Android

Google

AndroidAn Open Handset Alliance Project

• http://code.google.com/android • Write apps to run on mobile phones• Will be released as open source• Can download the SDK today!

Android Features

• Application Framework• Dalvik virtual machine• Integrated (webkit) browser• 2D and 3D graphics APIs with HW• SQLite• Video and audio codecs• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer

Android Architecture

Challenges

• CPU typically runs 500-600 Mhz• RAM available to an App may only be a few

megabytes• Disk (flash) access is very slow• Lifecycle - apps must pause/quit often, and restore

to give the illusion that they are always running• UI design

o typical screen may be HVGA (320x480)o may be in portrait or landscapeo very high DPI - small text may not be readableo touch resolution is very low (~25 pixel)

• Network access may be slow and (very) intermittent

Opportunities

• 100s of millions of mobile phone users• Very high growth, esp. in Asia• "Wild wild west" of application development

o think 1985 on the desktop (if you were born by then)

o no dominant 3rd party developers.... yeto what will the killer app categories be?o what does it mean to have any app + the internet

in your pocket?• You can develop for it today!

Possibilities

Augmented Campus Reality• camera + maps +

compass = heads up info

Games• multi-player (bluetooth,

wifi, cell)• location-based

(scavenger hunt)

Custom overlays for maps• weather, traffic, friends

Web scraping• news filters• sport scores• dook news eliminators

Distributed computing?• 10,000 phones all

donating their idle time• tiny terminal (phone) +

fast cpu/network (server)

Shared whiteboard

Project Suggestions• Web Scrapers [movies, weather, sports, <topic>

news]o Find multiple web sourceso Scrape them for the relevant informationo Present in a custom UI on the phone

• Asynchronous games [chess, poker, risk]o Develop an API for all games to communicate

through1.Establish connections by phone number– Send and receive game data– Ability to reopen connections 

• Planner/To-do list with location datao Decide route to next class, meeting, etco Find a order/route for non time-critical taskso Connect to campus directory to find

teachers/classmates