Android Chapter-1

Mobile Application Development
Software Engineering
Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Contents
• Mobile Computing
– Communication
– Hardware
– Software
• Android
– Features
– Versions
– Architecture
• Android Application Development Environment

• Android Application Building Blocks

Introduction to Mobile Computing
• Mobile Computing is a technology that provides an
environment that enables users to transmit data from one
device to another device without the use of any physical link
or cables.
• Mobile Computing is a technical field that covers the design,
development and evaluation of mobile applications using
appropriate solutions that meet user requirements.
• This includes learning the technology that is used to perform
a wide variety of tasks on devices that are portable.
• Portable devices include Smart Phones, Tablets, Laptops,
wearable devices, vehicles etc.
...

• Mobile devices may have other components that are not in
personal computers, to make them portable, and certain
characteristics that make them different-
– Size: The portability of mobile devices demand a smaller size.
– Power Source: Mobile devices are usually powered by
rechargeable batteries.
– Operating System: They are powerful but scaled-down and
made specifically for particular devices.
– Connectivity: Mobile computing devices have capabilities that
allow access to the internet and to mobile broadband networks
that allow you to make and receive phone calls.
– Applications: Applications meant for mobile devices are
specifically designed for running on a particular OS. These
applications are what extends the capabilities of devices beyond
just connecting to the internet or making calls.
...
• Other features generally found in mobile computing devices include GPS
capability, accelerometer, compass, microphone, camera, and so on.
• Mobile computing devices have evolved greatly over time. A lot of the
devices that existed in the past have been phased out, like the Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA).
– Laptop: are portable personal computers that offer the same functionality
as a PC, so the same OS, applications, and files can run on this.
– Smartphone: a smartphone is a mobile phone with powerful capabilities.
– Tablet computer: are often thought of as an intermediary between a
laptop and a smartphone.
– Wearable: A more recent addition, wearable computers like
smartwatches offer limited features similar to a smartphone within a
watch.
– E-reader: devices that are similar to tablets, but their main purpose is to
read digital documents.

....
• Other devices include Scanners, Carputers, and Handheld
Gaming Consoles, advanced Digital Cameras, Smart
•
Speakers, and so on.
The concept of Mobile Computing can be divided into

three parts:
Mobile Communication
Mobile Hardware
Mobile Software

Mobile Communication
• Mobile Communication refers to an infrastructure that
ensures seamless and reliable communication among wireless
devices.
• This framework ensures the consistency and reliability of
communication between wireless devices.
• The mobile communication framework consists of
communication devices such as protocols, services,
bandwidth, and portals necessary to facilitate and support
the stated services.
• These devices are responsible for delivering a smooth
communication process.
• Computing technology communication can be divided in the
following four types:
– Fixed and Wired: In Fixed and Wired configuration, the devices
are fixed at a position, and they are connected through a physical
link to communicate with other devices.
eg, Desktop Computer.
– Fixed and Wireless: In Fixed and Wireless configuration, the
devices are fixed at a position, and they are connected through a
wireless link to make communication with other devices.
eg, Communication Towers, Wi-Fi router.
– Mobile and Wired: In Mobile and Wired configuration, some
devices are wired, and some are mobile. They altogether make
communication with other devices. For example, Laptops.
– Mobile and Wireless: In Mobile and Wireless configuration, the
devices can communicate with each other irrespective of their
position. They can also connect to any network without the use of
any wired device. For example, Wi-Fi Dongle.

Mobile Hardware
• Mobile hardware consists of mobile
devices or device components that
can be used to receive or access the
service of mobility.
Examples of mobile hardware can
be smartphones, laptops, portable
PCs, tablet PCs.

Mobile Software
• Mobile software is a program that runs on mobile hardware.
• This is designed to deal capably with the characteristics and
requirements of mobile applications.
• This is also the operating system for the appliance of mobile
devices. In other words, you can say it the heart of the mobile
systems.
• This is an essential component that operates the device.
....

• A mobile operating system is an operating system that helps to
run other application software on mobile devices.
• It is the same kind of software as the famous computer operating
systems like Linux and Windows, but now they are light and
simple to some extent.

