User manual

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3. Android
3.1 Background information
Android is an „open source“ platform for mobile units such as
Smartphones and Tablets that have been developed by the company
Android Inc.. In 2005, Android has been taken over by the company
Google.
The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced
with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 40
hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to
advancing open standards for mobile devices .
Android is based on a Linux kernel and the Java program environ-
ment.The SDK development tool (Software Development Kit) allows
not only Google but also other developers to create applications.
They can subsequently offer these applications to the android
market. On this market, end users can search and install
applications. Here you can nd also all information about the
applications. The distribution of applications whether they are free of
charge or charged, is promoted. The developers are allowed to offer
these applications also outside the android market.
The applications are developed for a specic android version.
However they are retrocompatible. That means that an application
that has been developed for android 2.2 can also be run under 2.3.
The versions published so far are listed in the g. 2 table.
The number of users per version is indicated in g. 3 below
the table.