List of features in

Android

This is a list of features in the Android operating system.[1][2][3]

Android Marshmallow, Nougat and Oreo

General

Messaging
SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including t hreaded t ext messaging and
Android Cloud To Device Messaging (C2DM) and now enhanced version of C2DM, Android
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging services. Android
phones also have t he abilit y t o send and receive RCS via t he messages app (if support ed by
t he carrier).
Auto Correction and Dictionary
Android Operat ing Syst em has an int erest ing feat ure called Aut o Correct ion. When any word is
misspelled, t hen Android recommends t he meaningful and correct words mat ching t he words
t hat are available in Dict ionary. Users can add, edit and remove words from Dict ionary as per
t heir wish.[4]
Web browser
The web browser available in Android is based on t he open-source Blink (previously WebKit )
layout engine, coupled wit h Chromium's V8 JavaScript engine. Then t he WebKit -using Android
Browser scored 100/100 on t he Acid3 t est on Android 4.0 ICS; t he Blink-based browser
current ly has bet t er st andards support . The old web browser is variably known as 'Android
Browser', 'AOSP browser', 'st ock browser', 'nat ive browser', and 'default browser' (from t he
t ime it was always t he default ). St art ing wit h Android 4.4 Kit Kat , Google has begun licensing
Google Chrome (a propriet ary soft ware) separat ely from Android, but usually bundled wit h
(what most device vendors did). Since Android 5.0 Lollipop, t he WebView browser t hat apps
can use t o display web cont ent wit hout leaving t he app has been separat ed from t he rest of
t he Android firmware in order t o facilit at e separat e securit y updat es by Google.
Voice-based features
Google search t hrough voice has been available since init ial release.[5] Voice act ions for calling,
t ext ing, navigat ion, et c. are support ed on Android 2.2 onwards.[6] As of Android 4.1, Google has
expanded Voice Act ions wit h abilit y t o t alk back and read answers from Google's Knowledge
Graph when queried wit h specific commands.[7] The abilit y t o cont rol hardware has not yet
been implement ed.
Multi-touch
Android has nat ive support for mult i-t ouch which was init ially made available in handset s such
as t he HTC Hero. The feat ure was originally disabled at t he kernel level (possibly t o avoid
infringing Apple's pat ent s on t ouch-screen t echnology at t he t ime).[8] Google has since
released an updat e for t he Nexus One and t he Mot orola Droid which enables mult i-t ouch
nat ively.[9]
Multitasking
Mult it asking of applicat ions, wit h unique handling of memory allocat ion, is available.[10]
Screen capture
Android support s capt uring a screenshot by pressing t he power and home-screen but t ons at
t he same t ime.[11] Prior t o Android 4.0, t he only met hods of capt uring a screenshot were
t hrough manufact urer and t hird-part y cust omizat ions (apps), or ot herwise by using a PC
connect ion (DDMS developer's t ool). These alt ernat ive met hods are st ill available wit h t he
lat est Android.
TV recording
Android TV support s capt uring :and replaying it . [12]
Video calling
Android does not support nat ive video calling, but some handset s have a cust omized version
of t he operat ing syst em t hat support s it , eit her via t he UMTS net work (like t he Samsung
Galaxy S) or over IP. Video calling t hrough Google Talk is available in Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
and lat er. Gingerbread allows Nexus S t o place Int ernet calls wit h a SIP account . This allows
for enhanced VoIP dialing t o ot her SIP account s and even phone numbers. Skype 2.1 offers
video calling in Android 2.3, including front camera support . Users wit h t he Google+ Android app
(ht t ps://play.google.com/st ore/apps/det ails?id=com.google.android.apps.plus&hl=en) can
perform video chat wit h ot her Google+ users t hrough Hangout s (ht t ps://www.google.com/+/l
earnmore/hangout s/) .
Multiple language support
Android support s mult iple languages.[13]
Accessibility
Built -in t ext -t o-speech is provided by TalkBack for people wit h low or no vision. Enhancement s
for people wit h hearing difficult ies are available, as are ot her aids.