• Android OS: is the most popular operating system today.
– It is a mobile OS based on the Linux Kernel and open-source software.
– The android operating system was developed by Google. – The first
Android device was launched in 2008.
• Bada (Samsung Electronics): Bada is a Samsung mobile operating
system that was launched in 2010.
– The Samsung wave was the first mobile to use the bada operating
system.
– The bada operating system offers many mobile features, such as
3-D graphics, application installation, and multipoint-touch.
• BlackBerry OS: The BlackBerry operating system is a mobile
operating system developed by Research In Motion (RIM).
– This operating system was designed specifically for BlackBerry
handheld devices.
– This operating system is beneficial for the corporate users
because it provides synchronization with Microsoft Exchange,
Novell GroupWise email, Lotus Domino, and other business
software when used with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

....
• iPhone OS / iOS: The iOS was developed by the Apple inc for the
use on its device.
– The iOS operating system is also popular operating system
today.
– It is a very secure operating system.
– The iOS operating system is not available for any other mobiles.
• Symbian OS: is a mobile operating system that provides a high-
level of integration with communication.
– The Symbian operating system is based on the java language.
– The Symbian operating system was developed by Symbian Ltd
in 1998 for the use of mobile phones.
– Nokia was the first company to release Symbian OS on its
mobile phone at that time.
• Windows Mobile OS: The window mobile OS is a mobile operating
system that was developed by Microsoft.
– It was designed for the pocket PCs and smart mobiles.

....
• Harmony OS: The harmony operating system is the latest mobile
operating system that was developed by Huawei for the
use of its devices.
– It is designed primarily for IoT devices.
• Palm OS: The palm operating system is a mobile operating system that
was developed by Palm Ltd for use on personal digital assistants
(PADs).
– It was introduced in 1996. Palm OS is also known as the Garnet OS.
– It’s discontinued.
• WebOS (Palm/HP): The WebOS is a mobile operating system that was
developed by Palm.
– It based on the Linux Kernel.
– The HP uses this operating system in its mobile and touchpads.

Introduction to Android
• Android is an operating system and programming platform
developed by Google for mobile phones and other mobile
devices, such as tablets.
• It can run on many different devices from many different
manufacturers.
• Android includes a software development kit (SDK) that
helps you write original code and assemble software modules
to create apps for Android users.
• The Android SDK provides you the API libraries and
developer tools necessary to build, test, and debug apps for
Android.
• Android also provides a marketplace to distribute apps.
• All together, Android represents an ecosystem for mobile
apps.
...
• Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google.
– It is based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and
other open source software, and is designed primarily for
touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and
tablets.
• In addition, Google has further developed Android TV for

televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Wear OS for wrist
watches, each with a specialized user interface.
– Variants of Android are also used on game consoles, digital
cameras, PCs and other electronics.

Android Features
• As an open source and freely available software,
manufacturers and developers do customization as per their
needs, so there is no specific hardware and software
configurations required for Android.
• Android itself offers some features as below,
– Storage: Uses SQLite, a light weight relational database
storage for data storage (really helpful when limited
mobile memory storage is to be considered).
– Media Support: Include support for large number of
media formats for Images, Audio as well as for Video, like:
H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR WB, AAC, MP3,
MIDI, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF & BMP.
...
– Messaging: Both SMS and MMS are supported.
– Web Browser: Based on Open Source WebKit, now
known as Chrome.
– Connectivity: Supports large group of networks like:
GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth,
WiFi, LTE and WiMAX.
– Hardware Support: Accelerometer Sensor, Camera,
Digital Compass, Proximity Sensor, GPS and a lot more.
– Multi-Touch: Supports multi-touch screen.
– Multi-Task: Supports application multi-tasking.
– Flash Support: Supports Flash.
– Tethering: Supports sharing of Internet as wired or
wireless hotspots.

Android Versions
• The development of the Android operating system was started
in 2003 by Android Inc.
– Later on, it was purchased by Google in 2005.
– The beta version of Android OS was released on
November 5, 2007, while the software development kit
(SDK) was released on November 12, 2007.
• The first Android mobile was publicly released with Android
1.0 of the T-Mobile G1 (aka HTC Dream) in October 2008.
• Google announced in August 2019 that they were ending the
confectionery scheme, and they use numerical ordering for
future Android versions.
• The first Android version which was released under the
numerical order format was Android 10.

...

