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Table of Contents

About the book

Copyright

About the author

FIRST EDITION

DISCLAIMER

INTRODUCTION

FEATURES & APPLICATIONS

Android version numbers and names

Rooting (Android OS)

Use outside of smartphones and tablets

Hardware

TIPS AND TRICKS

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About the book

THIS BOOK GIVES DETAILED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ANDROID AND ITSFUNCTIONS.ANDROID IS AN DEVELOPING FURIOUS OS WHICH ISPOPULAR AROUND THE WORLD.THIS BOOK MANY USEFUL ASPECTSABOUT ANDROID.SO KINDLY READ THIS BOOK AND GET THE MOST OUTOF IT

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Copyright

Author

G.S.SRIDHAR

Editor

G.S.SRIDHAR

Copyright 2015 G.S.SRIDHAR

First Published using Papyrus,2015

This book may be purchased for educational, business, or salespromotional use. Online edition is also available for this title. For moreinformation, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: [Insertyour phone number here] or [Insert your email here]

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book,the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors oromissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the informationcontained herein.

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About the Author

G.S.SRIDHAR is an English instructor, freelance writer, and novelist.Hehas great knowledge on android,windows,ios.He has unique skills inandroid technolgy which helps him to produce unique books.

For more details visit www.gssridhar21.blogspot.com

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file:///tmp/d20150324-5339-1dggya/www.gssridhar21.blogspot.com

FIRST EDITION

This e-book is a property of G.S.SRIDHAR therefore no part of this bookmay not be reproduced in any form or by any means,electronic or

mechanical including recording photocopying, offset or by any storageaid.The information cannot be used or retrieved in any form without

prior permission of author except the reviewers who may use a passagefrom the book for print purpose with credits regarded to author

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DISCLAIMER

THIS BOOK IS INTENDED TO ENRICH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANDROIDAND ITS ITS DETAILED CONCEPTS.IT GIVES INFORMATION ABOUTANDROID(FUNCTIONS,VERSIONS,FEATURES,TIPS).KINDLY READ THISBOOK TO ENRICH YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND TO KNOW MORE ABOUTANDROID

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INTRODUCTION

What is Android

Operating Systems have developed a lot in last 15 years. Starting fromblack and white phones to recent smart phones or mini computers,mobile OS has come far away. Especially for smart phones, Mobile OShas greatly evolved from Palm OS in 1996 to Windows pocket PC in 2000then to Blackberry OS and Android.

One of the most widely used mobile OS these days is ANDROID. Androidis a software bunch comprising not only operating system but alsomiddleware and key applications. Android Inc was founded in Palo Altoof California, U.S. by Andy Rubin, Rich miner, Nick sears and Chris Whitein 2003. Later Android Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005. After originalrelease there have been number of updates in the original version ofAndroid.

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FEATURES & APPLICATIONS

Features & Specifications

Android is a powerful Operating System supporting a large number ofapplications in Smart Phones. These applications make life morecomfortable and advanced for the users. Hardwares that supportAndroid are mainly based on ARM architecture platform. Some of thecurrent features and specifications of android are:

Features of Android OS

Android comes with an Android market which is an online softwarestore. It was developed by Google. It allows Android users to select, anddownload applications developed by third party developers and usethem. There are around 2.0 lack+ games, application and widgetsavailable on the market for users.

Android applications are written in java programming language. Androidis available as open source for developers to develop applications whichcan be further used for selling in android market. There are around200000 applications developed for android with over 3 billion+downloads. Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system servicessuch as security, memory management, process management, networkstack, and driver model. For software development, Android providesAndroid SDK (Software development kit).

Applications

These are the basics of Android applications:

Android applications are composed of one or more applicationcomponents (activities, services, content providers, and broadcastreceivers)

Each component performs a different role in the overall applicationbehavior, and each one can be activated individually (even by otherapplications)

The manifest file must declare all components in the application and9

should also declare all application requirements, such as the minimumversion of Android required and any hardware configurations required

Non-code application resources (images, strings, layout files, etc.)should include alternatives for different device configurations (such asdifferent strings for different languages)

Google, for software development and application development, hadlaunched two competitions ADC1 and ADC2 for the most innovativeapplications for Android. It offered prizes of USD 10 million combined inADC1 and 2. ADC1 was launched in January 2008 and ADC 2 waslaunched in May 2009. These competitions helped Google a lot in makingAndroid better, more user friendly, advanced and interactive

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Android version numbersand names

Beta versions: Astro and Bender

1.5: Cupcake

1.6: Donut

2.0 and 2.1: Eclair

2.2: Froyo (FROzen YOgurt)

2.3: Gingerbread

3.x: Honeycomb (a tablet-only version)

4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich

4.1, 4.2 and 4.3: Jelly Bean

4.4: KitKat

5.0: Lollipop

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Rooting (Android OS)

Rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets andother devices running the Android mobile operating system to attainprivileged control (known as "root access") within Android's sub-system.

Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations thatcarriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices. Thus, rootinggives the ability (or permission) to alter or replace system applicationsand settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-levelpermissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessibleto a normal Android user. On Android, rooting can also facilitate thecomplete removal and replacement of the device's operating system,usually with a more recent release of its current operating system.

As Android derives from the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device givessimilar access to administrative permissions as on Linux or any otherUnix-like operating system such as FreeBSD or OS X.

Root access is sometimes compared to jailbreaking devices running theApple iOS operating system. However, these are different concepts.Jailbreaking describes the bypass of several types of Apple prohibitionsfor the end user: modifying the operating system (enforced by a "lockedbootloader"), installing non-officially approved apps via sideloading, andgranting the user elevated administration-level privileges. Only aminority of Android devices lock their bootloadersand many vendorssuch as HTC, Sony, Asus and Google explicitly provide the ability tounlock devices, and even replace the operating system entirely.Similarly,the ability to sideload apps is typically permissible on Android deviceswithout root permissions. Thus, it is primarily the third aspect of iOSjailbreaking relating to giving users superuser administrative privilegesthat most directly correlates to Android rooting.

Rooting lets all user-installed applications run privileged commandstypically unavailable to the devices in the stock configuration. Rooting isrequired for more advanced and potentially dangerous operations

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including modifying or deleting system files, removing carrier- ormanufacturer-installed applications, and low-level access to thehardware itself (rebooting, controlling status lights, or recalibrating touchinputs.) A typical rooting installation also installs the Superuserapplication, which supervises applications that are granted root orsuperuser rights by requesting approval from the user before grantingsaid permissions. A secondary operation, unlocking the device'sbootloader verification, is required to remove or replace the installedoperating system.

In contrast to iOS jailbreaking, rooting is not needed to run applicationsdistributed outside of the Google Play Store, sometimes calledsideloading. The Android OS supports this feature natively in two ways:through the "Unknown sources" option in the Settings menu and throughthe Android Debug Bridge. However, some US carriers, including AT&T,prevented the installation of applications not on the Play Store infirmware,although several devices are not subject to this rule, includingthe Samsung Infuse 4G;AT&T lifted the restriction on most devices by themiddle of 2011.

As of 2011, the Amazon Kindle Fire defaults to the Amazon Appstoreinstead of Google Play, though like most other Android devices, KindleFire allows sideloading of applications from unknown sources, and the"easy installer" application on the Amazon Appstore makes this easy.Other vendors of Android devices may look to other sources in thefuture. Access to alternate apps may require rooting but rooting is notalways necessary.

Rooting an Android phone lets the owner modify or delete the systemfiles, which in turn lets them perform various tweaks and use apps thatrequire root access.

Advantages

Advantages of rooting include the possibility for complete control overthe look and feel of the device. As a superuser has access to the device'ssystem files, all aspects of the operating system can be customized withthe only real limitation being the level of coding expertise.Immediatelyexpectable advantages of rooted devices include the following:

Full theming capabilities, meaning that everything can be changed and

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themed from the color of the battery indicator, to the look of the dialer orcontact list, to the video that plays while the device boots up.

Full control of the CPU and kernel

Full application control, including the ability to backup, restore, or batchedit applications, or to remove bloatware that comes pre-loaded onmany phones.

Processes can be automated on the device through the use ofapplications such as Tasker.

Ability to install custom firmware (also known as custom ROMs) thatallows additional levels of control on a rooted device. As Android is opensource, anyone with the proper skills can create their own customizedversion.

