Operating Systems have developed a lot in last 15 years. Starting from black and white phones to recent smart phones or mini computers, mobile OS has come far away. Especially for smart phones, Mobile OS has greatly evolved from Palm OS in 1996 to Windows pocket PC in 2000 then to Blackberry OS and Android.

       One of the most widely used mobile OS these days is ANDROID. Android is a software bunch comprising not only operating system but also middleware and key applications. Android Inc was founded in Palo Alto of California, U.S. by Andy Rubin, Rich miner, Nick sears and Chris White in 2003. Later Android Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005. After original release there have been number of updates in the original version of Android.

 

Features & Specifications

Android is a powerful Operating System supporting a large number of applications in Smart Phones. These applications make life more comfortable and advanced for the users. Hardware that support Android are mainly based on ARM architecture platform. Some of the current features and specifications of android are:

Android comes with an Android market which is an online software store. It was developed by Google. It allows Android users to select, and download applications developed by third party developers and use them. There are around 2.0 lack+ games, application and widgets available on the market for users.

    Android applications are written in java programming language. Android is available as open source for developers to develop applications which can be further used for selling in android market. There are around 200000 applications developed for android with over 3 billion+ downloads. Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. For software development, Android provides Android SDK (Software development kit). Read more about open source software. 

Applications

These are the basics of Android applications:

•      Android applications are composed of one or more application components (activities, services, content providers, and broadcast receivers)

•      Each component performs a different role in the overall application behavior, and each one can be activated individually (even by other applications)

•      The manifest file must declare all components in the application and should also declare all application requirements, such as the minimum version of Android required and any hardware configurations required

•      Non-code application resources (images, strings, layout files, etc.) should include alternatives for different device configurations (such as different strings for different languages)

Google, for software development and application development, had launched two competitions ADC1 and ADC2 for the most innovative applications for Android. It offered prizes of USD 10 million combined in ADC1 and 2. ADC1 was launched in January 2008 and ADC 2 was launched in May 2009. These competitions helped Google a lot in making Android better, more user friendly, advanced and interactive.

Android  Presentation:-
 

 

Android updates

Google is constantly working on new versions of the Android software. These releases are infrequent; at the moment they normally come out every six months or so, but Google is looking to slow this down to once a year.
Versions usually come with a numerical code and a name that’s so far been themed after sweets and desserts, running in alphabetical order.

• Android 1.5 Cupcake
• Android 1.6 Donut
• Android 2.1 Eclair
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb - The first OS design specifically for a tablet, launching on the Motorola Xoom
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: The first OS to run on smartphones and tablet, ending the 2.X naming convention.
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean: Launched on the Google Nexus 7 tablet by Asus
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean: Arrived on the LG Nexus 4
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
• Android 4.4 KitKat: Launched on the LG Nexus 5

Android & Android Phone Presentation :-

Java API is not but a set of classes and interfaces that comes with the JDK. Java API is actually a huge collection of library routines that performs basic programming tasks such as looping, displaying GUI form etc. In the Java API classes and interfaces are packaged in packages. All these classes are written in Java programming language and runs on the JVM. Java classes are platform independent but JVM is not platform independent. You will find different downloads for each OS.

Java Collections API - Presentation:

• The difference between AC and DC is that AC is an alternating current (the amount of electrons) that flows in both directions and DC is direct current that flows in only one direction; the product that is flowing being electrons. AC power is what fuels our homes. The wires outside of our house are connected at two ends to AC generators.

 

• DC is found in batteries and solar cells. Both AC and DC employ magnets to repel electrons. Electrons are negatively charged particles that are one of 3 components that make up an atom. Negative charges will repel negative charges and positive charges will repel positive charges, so one only needs to introduce a negatively charged item next to electrons to force them to move in the opposite direction.

 

• Likewise, you can attract electrons by introducing something that is positively charged into their environment drawing the electrons to it. This property of electrons is what allows for AC power to work; that is, they switch directions constantly. The picture to the left is a demonstration of AC power at work. The constant switching of directions is evident in the dotted appearance of the light lines.

 

• DC power was invented by Thomas Edison and first used to power our homes in the late 1800’s.

 

• Its main drawback being that in order to receive DC power from a generating station, your home had to be located within a one mile radius of the station.

 

• DC power degrades as it moves away from its generating source; the further away, the less power. In addition, it is difficult to convert very high power DC current into the lower power current needed in our homes.

 

• Nikola Tesla discovered AC and sold his design to Westinghouse. AC power degrades very little over 100’s of kilometers.

 

• When the power reaches an electrical pole outside our homes, a transformer converts to high voltage (the amount of energy carried with the electrons) to the low voltage needed to fuel our appliances.

 

• To convert AC to DC, a device needs an item called a rectifier. Many monorail systems use DC power. In addition, if you have a portable stereo, you may notice a button on the back that can switch from AC to DC; this means that you can power your device by plugging it in (AC) or by using batteries (DC).

 

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was founded on May 1, 1969. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. While initially it manufactured its own processors, the company became fables after Global Foundries was spun off in 2009.

AMD's main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.

AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the  x86 architecture and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of Scansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

AMD is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based) personal computers. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor Nvidia have dominated the discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) market.

The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080 microprocessor. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice processor elements (Am2900, Am29116, Am293xx ) which were used in various minicomputer designs.

            In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with Intel, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286 under the same arrangement, but Intel canceled the agreement in 1986 and refused to convey technical details of the i386 part. AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal rights to use derivatives of Intel's micro-code. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to develop clean room designed versions of Intel code.

In 1991, AMD released the Am386, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486 was used by a number of large original equipment manufacturers, including Compaq, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product, the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever less viable strategy for AMD.