International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied Science (IJSEAS) - Volume-2, Issue-2, February 2016

ISSN: 2395-3470
www.ijseas.com

Study on Android Operating System And Its Versions

M. Narmatha 1, S. Venkata KrishnaKumar2
1. MPhil scholar, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, India.
2. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, P.S.G College of Arts and Science,
Coimbatore, India

Abstract: Open Handset Alliance:

The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a
Android Operating System is developed for smart consortium whose goal is to develop open
phones and tablets. It is a Open source Software. standards for mobile devices, promote
Android is the most widely used mobile Operating innovation in mobile phones and provide a better
System by the people nowadays. Android Software experience for consumers at a lower cost.
Stack contains four Layers: application layer,
application framework layer, Libraries, Linux kernel. 2. Android Architecture:
This Paper Describes about the Software Stack and
versions of Android Operating system. Software stack is split into four layers. That are
1. Application layer
Keywords: DVM, Linux kernel, version, OHS.
2. Application Framework
3. Libraries
1. Introduction:
4. Linux kernel
Android was founded by a company, named android
Inc. in Palo Alto of California, U.S in 2003 whose
founder was Andy Rubin. Early intension of the
company was to develop an advanced Os for digital
cameras, but then it was realized that market for such
devices was not large enough so that diverted their
attention to producing a smart phone OS. Android
was then acquired by the Google in 2005 and
unveiled its distribution in 2007 with formation of
Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Android
mobile operating system is based on the Linux
kernel and is developed by Google. Android OS has
its own virtual machine called DVM which is used
for executing the android application. One of the
reasons for the success of Google’s OS is the
constant improvement of its many versions, with
every new one offering more advanced features,
faster access to the internet. Another reason for the
Android’s popularity is its strong collaboration with

mobile devices manufacturers, while it is main

global competitor.

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 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied Science (IJSEAS) - Volume-2, Issue-2, February 2016
ISSN: 2395-3470
www.ijseas.com

2.1 Linux Kernel: • Media framework - It is used to provide

different media code which allow the
Lower layer of android operating system is recording and playback of different
Linux kernel. It does not really interact with the media formats.
users and developers. The Linux Kernel provides • Web Kit - It is the browser engine used
a level of abstraction between the device to display internet content or HTML
hardware and the upper layers of the Android content.
software stack. Based on Linux version 2.6, the
kernel provides pre-emptive multitasking, low- 2.2.1 Android Runtime:
level core system services such as memory,
process and power management in addition to Dalvik Virtual Machine:
providing a network stack and device drivers for
hardware such as the device display, Wi-Fi and
audio. Also, the kernel handles all the things that
Linux is really good at such as networking and a
vast array of device drivers, which take the pain
out of interfacing to peripheral hardware.

2.2 Libraries:
On top of Linux kernel there is a set of c/c++
libraries used by the various components of the
android system. Some of the core libraries are
listed below:

• System c library – a BSD– derived

implementation of the standard and
system library (libc) tuned for embedded
Linux-based devices. Dalvik is a purpose built virtual machine
• SQLite - It is used to access data designed specifically for android which was
published by content providers and developed by Dan Bornstein and his team. It
includes SQLite database management was mainly developed for mobile devices.
classes. Dalvik Virtual Machine is same as JVM but only
• SSL - It is used to provide internet difference is that it is designed and optimized for
security. Android. Every android application runs in its
• SGL – the underlying 2D graphics own process is called Dalvik virtual machine.
engine. Dalvik uses its own 16 bit instruction set than
• Libwebcore – a modern web browser java 8 bit stack instructions, which reduce the
engine which powers both the android Dalvik instruction count and raised its interpreter
browser and an embedded web view. speed. The Dalvik VM executes files in the
• OpenGL - It is used to provide Java Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is
interface to the OpenGL/ES 3D graphics optimized for minimal memory footprint. The
rendering API. VM is register based, and runs its classes
compiled by a java language compiler that have