Rooting varieties

The process of rooting varies widely by device, but usually includesexploiting one or more security bugs in the firmware of (i.e., in theversion of the Android OS installed on) the device. Once an exploit isdiscovered, a custom recovery image can be flashed which will skip thedigital signature check of firmware updates. Then a modified firmwareupdate can be installed which typically includes the utilities needed torun apps as root. For example, the su binary can be copied to a locationin the current process' PATH (e.g., /system/xbin/) and granted executablepermissions with the chmod command. A supervisor application, likeSuperUser or SuperSU, can then regulate and log elevated permissionrequests from other applications. Many guides, tutorials, and automaticprocesses exist for popular Android devices facilitating a fast and easyrooting process.

The process of rooting a device may be simple or complex, and it evenmay depend upon serendipity. For example, shortly after the release ofthe HTC Dream (HTC G1), it was discovered that anything typed using thekeyboard was being interpreted as a command in a privileged (root)shell. Although Google quickly released a patch to fix this, a signed imageof the old firmware leaked, which gave users the ability to downgradeand use the original exploit to gain root access. By contrast, the Google-branded Android phones, the Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus4 and Nexus 5, as well as their tablet counterparts, the Nexus 7 and

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Nexus 10, can be boot-loader unlocked by simply connecting the deviceto a computer while in boot-loader mode and running the Fastbootprogram with the command fastboot oem unlock. After accepting awarning, the boot-loader is unlocked, so a new system image can bewritten directly to flash without the need for an exploit.

Difficulties[edit]

In the past, many manufacturers have tried to make "unrootable" phoneswith harsher protections (like the Droid X), but they are usually stillrootable in some way. There may be no root exploit available for new orrecently updated phones, but one is usually available within a fewmonths.

Some rooting methods involve use of the command prompt anddevelopment interface called Android Debug Bridge (ADB), while othermethods may use specialized applications and be as simple as clickingone button. Devices, or sometimes even different variants of the samedevice, can have different hardware configurations. Thus, if the guide,ROM, or root method used is for a device variant with a differenthardware setup, there is a risk of bricking the device.Also there is astrong possibility that you might end up losing your Smartphone'swarranty because most of the manufacturers do not provide warranty toRooted Devices.

Industry reaction[edit]

Until 2010, tablet and smartphone manufacturers, as well as mobilecarriers, were mainly unsupportive of third-party firmware development.Manufacturers had expressed concern about improper functioning ofdevices running unofficial software and related support costs. Moreover,firmwares such as OmniROM and CyanogenMod sometimes offerfeatures for which carriers would otherwise charge a premium, such astethering. Due to that, technical obstacles such as locked bootloadersand restricted access to root permissions have commonly beenintroduced in many devices. For example, in late December 2011, Barnes& Noble and Amazon.com, Inc. began pushing automatic, over-the-airfirmware updates, 1.4.1 to Nook Tablets and 6.2.1 to Kindle Fires, thatremoved one method to gain root access to the devices. The Nook Tablet1.4.1 update also removed users' ability to sideload apps from sourcesother than the official Barnes & Noble app store (without modding).

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However, as community-developed software began to grow popular inthe late 2009 to early 2010,and following a statement by the CopyrightOffice and Librarian of Congress (US) allowing the use of "jailbroken"mobile devices,manufacturers and carriers have softened their positionregarding CyanogenMod and other unofficial firmware distributions.Some manufacturers, including HTC,Samsung,Motorola and SonyEricsson,even actively provide support and encourage development.

In 2011, the need to circumvent hardware restrictions to install unofficialfirmware lessened as an increasing number of devices shipped withunlocked or unlockable bootloaders, similar to the Nexus series ofphones. Device manufacturer HTC has announced that it would supportaftermarket software developers by making the bootloaders of all newdevices unlockable.However, carriers, such as Verizon Wireless and morerecently AT&T, have continuously blocked OEMs, such as HTC andMotorola, from releasing retail devices with unlocked bootloaders, optinginstead for "developer edition" devices which are only sold unsubsidized,off contract. Similar in practice to Nexus devices, but for a premium andwith no contract discounts.

In 2014, Samsung released a security service called Knox, which is a toolthat prevents all modifying of system and boot files, and any attemptsset an eFuse to 0x1, permanently voiding the warranty

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Use outside of smartphonesand tablets

Ouya, a video game console which runs Android, was one of the mostsuccessful crowdfunding campaigns on the website Kickstarter.