Connectivity

Connectivity
Android support s connect ivit y t echnologies including GSM/EDGE, Bluet oot h, LTE, CDMA, EV-
DO, UMTS, NFC, IDEN and WiMAX.
Bluetooth
Support s voice dialing and sending cont act s bet ween phones, playing music, sending files
(OPP), accessing t he phone book (PBAP), A2DP and AVRCP. Keyboard, mouse and joyst ick
(HID) support is available in Android 3.1+, and in earlier versions t hrough manufact urer
cust omizat ions and t hird-part y applicat ions.[14]
Tethering
Android support s t et hering, which allows a phone t o be used as a wireless/wired Wi-Fi hot spot .
Before Android 2.2, t his was support ed by t hird-part y applicat ions or manufact urer
cust omizat ions.[15]

Media
 Streaming media support
RTP/RTSP st reaming 3GPP PSS, ISMA), HTML progressive download (HTML5 <video> t ag).
Adobe Flash St reaming (RTMP) and HTTP Dynamic St reaming are support ed by t he Flash
plugin.[16] Apple HTTP Live St reaming is support ed by RealPlayer for Android,[17] and by t he
operat ing syst em since Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).[18]
Media support
Android support s t he following audio/video/st ill media format s: WebM, H.263, H.264, AAC, HE-
AAC (in 3GP or MP4 cont ainer), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP cont ainer), MP3, MIDI, Ogg
Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and WebP.[3]
External storage
Most Android devices include microSD card slot s and can read microSD cards format t ed wit h
t he FAT32, Ext 3 or Ext 4 file syst ems. To allow use of ext ernal st orage media such as USB
flash drives and USB HDDs, some Android devices are packaged wit h USB-OTG cables. St orage
format t ed wit h FAT32 is handled by t he Linux Kernel vFAT driver, while 3rd part y solut ions are
required t o handle some ot her file syst ems such as NTFS, HFS Plus and exFAT.

Hardware support

Android devices can include st ill/video cameras, t ouchscreens, GPS, acceleromet ers,
gyroscopes, baromet ers, magnet omet ers, dedicat ed gaming cont rols, proximit y and pressure
sensors, t hermomet ers, accelerat ed 2D bit blit s (wit h hardware orient at ion, scaling, pixel format
conversion) and accelerat ed 3D graphics.

Other

Java support
While most Android applicat ions are writ t en in Java, t here is no Java Virt ual Machine in t he
plat form and Java byt e code is not execut ed. Java classes are compiled int o Dalvik
execut ables and run on using Android Runt ime or in Dalvik in older versions, a specialized virt ual
machine designed specifically for Android and opt imized for bat t ery-powered mobile devices
wit h limit ed memory and CPU. J2ME support can be provided via t hird-part y applicat ions.
Handset layouts
The plat form works for various screen sizes from smart phone sizes and t o t ablet size, and can
pot ent ially connect t o an ext ernal screen, e.g. t hrough HDMI, or wirelessly wit h Miracast .
Port rait and landscape orient at ions are support ed and usually swit ching bet ween by t urning. A
2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specificat ions is used.
Storage
SQLit e, a light weight relat ional dat abase, is used for dat a st orage purposes.
Native Apps
Android apps are also writ t en in HTML.
Instant Apps
Android apps are host ed on a specific websit e pat h and load inst ead of t he websit e it self.
They are part -apps and load almost inst ant ly wit hout t he need for an inst allat ion. One of t he
first apps being developed wit h such funct ionalit y is t he B&H (ht t ps://play.google.com/st ore/a
pps/det ails?id=com.bhphot o&hl=en) app.[19][20][21]

See also

Android soft ware development

Android root ing

Index of Android OS art icles

References

1. "What is Android?" (https://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html) . Android

Developers. July 21, 2009. Retrieved 2012-02-15.

2. Topolsky, Joshua (November 12, 2007). "Google's Android OS early look SDK now available" (https://ww
w.engadget.com/2007/11/12/googles-android-os-early-look-sdk-now-available/) . Engadge t. Retrieved
2012-02-17.

