Introducing Android

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A Brief History of Mobile Software Development
To understand what makes Android so compelling, we must examine how mobile development
has evolved and how Android differs from competing platforms.

Way Back When
Remember way back when a phone was just a phone? When we relied on fixed landlines?
When we ran for the phone instead of pulling it out of our pocket? When we lost
our friends at a crowded ballgame and waited around for hours hoping to reunite? When
we forgot the grocery list (Figure 1.1) and had to find a payphone or drive back home
again?
Those days are long gone.Today, commonplace problems like these are easily solved
with a one-button speed dial or a simple text message like “WRU?” or “20?” or “Milk
and?”



The Brick”
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first commercially available cell phone. First
marketed in 1983, it was 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 inches in dimension, weighed about 2.5
pounds, and allowed you to talk for a little more than half an hour. It retailed for $3,995,
plus hefty monthly service fees and per-minute charges.
We called it “The Brick,” and the nickname stuck for many of those early mobile
phones we alternatively loved and hated. About the size of a brick, with a battery power
just long enough for half a conversation, these early mobile handsets were mostly seen in
the hands of traveling business execs, security personnel, and the wealthy. First-generation
mobile phones were just too expensive.The service charges alone would bankrupt the
average person, especially when roaming.



Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
It turned out allowing direct phone access to the Internet didn’t scale well for mobile.
By this time, professional Web sites were full color and chock full of text, images, and
other sorts of media.These sites relied on JavaScript, Flash, and other technologies to
enhance the user experience and were often designed with a target resolution of
800x600 pixels and higher.


Proprietary Mobile Platforms
It came as no surprise when users wanted more—they will always want more.
Writing robust applications such as graphic-intensive video games with WAP was
nearly impossible.The 18-year-old to 25-year-old sweet-spot demographic—the kids
14 Chapter 1 Introducing Android
with the disposable income most likely to personalize their phones with wallpapers and
ringtones—looked at their portable gaming systems and asked for a device that was both
a phone and a gaming device or a phone and a music player.