Android
Android is a mobile operating system based on Linux and open source software
It was designed for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, Wear OS smartwatches, cars via Android Auto or Android Automotive, and televisions with Android TV
Both the name Android and Nexus One refer to the Philip K. Dick novel: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Novel that was later adapted to the cinema as Blade Runner (1982)
Both the book and the movie focus on a group of androids called the Nexus 6 model replicants
The logo is the robot Andy
It was initially developed by Android Inc. and was acquired by Google in 2005
Android was introduced in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance (a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunications companies) to advance open standards for mobile devices
The structure of the Android operating system consists of applications running on a Java object oriented application framework on top of the core Javo libraries in a Dalvik virtual machine with runtime compilation up to version 5.0, then switched to the environment Android Runtime (ART)
Libraries written in C language include a surface manager, an OpenCore framework, an SQLite relational database, an OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphical API Programming Interface, a WebKit rendering engine, an SGL graphics engine, SSL, and a standard C Bionic library
The operating system is made up of 12 million lines of code, including 3 million lines of XML, 2.9 million lines of C language, 2.2 million lines of Java, and 1.77 million lines of C++
The main source code for Android (the source code was released by Google) is known as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is licensed primarily under the Apache License, a free and open source license
History
In July 2005, the multinational Google buys Android Inc.
The announcement of the Android system was made on November 5, 2007 along with the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a conglomerate of 78 hardware, software and telecommunications companies dedicated to the development of open standards for mobile devices
The same day the first version of the operating system is announced: Android 1.0 Apple Pie
Terminals with Android would not be available until 2008
Android smartphone unit sales ranked first in the United States in the second and third quarters of 2010, with a 43.6% market share in the third quarter
Worldwide, it achieved a market share of 50.6% during the fourth quarter of 2011, more than double that of the second largest mobile operating system (iOS from Apple, Inc.)
At the beginning of 2018, there were already more than two million applications available on Google Play Store, the official Android app store; to these should be added those available in other unofficial stores, such as Aptoide
Google Play is the online app store run by Google, although there is the possibility of obtaining software externally
The store F-Droid It is completely open source as well as its applications, an alternative to Google's proprietary software
The programs are written in the Java programming language, but it is not an operating system that is free from malware
Normally the different stores are safe (the one that is detected is persecuted and eliminated), therefore, most malware is downloaded from third-party sites
Acquisition by Google
In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc., a small company Palo Alto (California), founded in 2003
Android co-founders who went to work at Google include Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White ( who spearheaded the design and development of the interface at WebTV)
Back then, little was known about the functions of Android Inc. other than that they developed software for mobile phones
This gave rise to rumors that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market
Also in that year the Android mascot was created: "Andy", as a green android symbolizing the literal translation of Android Inc.
The designer of the project was Irina Blok
Already at Google, the team led by Andy Rubin developed a platform for mobile devices based on the Linux kernel that was promoted by device manufacturers and operators with the promise of providing a flexible and upgradeable system
Speculation that Google's Android system would enter the mobile phone market increased in December 2006
BBC and The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Google wanted its search services and applications to work on mobile phones
Print and online media soon reported that Google was developing its own mobile phone
In September 2007, "InformationWeek" published an Evalueserve study that reported that Google had applied for various patents in the area of mobile telephony
Open Handset Alliance
On November 5, 2007 the Open Handset Alliance, a conglomerate of various companies including Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, and T-Mobile ; was created in order to develop open standards for mobile devices
Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA released its first product, Android, a platform for mobile devices built on the Linux 2.6 kernel
On December 9, 2008, it was announced that 15 new members would join the Android project, including PacketVideo, ARM Holdings, Atheros Communications, Asustek, Garmin, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, Huawei, Toshiba, Vodafone, and ZTE
On February 24, 2014, Nokia presented its smartphones (Nokia X, X+ and XL) running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (although they used their own version, taking AOSP as the base)
Trade war between China and the United States
On May 19, 2019, Google officially announced that it was ceasing to provide service to Huawei mobile users in terms of updates and, in the future, to allow them to use its applications (Gmail, Google maps, etc)
There was a trade conflict between the US and China that led the US government to include the manufacturing company on the blacklist of collaborators with the Chinese government
This fact, which was a severe economic-business blow to Huawei, has raised serious doubts about the reliability of the Android system, since there were clear political and commercial motivations.