3. "Android Supported Media Formats" (https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.h

tml) . Android Developers. Retrieved 2012-02-17.

4. Tech Mirages (2016-10-22), How To Add or Remove Words From Android Dictionary (https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=b4DxlSyb9Lg) , retrieved 2017-12-25

5. "Speech Input for Google Search" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101112141941/https://developer.and

roid.com/resources/articles/speech-input.html) . Android Developers. Archived from the original (http
s://developer.android.com/resources/articles/speech-input.html) on 2010-11-12. Retrieved
2012-02-16.

6. "Voice Actions for Android" (https://www.google.com/mobile/voice-actions/) . google.com. Retrieved

2012-02-16.
 7. "Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Voice Actions explained" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120701225419/htt
p://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/googles-new-jelly-bean-voice-actions-20120627) . Geek.com. 2012-
06-27. Archived from the original (https://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/googles-new-jelly-bean-voice-a
ctions-20120627/) on 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-09-13.

8. Musil, Steven (February 11, 2009). "Report: Apple nixed Android's multitouch" (https://www.cnet.com/ne
ws/report-apple-nixed-androids-multitouch/) . CNET News. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

9. Ziegler, Chris (February 2, 2010). "Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch" (https://www.
engadget.com/2010/02/02/nexus-one-gets-a-software-update-enables-multitouch/) . Engadget.
Retrieved 2012-02-16.

10. Bray, Tim (April 28, 2010). "Multitasking the Android Way" (https://android-developers.blogspot.com/20
10/04/multitasking-android-way.html) . Android Developers. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

11. Nancy Gohring (October 19, 2011). "Samsung, Google Unveil Latest Android OS, Phone" (https://www.p
cworld.com/article/242128/samsung_google_unveil_latest_android_os_phone.html) . PCWorld.
Retrieved 2012-02-16.

12. "TV recording|Android Developers" (https://developer.android.com/preview/features/tv-recording-api.h

tml) . March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.

13. "Android 2.3 Platform Highlights" (https://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.3-highlights.html) .

Android Developers. December 6, 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-20.

14. "Android 3.1 Platform Highlights" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120216215130/https://developer.and

roid.com/sdk/android-3.1-highlights.html#UserFeatures) . Android Developers. Archived from the
original (https://developer.android.com/sdk/android-3.1-highlights.html#UserFeatures) on 2012-02-
16. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

15. JR Raphael (May 6, 2010). "Use Your Android Phone as a Wireless Modem" (https://www.pcworld.com/a
rticle/190265/use_your_android_phone_as_a_wireless_modem.html) . PCWorld. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

16. "Flash Flayer 10.1 for Android 2.2 Release Notes" (https://kb2.adobe.com/cps/860/cpsid_86018.htm
l) . Adobe Knowledgebase. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

17. "RealNetworks Gives Handset and Tablet OEMs Ability to Deliver HTTP Live Content to Android Users" (h
ttps://www.realnetworks.com/press/releases/2010/RealPlayer-for-Mobile-Delivers-HTTP-Live-Content-to-
Android.aspx) . realnetworks.com (Press release). September 10, 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

18. "Android 3.0 Platform Highlights" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110216200154/https://developer.and

roid.com/sdk/android-3.0-highlights.html) . Google: Android SDK. Archived from the original (https://d
eveloper.android.com/sdk/android-3.0-highlights.html) on 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2012-02-15.

19. "Android Instant Apps Is Google's New Way For You To Use Apps You Don't Have Installed" (https://ww
w.androidpolice.com/2016/05/18/android-instant-apps-is-googles-new-way-for-you-to-use-apps-you-do
nt-have-installed/) . Android Police. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
20. Popper, Ben (2016-05-18). "Android Instant Apps lets you use apps without downloading them" (https://
www.theverge.com/2016/5/18/11703884/android-instant-apps-no-download) . The Verge. Retrieved
2016-08-18.

21. "Google unveils Android Instant Apps that launch immediately, no installation required" (https://venture
beat.com/2016/05/18/google-unveils-android-instant-apps-that-launch-immediately-no-installation-re
quired/) . VentureBeat. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-08-18.

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