Android Google Android An Open Handset Alliance Project

Android Google

Android An Open Handset Alliance Project a. 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 a. Application Framework b. Dalvik virtual machine c. Integrated (webkit) browser d. 2 D and 3 D graphics APIs with HW e. SQLite f. Video and audio codecs g. Bluetooth, EDGE, 3 G, and Wi. Fi h. Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer

Android Architecture

Challenges a. CPU typically runs 500 -600 Mhz b. RAM available to an App may only be a few megabytes c. Disk (flash) access is very slow d. Lifecycle - apps must pause/quit often, and restore to give the illusion that they are always running e. UI design a. typical screen may be HVGA (320 x 480) b. may be in portrait or landscape c. very high DPI - small text may not be readable d. touch resolution is very low (~25 pixel) f. Network access may be slow and (very) intermittent

Opportunities a. 100 s of millions of mobile phone users b. Very high growth, esp. in Asia c. "Wild west" of application development a. think 1985 on the desktop (if you were born by then) b. no dominant 3 rd party developers. . yet c. what will the killer app categories be? d. what does it mean to have any app + the internet in your pocket? d. You can develop for it today!

Possibilities Augmented Campus Reality a. camera + maps + compass = heads up info Games a. multi-player (bluetooth, wifi, cell) • location-based (scavenger hunt) Custom overlays for maps • weather, traffic, friends Web scraping a. news filters b. sport scores c. dook news eliminators Distributed computing? a. 10, 000 phones all donating their idle time • tiny terminal (phone) + fast cpu/network (server) Shared whiteboard

Project Suggestions a. Web Scrapers [movies, weather, sports, <topic> news] a. Find multiple web sources b. Scrape them for the relevant information c. Present in a custom UI on the phone b. Asynchronous games [chess, poker, risk] a. Develop an API for all games to communicate through 1. Establish connections by phone number – Send and receive game data – Ability to reopen connections • Planner/To-do list with location data o Decide route to next class, meeting, etc o Find a order/route for non time-critical tasks o Connect to campus directory to find teachers/classmates