Android Architecture
• The Android operating system follows a layered architecture approach. All
these layers are responsible for different roles and features

...
• Linux Kernel : This layer is the foundation of the Android
Platform.
– It contains and manages all low level drivers for various hardware
components support.
• Android Runtime relies on Linux Kernel for core system services

like,
– Memory, process management, threading
– Network stack
– Driver model
– Security and more.
• Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL): Provides Abstraction between
hardware and rest of the software stack.

...
• Android Runtime (ART): ART uses DEX files, which is a
type of bytecode, specially designed for Android, which helps
ART to manage memory more efficiently.
• It contains set of core libraries that enables developers to
write Android Apps using Java and Kotlin Programming.
• Prior to Android 5.0, Dalvik was used as Android runtime.
• ART is capable of both Ahead-of-time (AOT) and Just-
intime (JIT) compilation.
• Zygote is the first Android specific process when Android OS
boots up and preloads all the system resources and classes
used by the Android framework thus achieving fast app
launches.
...
• Libraries: it is exposed to developers through Android Application
Framework.
– it contains C/C++ libraries used by components of Android
Systems.
• SQLite Library used for data storage and light in terms of mobile
memory footprints and task execution.
• WebKit Library mainly provides Web Browsing engine and a lot
more related features.
• Surface manager library is responsible for rendering windows and
drawing surfaces of various apps on the screen.
• Media framework library provides media codecs for audio and video.
• OpenGl (Open Graphics Library) and SGL(Scalable Graphics
Library) are the graphics libraries for 3D and 2D rendering,
respectively.
• FreeType Library is used for rendering fonts.
...
• Application Framework: It is a collection of APIs written in
Java and/or Kotlin, which gives developers access to the
complete feature set of Android OS.
– Developers have full access to the same framework APIs
used by the core applications, so that they can enhance
more in terms of functionalities of their application.
• Enables and simplify the reuse of core components and
services, like:
– Activity Manager: Manages the Lifecycle of apps &
provide common navigation back stack.
– Window Manager: Manages windows and drawing
surfaces, and is an abstraction of the surface manager
library.
– Content Providers: Enables application to access data
from other applications or to share their own data i.e it
provides mechanism to exchange data among apps.
...
– View System: Contains User Interface building blocks used to
build an application's UI, including lists, grids, texts, boxes,
buttons, etc. and also performs the event management of UI
elements.
– Package Manager: Manages various kinds of information
related to the application packages that are currently installed
on the device.
– Telephony Manager: Enables app to use phone capabilities of
the device.
– Resource Manager: Provides access to non-code resources
(localized Strings, bitmaps, Graphics and Layouts).
– Location Manager: Deals with location awareness
capabilities.
– Notification Manager: Enable apps to display custom alerts
in the status
...
• Applications: are at the top of the Android Application Stack,
occupied by the System apps and tones of other Apps
• A set of core applications are pre-packed in the handset like
Email Client, SMS Program, Calendar, Maps, Browser,
Contacts and few more.
• This layer uses all the layers below it for proper functioning
of these mobile apps.
• So as we can see and understand, Android holds layered
functionalities as software stack that makes Android work
very fluently in any device.

Android Devices in Market
• A device that runs Android OS comes in all shapes and sizes.
Various devices that run Android OS and Apps are as follows,
– Smartphones, Smart-watches, Tablets, E-reader Devices,
Netbooks, MP4 Players, Internet TVs and more.
• In August 2008, Google announced Android Application
Market - an online application store for Android Devices.
• This online store was later on named, Play Store and was
made available to the users in October 2008, allowing users to
directly download any third party application into their
devices.
• Both paid and free applications are available on the Play
Store.

Android Development Environment
• Android Studio is the official IDE for android development
and it’s based on IntelliJ IDEA software.
• It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
• Android Studio provides tools for the testing, and publishing

phases of the development process, and a unified development
environment for creating apps for all Android devices.
• The development environment includes code templates with

sample code for common app features, extensive testing tools
and frameworks, and a flexible build system.

...

...
• Manifests Folder: This folder contains a manifest file
(AndroidManifest.xml) for our android application.
• This manifest file contain information about our application

such as android version, access permissions, metadata, etc. of
our application and its components.
• The manifest file will act as an intermediate between android

OS and our application.
• Following is the structure of the manifests folder in the android

application.

...

...
• Java Folder: This folder contain all the java source code
(.java) files which we’ll create during the application
development, including JUnit test code.
• Whenever we create any new project/application, by default
the class file MainActivity.java will be created automatically
under the given package name.