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 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Applied Science (IJSEAS) - Volume-2, Issue-2, February 2016
ISSN: 2395-3470
www.ijseas.com

been transformed into the .dex format by the • Location Manager – Provides access to
included “dx” tool. The Dalvik VM dependent the location services allowing an
on the Linux kernel for underlying functionality application to receive updates about
such as threading and low level memory location changes.
management.
2.4 Applications:
2.3 Application Framework:
The applications are at the top layer of the
It provides many higher level services to Android stack. The user of the Android device
applications in the form of Java classes. would mostly interact with this layer. Android
Application developers are allowed to make use will ship with a set of applications including an
of these services in their application. This email client, calendar, browser, maps, contacts,
framework describes the concept that Android others. All applications are written using java
applications are constructed from reusable, programming language.
interchangeable and replaceable components.
3. Android Version history:
Android is updating day by day since its release.
The Android framework includes the following These updates to the base operating system
key services: mainly focusing on fixing bugs as well as adding
new features to provide more comfortable
• Activity Manager – Controls all aspects environment. The most recent released versions
of the application lifecycle and activity of Android are:
stack.
• Content Providers – Allows applications
to publish and share data with other
applications.
• Resource Manager – Provides access to
non-code embedded resources such as
strings, color settings and user interface
layouts.
• Notifications Manager – Allows
applications to display alerts and
notifications to the user.
• View System – An extensible set of
views used to create application user
interfaces.
• Package Manager – The system by which
applications are able to find out
information about other applications
currently installed on the device.
• Telephony Manager – Provides the 2.0/2.1(Éclair), the user interface and introduced
telephony services available on the HTML5 and Exchange ActiveSync 2.5 support.
device such as status and subscriber
2.2(Froyo), which introduced speed
information.
improvements with JIT optimization and the

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ISSN: 2395-3470
www.ijseas.com

Chrome V8 JavaScript engine, and added Wi-Fi API will allow developers to build better and
hotspot tethering and Adobe Flash support more powerful apps.
2.3(Gingerbread), which refined the user
interface, improved the soft keyboard and
copy/paste features, and added support for Near Android version distribution:
Field Communication Distribution of Android OS versions in 2016
3.0(Honeycomb), a tablet-oriented release shown below. By this picture we know that the
which supports larger screen devices and most widely distributed version is Android 4.4
introduces many new user interface features, and (KitKat), another one is Android 5.x (Lollipop).
supports multiform processors and hardware
acceleration for graphics.
4.0(Ice Cream), a combination of Gingerbread
and Honeycomb into a "cohesive whole. This
version had new features added to the
Smartphone’s Such as photo enhancements,
offline email searching, facial recognition
unlock, network data, and usage monitoring.
4.1-4.3(JellyBean),the new focus on
responsiveness with Project Butter, Jelly Bean
brings multi-user accounts, actionable
notifications, lock screen widgets, quick-settings
in the notification bar, Photosphere to the
"stock" Android camera and Google Now. Jelly
Bean is hailed by many as the turning point for
Android, where all the great services and
customization options finally meet great design 4. Android Security:
guidelines.
4.4 (Kitkat), KitKat brought a lighter, flatter Nowadays near all of the tasks that you could
and far more colorful look to Android, but many only perform on a computer are also performed on
more changes were under the hood. These were mobile devices as well. This means that more
the foundation for things like the Google Now sensitive information is stored on people mobile
launcher, SMS integration with Hangouts, and devices than before. The need for security is greater
easier and faster use all around. than ever for not only consumers, but large
5.0(Lollipop),Google released Android 5.0 enterprise as well. Android software stack itself
Lollipop with the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, and it provides security to its application.
ushered in a new design language and support
for 64-bit devices. It's also the first time Google Key features includes physical access, app
has provided developer beta previews of the permission, the application sandbox, rooting.
software.
6.0 (Marshmallow),Android 6.0 gets better Physical access
control over permissions, allowing you to
Android has a couple of features that can help to
control what parts of your data apps can access,
prevent hackers. The first is the unlock screen
rather than approve it by simply installing the
when the device is woken from sleep. The
app in the first place. That's just the beginning,
standard unlock screen is just the slider which
and features like app linking and the new Assist