The open and customizable nature of Android allows it to be used onother electronics aside from smartphones and tablets, including laptopsand netbooks, smartbooks,smart TVs (Android TV, Google TV) andcameras (E.g. Galaxy Camera).In addition, the Android operating systemhas seen applications on smart glasses (Google Glass),smartwatches,headphones,car CD and DVD players,mirrors,[288]portable media players,[289] landline[290] and Voice over IPphones.Ouya, a video game console running Android, became one of themost successful Kickstarter campaigns, crowdfunding US$8.5m for itsdevelopment,and was later followed by other Android-based consoles,such as Nvidia's Shield Portable an Android device in a video gamecontroller form factor.

In 2011, Google demonstrated "Android@Home", a home automationtechnology which uses Android to control a range of household devicesincluding light switches, power sockets and thermostats.Prototype lightbulbs were announced that could be controlled from an Android phoneor tablet, but Android head Andy Rubin was cautious to note that "turninga lightbulb on and off is nothing new", pointing to numerous failed homeautomation services. Google, he said, was thinking more ambitiously andthe intention was to use their position as a cloud services provider tobring Google products into customers' homes.

Parrot unveiled an Android-based car stereo system known as Asteroid in2011,followed by a successor, the touchscreen-based Asteroid Smart, in2012.In 2013, Clarion released its own Android-based car stereo, theAX1.In January 2014 at Consumer Electronics Show, Google announcedthe formation of the Open Automotive Alliance, a group including severalmajor automobile makers (Audi, General Motors, Hyundai, and Honda)

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and Nvidia, which aims to produce Android-based in car entertainmentsystems for automobiles, "[bringing] the best of Android into theautomobile in a safe and seamless way."

On March 18, 2014, Google announced Android Wear, an Android-basedplatform specifically intended for smartwatches and other wearabledevices; only a developer preview was made publicly available.This wasfollowed by the unveiling of two Android Wearbased devices, the LG GWatch and Moto 360.

On June 25, 2014, at Google I/O, it was announced that Android TV, aSmart TV platform, is replacing the previously released Google TV. OnJune 26, 2014, Google announced Android Auto for the car.

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Hardware

Android supports the ARM architectures (ARMv7 and ARMv8-A), and x86and MIPS architectures in later versions. Since Android 5.0 "Lollipop", 64-bit variants of all platforms are supported in addition to the 32-bitvariants.Unofficial Android-x86 project used to provide support for thex86 and MIPS architectures ahead of the official support.Since 2012,Android devices with Intel processors began to appear, including phonesand tablets. While gaining support for 64-bit platforms, Android was firstmade to run on 64-bit x86 and then on ARM64.

As of November 2013, Android 4.4 recommends at least 512 MB ofRAM,while for "low RAM" devices 340 MB is the required minimumamount that does not include memory dedicated to various hardwarecomponents such as the baseband processor.Android 4.4 requires a 32-bit ARMv7, MIPS or x86 architecture processor (latter two throughunofficial ports),together with an OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible graphicsprocessing unit (GPU).Android supports OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1.Some applications may explicitly require a certain version of the OpenGLES, and suitable GPU hardware is required to run such applications.

Android devices incorporate many optional hardware components,including still or video cameras, GPS, orientation sensors, dedicatedgaming controls, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers,magnetometers, proximity sensors, pressure sensors, thermometers, andtouchscreens. Some hardware components are not required, but becamestandard in certain classes of devices, such as smartphones, andadditional requirements apply if they are present. Some other hardwarewas initially required, but those requirements have been relaxed oreliminated altogether. For example, as Android was developed initially asa phone OS, hardware such as microphones were required, while overtime the phone function became optional.Android used to require anautofocus camera, which was relaxed to a fixed-focus camera if it is evenpresent at all, since the camera was dropped as a requirement entirelywhen Android started to be used on set-top boxes.

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In addition to running on smartphones and tablets, several vendors runAndroid natively on regular PC hardware with a keyboard and mouse. Inaddition to their availability on commercially available hardware, similarPC hardwarefriendly versions of Android are freely available from theAndroid-x86 project, including customized Android 4.4.Using the Androidemulator that is part of the Android SDK, or by using BlueStacks or Andy,Android can also run non-natively on x86.Chinese companies arebuilding a PC and mobile operating system, based on Android, to"compete directly with Microsoft Windows and Google Android".TheChinese Academy of Engineering noted that "more than a dozen"companies were customising Android following a Chinese ban on theuse of Windows 8 on government PCs.

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TIPS AND TRICKS

1. Disable App Notifications

Bugged by annoying app notifications that just keep coming? If you dontknow already, these app notifications also drain your phones battery. Ifyou want to turn them off, and you are on Jelly Bean 4.1 and above,heres how:

On any of your unwanted notifications in your notification bar, long presson the notification for a message box to appear.