Given the dependence on the system, Google could in the future take similar actions against any type of device that uses it (via telephone, smart speakers, connected cars, etc.)
As well as generating commands not requested by the user or even spying on them through the connected equipment (cameras, microphones, etc.)
Dalvik replaced by ART
Android 4.4 introduced the ART (Android Runtime) as a new runtime environment, which compiles the Javo bytecode during the installation of an application
Until version 4.4.3 Android used Dalvik as a virtual machine with just-in-time compilation (JIT) to run Dalvik dex-code (Dalvik executable), which is a translation of Java bytecode
Following the JIT principle, in addition to interpreting most of the application code, Dalvik performs native compilation and execution of selected frequently executed code segments (footprints) each time an application is started
As of version 5.0 it became the only option at runtime
Update history
Android has seen numerous updates since its initial release
These updates to the base operating system typically fix bugs and add new features
Generally, each update to the Android operating system is developed under a codename of a candy related item in alphabetical order
The repeated appearance of new versions that, in many cases, do not work correctly on hardware designed for previous versions, make Android be considered one of the promoters of planned obsolescence
Android has been criticized many times for the fragmentation suffered by its terminals by not being supported with constant updates by different manufacturers
It was believed that this situation would change after an announcement by Google in which it announced that manufacturers will commit to applying updates at least 18 months after their release, but this never materialized and the project was canceled
Google is currently trying to rectify the problem with its upgradable platform Google Play Services (which works on Android 4.4 and later), separating all possible system apps (such as Maps, Gboard, YouTube, Drive, and even his own Play Store) to be able to update them independently, and including as few new features as possible in the new versions of Android
The versions of Android received up to version 9, the name of different desserts or sweets
In each version, the chosen dessert or sweet begins with a different letter, in alphabetical order:
| Code Name | Version Number | Release Date | API Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Pie | 1.0 | September 23, 2008 | 1 |
| Banana Bread | 1.1 | February 9, 2009 | 2 |
| Cupcake | 1.5 | April 25, 2009 | 3 |
| Donut | 1.6 | September 15, 2009 | 4 |
| Eclair | 2.0 – 2.1 | October 26, 2009 | 5 – 7 |
| Froyo | 2.2 – 2.2.3 | May 20, 2010 | 8 |
| Gingerbread | 2.3 – 2.3.7 | December 6, 2010 | 9 – 10 |
| Gingerbread | 2.3 – 2.3.7 | December 6, 2010 | 9 – 10 |
| Honeycomb | 3.0 – 3.2.6 | February 22, 2011 | 11 – 13 |
| Ice Cream Sandwich | 4.0 – 4.0.5 | October 18, 2011 | 14 – 15 |
| Jelly Bean | 4.1 – 4.3.1 | July 9, 2012 | 16 – 18 |
| KitKat | 4.4 – 4.4.4 | October 31, 2013 | 19 – 20 |
| Lollipop | 5.0 – 5.1.1 | November 12, 2014 | 21 – 22 |
| Marshmallow | 6.0 – 6.0.1 | October 5, 2015 | 23 |
| Nougat | 7.0 – 7.1.2 | June 15, 2016 | 24 – 25 |
| Oreo | 8.0 – 8.1 | August 21, 2017 | 26 – 27 |
| Pie | 9.0 | August 6, 2018 | 28 |
| 10 | 10.0 | September 3, 2019 | 29 |
| 11 | 11.0 | September 8, 2020 | 30 |
| 12 | 12.0 – 12L | October 4, 2021 | 31 – 32 |
| 13 | 13.0 | August 15, 2022 | 33 |
| 14 | 14.0 | October 4, 2023 | 34 |