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ISSN: 2395-3470
www.ijseas.com

basically stops the screen from being activated in Rooting

your pocket. But Android also allows you to set an
unlock pattern, PIN or password. Unless the In the world of Linux ‘root’ is the supreme user
intruder knows the pattern, PIN or password they level which has the rights to perform any task. It
can’t get access to your device. This is especially is similar to the Administrator user on a
useful to keep little kids out of your phone or stop Windows PC. By default, only the Linux kernel
mischievous friends from sending emails. and a small number of core utilities run as this
super user. But by ‘rooting’ your device (which
App permissions means the root user level is available to all apps)
then many of the security mechanisms described
Every app that you install on your device needs to above are made null and void. This is because an
specifically ask you for permission to perform app with root permission can modify any other
certain tasks. This is done when you install the part of the Android OS including the operating
app. What this means in practical terms is that system itself, the kernel, and other apps.
apps have limited abilities. As well as limiting the
abilities of apps, Android also controls how an app Malware
accesses the device’s hardware. There is no direct
hardware access allowed in Android; all access is It is an unfortunate reality, but reality none the
through the different software layers which make less, that Android has a malware problem. First,
up the Android OS. This means that rogue apps for an app to be malicious it doesn’t need to have
can’t go around re-programming the microphone access to the deeper levels of the OS. If an
on your phone or bypassing the app permissions unsuspecting user installs a malicious app
by talking directly to the video camera, etc. which sends premium rate SMS message sand
the user granted those privileges to the app when
The Application Sandbox it’s installed, then the malware has successfully
been installed without breaking any of the
Android has another layer of protection in that it security. Secondly, some malware actually
doesn’t give one app access to the resource of comes with root exploits built-in. This means
another app. This is known as the ‘sandbox’ where that when the app is installed it actually roots the
every app gets to play in its own sandbox and device (without the user knowing) and by-passes
can’t use another app’s toys! Android does this by all the system security. Thirdly, there is malware
giving each app a unique user id (a UID) and by that just loves rooted phones. If the malware gets
running that app as a separate process with that installed on a non-rooted phone it does nothing,
UID. Only processes with the same UIDs can but when installed on a rooted phone it unleashes
share resources which, as each ID is uniquely all of its nastiness.
assigned, means that no other apps have
permission. 5. Conclusion:

Google’s own words on this, “like all security Android operating system is now becoming best
features, the Application Sandbox is not among all the other mobile operating system. All
unbreakable. However, to break out of the Google services can you have with one operating
Application Sandbox in a properly configured system, namely “Android”. By Android versions
device, one must compromise the security of the its features are increased rapidly. So most of the
Linux kernel.” users like Android smart phones, and it is best OS
among all other OS like windows, iOS. The most

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ISSN: 2395-3470
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popular Android version is Android 4.4(kitkat).

Android provide security to its application but IT
also contains limitations of security. This paper
covers some of the view points of Android OS.

6. References:

1. http://www.ijera.com/An Overview of
Android Operating System and Its Security
Features.pdf

2. http://www.ijetmr.com/AndroidOperating
Systems.pdf

3. http://www.engineersgarage.com/articles/wh
at-is-android-introduction.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(opera
ting_system)
5. http://www.tkhts.com/android/android-archit
ecture.jsp
6. http://www.tutorialspoint.com/android/andro
id_architecture.html
7. http://www.android-appmarket.com/ android
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8. http://www.acumin.co.uk/download_files/W
hitePaper/android_white_paper_2.pdf
9. Mobile Security, Identifying the Mobile
SecurityStack,http://blog.veracode.com/2011
/03/identifying-the-mobile-securitystack/
10. Reference Architecture, Mobile Security
Reference Architecture, by CIO Council and
US Department of Home Land Security May
2013,
https://cio.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2013/05/
Mobile-Security-Reference-Architecture.pdf

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