Tap on App Info > Untick Show Notifications > OK.

Disable App Notifications

2. Disable Mobile Data

Whenever you dont need to stay connected, disabling the Mobile Datacan help keep your smartphone battery from draining too quickly.Turning off mobile data is as easy as:

Going to Settings > Data Usage.

Disable Mobile data by toggling the setting from ON to OFF.

Disable Mobile Data

Read Also: 10 More Tips To Conserve Your Smartphone Battery

3. Set Mobile Data Limit

Want to keep track of how far your usage is from your monthly mobiledata limit? If you have ICS and above, there is a feature which lets youkeep track of how much of the quota you have left.

Head over to Settings > Data Usage.

Set your data limit by dragging the orange line to reflect your monthlyquota.

Set your data usage cycle based on when your "month" starts and ends,and youre done.

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You will be alerted once you hit the limit you have set. Note that thetracked data usage of your phone may vary slightly than your carrierstracking.

Set Mobile Data Limit

4. Add Multiple Google Accounts

You need a Google account to use an Android phone but did you knowyou can choose to run more than one Google account on your Androiddevice. This is convenient if you use more than one account for severalof your Google services. To add multiple Google accounts:

Go to Settings > Add account.

Select Google and setup your New or Existing Google account.

Once added, choose what you want to sync with the account.

Repeat all the steps above if you want to add more accounts.

Add Multiple Google Accounts

5. Disable Automatic App Updates

Prefer to read through app permissions and manually pick which appupdates to adopt? You can, but first you need to disable your automaticapp updates. Here are the steps:

Open Play Store and head over to Settings.

Tap on Auto-update apps.

Choose Do not auto-update apps.

If you want to enable the auto updates, follow the same path and chooseAuto-update apps at any time or via Wi-Fi (available for certain Androiddevices only).

Disable automatic Apps Updates

To update your apps manually, just open Play Store, and on the mainpage swipe in from the left and tap on My apps. You can tap on appswith pending updates and update them manually, or if you like to updatethem all at once, just tap on Update All.

6. How To Check For Android System Updates

For Android users that are using stock ROM, you may want to look for

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new updates to your system. To check for updates:

Go to Settings > About phone/tablet.

Tap on System updates.

Tap Check now to look for system updates.

Check For android System updates

7. Changing Default Apps

If you have already set some default apps for particular tasks (e.g. usingChrome for opening web links) but wish to change this:

Go to Settings > Apps.

Swipe right and look for the All tab.

Select the app you want to remove as default.

Tap on Clear defaults.

Changing Default Apps

8. Organize Homescreen Shortcuts With Folders

Once you have a lot of apps installed, your homescreen might be filledwith app shortcuts. Unlike the app drawer, the apps on your homescreen are not arranged alphabetically. So, you might want to createsome folders for your homescreen shortcuts.

Assuming you have more than a handful of shortcuts already on yourhomescreen, long press on any of the shortcuts and drag it onto anothershortcut.

A circle should now appear around the apps, indicating that a folder hasbeen created.

By tapping on the newly created folder, a mini window will pop up withyour apps in it.

You can drag and drop additional apps into the folder if you like. You canalso rename the folder by tapping on the text area at the bottom of themini window.

Organize Homescreen Shortcuts With Folders

9. Disable Animations

Heres a tip on how to make your Android device run a bit smoother:24

disable its animations. You will need to have access to DeveloperOptions which can be found under Settings or About device.

Note: For some phones, you may need to go to Build number and tap onit repeatedly until you see "You are now a developer!". Developer optionsare now enabled.

Under enabled Developer options, look for Window animation scale,Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. Then, turn themoff (disable) them one at a time.

Disable Animations

10. How To Turn Off Auto-Correction

Hate the fact that your phone is going English teacher mode on you?Turn off auto-correction for peace of mind when texting.

Go to Settings > Language & input.

Tap on the settings icon next to the keyboard that you are using, e.g.Google Keyboard.

Look for Auto-correction and tap on it.

Select Off to turn auto-correction off.

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CoverContentsAbout the bookCopyrightAbout the authorFIRST EDITIONDISCLAIMERINTRODUCTIONFEATURES & APPLICATIONSAndroid version numbers and namesRooting (Android OS)Use outside of smartphones and tabletsHardwareTIPS AND TRICKS