...
• res (Resources) Folder : It’s an important folder that contain all non-
code resources, such as bitmap images, UI strings, XML layouts

...
• The res (Resources) contain a different type of folders
– Drawable Folder (res/drawable)

• It contain the different types of images as per the requirement
of application.
• It’s a best practice to add all the images in a drawable folder

other than app/launcher icons for the application development.
– Layout Folder (res/layout)

• This folder will contain all XML layout files which we used to
define the user interface of our application.

...
• The res (Resources) contain a different type of folders
– Mipmap Folder (res/mipmap)

• This folder contain app / launcher icons that are used to show
on the home screen.
• It will contain different density type of icons such as hdpi,
mdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi, xxxhdpi, to use different icons based
on the size of the device.
– Values Folder (res/values)

• This folder contain various XML files, such as strings, colors,
style definitions and a static array of strings or integers.

...
• Gradle Scripts:In android, Gradle is an automated build system and by using
this we can define a build configuration that applies to all modules in our
application.
• In Gradle build.gradle (Project), and build.gradle (Module) files are
useful to build configurations that apply to all our app modules or specific
to one app module.

Android Application Building Blocks
• Android application development is done in java/kotlin
programming language.
• The compiled code is bundled into an Android package which

can be signed and installed on the mobile phone.
• The Android application can be considered as a series of

processes and the control moves from one process to another
creating an application for the user to interact with.

...
• There is no single entry point for Android application, but rather there are
components which can start as the need arises.
These components can be classified into four parts:
– Activity
– Service
– Broadcast Receiver
– Content Provider

...
• Activity – An activity is used to present visual interface to the user.
• Activity is a simply a single screen in your application that the user sees
on the device at one time, for example, a list of email is one activity,
message details for particular message is another activity.
• An application typically has multiple activities, and the user flips back
and forth among them.
• Even if the activities work together, they are independent of each other.
Each Activity is implemented as the derived class of Activity class.
• An application may have one or any number of activities. One of the
activities is marked as the first one that should be presented when the
application starts.
• First Activity invoked can in turn invoke other activities.
...
• Services – A services does not have a visual component but
runs in the background and carries out some background
process while the other visual component s are running in the
foreground.
• A service will inherit Service base class. It runs in the main
thread and for resource intensive tasks it can branch out a new
thread.
• A service doesn’t have a visual user interface, but rather runs
in background for an indefinite period of time.
• The best example of service is playing music.
...

• Broadcast Receivers – This component are responsible for
receiving and reacting to broadcasted messages.
• Broadcast can be system generated like the “Low battery”, but
it can also be from other applications running in the
background.
• They must inherit Broadcast Receivers base class.
• A broadcast receiver is a component that receives and react to
broadcast announcement.
• For example, you play music on your phone, at that time a pop-
up message may notify about “Battery is Low”,
• So your music player is broadcast receiver, so we can say that
any application which is currently running on your phone can
get that message (independent of their usage).
...
• Content Providers – This provides specific set of data from one
application to other applications.
• It is mediator between the application and the database, the database
which is related with application, which contain all stuff require by
application.
• By default, Android runs each application in its own sandbox so that
all data that belongs to an application is totally isolated from other
applications on the system.
• A content provider makes a specific set of the application's data
available to other applications.
• The content providers extend Content Provider base class. These are
used in conjunction with Content resolver which provide methods
for inter process communication.
• The canonical Content Provider example in Android is the contacts
list—the list of name, address, and phone information stored in the
phone.

Thank You!

Android Chapter-1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Android Chapter-1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Android Chapter-1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mobile Application Development

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• Android Application Development Environment

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

The concept of Mobile Computing can be divided into

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• In addition, Google has further developed Android TV for

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• Android Runtime relies on Linux Kernel for core system services

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

• Android Studio provides tools for the testing, and publishing

• The development environment includes code templates with

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• This manifest file contain information about our application

• The manifest file will act as an intermediate between android

• Following is the structure of the manifests folder in the android

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

– Drawable Folder (res/drawable)

• It’s a best practice to add all the images in a drawable folder

– Layout Folder (res/layout)

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

– Mipmap Folder (res/mipmap)

– Values Folder (res/values)

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

• The compiled code is bundled into an Android package which

• The Android application can be considered as a series of

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

Chapter One Mobile Application Development Software Engineering

You might also like