What is an Android Operating System & Its Features

The Android operating system is most frequently used on different mobile platforms around the world.
It is occupied approximately 75% of shares in the worldwide market by the end of 2020. A company
like Open Handset Alliance has developed the first Android that depends on the customized version of
the Linux kernel as well as other open-source software. At the initial stage of 2005, Google sponsored
the project & it obtained the entire company. In September 2008, the first Android device was released
in the market to dominate the mobile industries due to several features like user friendly, the support of
the community is huge, customization, manufacturing of android devices in large companies.
Consequently, the market examines the demand to develop Android-supported devices with smart
developers. So, the Android operating system became a complete set of operating systems for different
devices like wearables, mobiles, notebooks, smart TVs, tablets, set-top boxes, etc.

What is an Android Operating System?

Android is a Linux-based operating system it is designed primarily for touch screens mobile devices
such as smartphones and tablet computers. The operating system has developed a lot in the last 15
years starting from black and white phones to recent smartphones or mini computers. One of the most
widely used mobile OS these days is android. The android is software that was founded in Palo Alto
of California in 2003.
Android is a powerful operating system and it supports a large number of applications on
Smartphones. These applications are more comfortable and advanced for users. The hardware that
supports android software is based on the ARM architecture platform. The android is an open-source
operating system that means that it’s free and anyone can use it. Android has got millions of apps
available that can help you manage your life one or another way and it is available at low cost in the
market for that reason android is very popular.
Android development supports the full java programming language. Even other packages that are API
and JSE are not supported. The first version 1.0 of the android development kit (SDK) was released in
2008 and the latest updated version is a jelly bean.
Features of Android Operating System
The unique features/characteristics of the android operating system include the following.
• Near Field Communication (NFC)
• Alternate Keyboards
• IR Transmission
• No-Touch Control
• Automation
• Wireless App Downloads
• Storage & Battery Swap
• Custom Home Screen
• Widgets
• Custom ROMs
• Headset layout
• Storage
• Connectivity: GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, Bluetooth, WI-FI, EDGE,3G,NFC, LTE,GPS.
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, C2DM (could to device messaging), GCM (Google could messaging)
• Multilanguage support
• Multi-touch
• Video calling
• Screen capture
• External storage
• Streaming media support
• Optimized graphics
 Android Architecture
The android is an operating system and is a stack of software components which is divided into five
sections and four main layers that is
• Linux kernel
• Libraries
• Android runtime
• Application Framework
• Applications
Linux Kernel
The android uses the powerful Linux kernel and it supports a wide range of hardware drivers. The
kernel is the heart of the operating system that manages input and output requests from the software.
This provides basic system functionalities like process management, memory management, device
management like camera, keypad, display, etc the kernel handles all the things.
Linux is really good at networking and it is not necessary to interface it to the peripheral hardware.
The kernel itself does not interact directly with the user but rather interacts with the shell and other
programs as well as with the hardware devices on the system.
Libraries
The on top of a Linux kennel there is a set of libraries including open-source web browsers such as
WebKit, library libc. These libraries are used to play and record audio and video. The SQLite is a
database that is useful for the storage and sharing of application data. The SSL libraries are responsible
for internet security etc.
Android Runtime
The android runtime provides a key component called Dalvik Virtual Machine which is a kind of java
virtual machine. It is specially designed and optimized for android. The Dalvik VM is the process
virtual machine in the android operating system. It is software that runs apps on android devices.
The Dalvik VM makes use of Linux core features like memory management and multithreading which
is in java language. The Dalvik VM enables every Android application to run its own process. The
Dalvik VM executes the files in the .dex format.
Application Framework
The application framework layer provides many higher-level services to applications such as windows
manager, view system, package manager, resource manager, etc. The application developers are
allowed to make use of these services in their applications.
Applications
You will find all the android applications at the top layer and you will write your application and
install it on this layer. Examples of such applications are contacts, books, browsers, services, etc. Each
application performs a different role in the overall applications.
Android Emulator
The Emulator is a new application in the Android operating system. The emulator is a new prototype
that is used to develop and test android applications without using any physical device.
The android emulator has all of the hardware and software features like mobile devices except phone
calls. It provides a variety of navigation and control keys. It also provides a screen to display your
application. The emulators utilize the android virtual device configurations. Once your application is
running on it, it can use services of the android platform to help other applications, access the network,
play audio, video, store, and retrieve the data.
 Advantages
The advantages of the Android operating system include the following.
• Android is a Linux based open-source operating system, it can be developed by anyone
• Easy access to android apps
• You can replace the battery and mass storage, disk drive, and UDB option
• Its supports all Google services
• The operating system is able to inform you of a new SMS and Emails or the latest updates.
• It supports Multitasking
• Android phone can also function as a router to share the internet
• It’s free to customize
• Can install a modified ROM
• Its supports 2D and 3D graphics
• We can install Millions of apps-
• Backup and restore of apps can be possible
• It supports Third-party apps
• Addition & removal of unwanted features:-
• High job demands for Android developers
• Notifications can be displayed very clearly
• Huge community support
• The Internet can be shared from device to device
• It is an Open source
• Different types of mobile models you can select
• Add/ Remove Unwanted
• Internal memory is Expandable
• Cloud storage
• It supports big screens at a reasonable price
• Foldable Android devices
• Different apps can run at the same time
• Several widgets on display
The disadvantages of the Android operating system include the following.
• Apps work in the background
• Battery discharges easily due to a lot of processes within the background.
• Requires Google account
• Less security, so fake apps can be easily installed to steal your data from strange resources
• Mobiles with low specification run very slow
• Generally, you require additional code on Java language as compared to Objective-C.
• Android developers have a critical time
• Difficult layouts & animations are tough to code within Android.
• Protection of Virus is required
• For developers of the app, Google is strict
• Several ads within apps
• Some apps quality is not good
• For elders, it is not friendly