Android Google

Android Google

Android An 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 landscape o very high DPI - small text may not be readable o 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. yet o 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 sources o Scrape them for the relevant information o Present in a custom UI on the phone Asynchronous games [chess, poker, risk] o 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