Android

Mobile Devices - An Introduction to the Android Operating Environment Design, Architecture, and Performance Implications

Dominique A. Heger DHTechnologies (DHT) [e-mail]

1.0 Introduction With the worldwide proliferation of mobile devices, reliability, availability, connectivity, as well as performance related concerns, similar to the once encountered on traditional IT server systems, became paramount. On the smartphone and internet tablet side, one of the fastest growing solutions are Android based products (source digitimes 2010). While Android based systems get a lot of exposure in the media, there is a lot of myth surrounding the actual implementation details. Some people label Android as a Linux solution, which really does not reflect the facts. Ergo, this report discusses the major components that comprise the Android operating environment, elaborating on the Android design and architecture (the building blocks), as well as addressing the Android verses Linux question. 2.0 Background & History Android is described as a mobile operating system, initially developed by Android Inc. Android was sold to Google in 2005. Android is based on a modified Linux 2.6 kernel. Google, as well as other members of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) collaborated on Android (design, development, distribution). Currently, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is governing the Android maintenance and development cycle [8]. To reiterate, the Android operating system is based on a modified Linux 2.6 kernel [6]. Compared to a Linux 2.6 environment though, several drivers and libraries have been either modified or newly developed to allow Android to run as efficiently and as effectively as possible on mobile devices (such as smart phones or internet tablets). Some of these libraries have their roots in open source projects. Due to some licensing issues, the Android community decided to implement their own c library (Bionic), and to develop an Android specific Java runtime