported devices to be upgraded directly to the
Android "N" beta via over-the-air update.
Fig 1.2 Android versions
The stable release of the operating system is expected in mid-2016. N"
introduces a split-screen multi-window mode, in which two apps can be snapped to
occupy halves of the screen. An experimental freeform multi-window mode is also
available as a hidden feature, where multiple apps can appear simultaneously on
the screen. The notification shade was also redesigned, featuring a smaller row of
icons for settings, replacing notification cards with a "sheet" design, and allowing
inline replies to notifications implemented via existing APIs used with Android
Wear. Multiple notifications from a single app can also be "bundled".
The "Doze" power saving mechanism introduced in Marshmallow was
expanded to include a state activated when the device is running on battery and the
screen has been off for a period of time, but is not stationary. In this state, network
activity is restricted, and apps are granted "maintenance windows" in which they
can access the network and perform background tasks. The full Doze state is
activated if the device is stationary for a period of time.
A new "Data Saver" mode restricts background mobile data usage, and can
trigger internal functions in apps that are designed to reduce bandwidth usage, such
as capping the quality of streaming media among other examples.
Developer Preview 2 added platform support for Vulcans, the new low-level
3D rendering API to augment OpenGL ES but with higher graphics performance.
A new set of human emoji was also included in this version of the preview, with
support for skin tones.
In December 2015, Google announced that Android N would switch its Java
Runtime Environment from the defunct Apache Harmony to Open JDK the official
open source implementation of the Java platform maintained by Oracle
Corporation and the Java community. Google promoted that the shift was part of
an effort to create a "common code base" between Java on Android and other
platforms and allow use of popular Java 8 features in code. The switch is actually
to address ongoing litigation with Oracle surrounding its use of copyrighted
Java APIs as part of the Android platform, as Open JDK is expressly licensed
under the GNU General Public License meaning that it can be freely used by
Google as long as the company remains in compliance with its terms.
The Android Runtime (ART) now incorporates a profile-guided compilation
system, utilizing a JIT compiler and profiling alongside its current ahead-of-time
compiler to further optimize apps for a device's hardware and other conditions in
the background. This change also increases the speed of the application
"optimization" process that occurs on an app or system upgrade.
Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" is the eighth major version of the Android
operating system. First unveiled in May 2015 at Google I/O under the codename
"Android 'M'", it was officially released in October 2015.
Marshmallow primarily focuses on improving the overall user experience
of Lollipop, introducing a new permissions architecture, new APIs for
contextual assistants (a feature notably leveraged by "Google Now On Tap"—a
new capability of the Google Search app), a new power management system that
reduces background activity when a device is not being physically handled, native
support for fingerprint recognition and USB Type-C connectors, the ability to
migrate data and applications to a micro SD card and use it as primary storage, as
well as other internal changes.
As of May 2016, 7.5% of the devices accessing Google Play run Android
6.0.Android Marshmallow introduces a redesigned application permission model:
there are now only eight permission categories, and applications are no longer
automatically granted all of their specified permissions at installation time.
[18]
An
opt-in system is now used, in which users are prompted to grant or deny individual
permissions (such as the ability to access the camera or microphone) to an
application when they are needed for the first time. Applications remember the
grants, which can be revoked by the user at any time. The new permission model is
used only by applications compiled for Marshmallow using its software
development kit (SDK), and older apps will continue to use the previous all-or-
nothing permission model. Permissions can still be revoked for those apps, though
this might prevent them from working properly, and a warning is displayed to that
effect. Marshmallow introduces new power management schemes known as
"Doze" and "App Standby"; when running on battery power, a device will enter a
low-power state if it is inactive and not being physically handled. In this state,
network connectivity and background processing is restricted, and only "high-
priority" notifications are processed. Additionally, network access by apps is
deferred if the user has not recently interacted with the app. Apps may request a
permission to exempt themselves from these policies, but will be rejected from
Google Play Store as a violation of its "Dangerous Products" policy if their core
functionality is not "adversely affected" by them.
Android Marshmallow provides native support for fingerprint recognition on
supported devices via a standard API, allowing third-party applications to
implement fingerprint-based authentication. Fingerprints can be used for unlocking
devices and authenticating Play Store and Android Pay purchases. Android
Marshmallow supports USB Type-C, including the ability to instruct devices to
charge another device over USB. Marshmallow also introduces "verified links"
that can be configured to open directly in their specified application without further
user prompts. User data for apps targeting Marshmallow can be automatically
backed up to Google Drive over Wi-Fi. Each application receives up to 25 MB of
storage, which is separate from a user's Google Drive storage allotment.
As of Marshmallow, the Android Compatibility Definition Document
contains new security mandates for devices, dictating that those that are capable of
accessing encrypted data without affecting performance must enable Secure
boot and device encryption by default. These conditions comprise part of a
specification that must be met in order to be certified for the operating system, and
be able to license Google Mobile Services software.
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