Google Android OS and their $10 million giveaway

We heard a word for the official Android OS a week ago and now the Open Handset Alliance releases its early SDK kit, as they vowed, plus the promise to give some $10 million prize for the best third party applications that the user community develops. Other than that, several official video tutorials give us idea of what the Android OS interface may look like and explain some of its benefits, some of which are to be seen for the first time in a mobile OS.

Here are some basic specifications of the new OS - the core architecture of the Android OS is based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, while the core library is written in the Java programming language. The graphics platform can combine 3D and 2D graphics in the same application. But enough mumbo jumbo, let's reveal the benefits of this OS.

Here are some of the highlights - touchscreen user interface, 3G support, seamless back and forward browsing experience, Webkit, an open source engine browser and support of MPEG4, MP3, AAC file formats. Other praiseworthy features include threaded text messaging, location and notification manager, as well as a variety of views for the menus.

The Webkit engine browser actually is the same browser that powers the Safari in Apple's iPhone, but here it is also capable of rendering rich media content on small displays, as different companies will put Android OS on a variety of devices.

Check this cool video demoing the Android OS

Navigating forward and backward between different applications is a highly optimized process with background system process manager automatically mastering the flow. It creates bits of code that store the state of the last used function in the applications, and if more resources are required for starting a new process the OS decides which one of the currently running applications are less needed and kills it, still preserving its state in the memory. If the user returns to it later on it quickly restores its state. This is why the new OS can work with less powerful processor and scare memory resources.

Among the useful applications already developed by Google is the Location manager. It automatically suggests points of interest stored in a map or in the device. For example, addresses of the phone book of your friends, business addresses, etc. will automatically appear on the map, or shown if a user taps on a specific address of the contact list.

The Notification manager is another powerful tool that displays incoming email messages or SMS on the top of the screen in a pop up window, along with other content such as tasks, alarms, and appointments without interrupting the workflow.

Feel free to watch the official Android videos and if you are into programming, remember that those 10 million US dollars are there for grabs.