" Credit Goes To XDA-DEVELOPERS "
Apps2SD:A method of storing applications and cache on the device's microSD card.
ADB:Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile
command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance
or connected Android-powered device. It is a client-server program that
includes three components:
•A client, which runs on your development machine. You can invoke a
client from a shell by issuing an adb command. Other Android tools such
as the ADT plugin and DDMS also create adb clients.
•A server, which runs as a background process on your development
machine. The server manages communication between the client and the adb
daemon running on an emulator or device.
•A daemon, which runs as a background process on each emulator or device instance.
Android:A Linux-based operating system for mobile
devices such as HTC EVO.Versions are alphabetically codenamed after
snacks: Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream
Sandwich, Jelly Donut.
AMOLED:Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode. Basically, a very colorful, bright, display found in some smartphones.
APK:Android application package file. Each Android
application is compiled and packaged in a single file that includes all
of the application's code (.dex files), resources, assets, and
manifest file. The application package file can have any name but must
use the .apk extension. For example: myExampleAppname.apk. For
convenience, an application package file is often referred to as an
".apk".
Alpha:The alpha phase of the release life cycle is
the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of
the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers
generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional
validation is then performed using black box or gray box techniques, by
another testing team. Moving to black box testing inside the
organization is known as alpha release.[1]
Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss.
The exception to this is when the alpha is available publicly (such as a
pre-order bonus), in which developers normally push for stability so
that their testers can test properly. External availability of alpha
software is uncommon in proprietary software. However, open source
software, in particular, often have publicly available alpha versions,
often distributed as the raw source code of the software.
The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that
no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the
software is said to be a feature complete.
Boot Animation:Boot animation is a term for a graphical representation of the boot process of the operating system.
Boot animation can be a simple visualisation of the scrolling boot
messages in the console, but it can also present graphics or some
combinations of both.
Unlike splash screens, boot screen or boot animation is not
necessarily designed for marketing purposes, but can be to enhance the
experience of the user as eye candy, or provide the user with messages
(with an added advantage of color coding facility) to diagnose the
state of the system.
Bootloader:This small program's only job is to load
other data and programs which are then executed from RAM.Often,
multiple-stage boot loaders are used, during which several programs of
increasing complexity load one after the other in a process of chain
loading.
Bootloop:When your system recycles over and over without entering the main OS.
Beta: is the software development phase following
alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete.
Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it
than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus
of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating
usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the
users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that
the software is available outside of the organization that developed
it.
The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually
customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops
the software, willing to test the software without charge, often
receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.
Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews
within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers
refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or
early access.
Some software is kept in perpetual beta—where new features and
functionality is continually added to the software without establishing a
firm "final" release.
CPU:It stands for Central Processing Unit and
handles all the complex mathematical formulas necessary to do everyday
things like surfing the Internet.
Custom:Independent developers who like to customize
their devices beyond the standard options provided often tend to
release the fruits of their labor for the rest to enjoy, in form of
custom ROMs.
Cache:A component that transparently stores data so
that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that
is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed
earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. If
requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can
be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparatively faster.
Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from
its original storage location, which is comparatively slower. Hence,
the greater the number of requests that can be served from the cache,
the faster the overall system performance becomes.
CDMA:Mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000
(the 3G evolution of cdmaOne) and WCDMA (the 3G standard used by GSM
carriers), which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as
an underlying channel access method.
CIQ:Carrier IQ. A piece of preinstalled software
that runs with elevated access in the background of portable devices by
default and records everything. Potentially can be exploited to steal
information.
Duel Core:A dual core processor is a central
processing unit (CPU) that has two separate cores on the same die, each
with its own cache. It essentially is two microprocessors in one. This
type of CPU is widely available from many manufacturers. Other types
of multi-core processors also have been developed, including quad-core
processors with four cores each, hexa-core processors with six,
octa-core processors with eight and many-core processors with an even
larger number of cores.
Dalvik:The Android platform's virtual machine. The
Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only virtual machine that executes files in
the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, a format that is optimized for
efficient storage and memory-mappable execution.
Dalvik Cache:Writable cache that contains the
optimized bytecode of all apk files (apps) on your Android device.
Having the information in it's own cache makes applications load faster
and perform better.
EXT2:The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a
file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy
Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext).
ext2 was the default filesystem in several Linux distributions,
including Debian and Red Hat Linux, until supplanted more recently by
ext3, which is almost completely compatible with ext2 and is a
journaling file system. ext2 is still the filesystem of choice for
flash-based storage media (such as SD cards, and USB flash drives) since
its lack of a journal minimizes the number of writes and flash devices
have only a limited number of write cycles. Recent kernels, however,
support a journal-less mode of ext4, which would offer the same benefit
along with a number of ext4-specific benefits.
EXT3:Third extended filesystem, is a journaled file
system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default
file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian.
Stephen Tweedie first revealed that he was working on extending ext2 in
Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in a 1998 paper and later in a
February 1999 kernel mailing list posting, and the filesystem was
merged with the mainline Linux kernel in November 2001 from 2.4.15
onward.Its main advantage over ext2 is journaling, which improves
reliability and eliminates the need to check the file system after an
unclean shutdown. Its successor is ext4.
EXT4:It was born as a series of backward compatible
extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File
Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to
extend storage limits and add other performance improvements.However,
other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for
stability reasons,and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename
it as ext4, and do all the development there, without affecting the
current ext3 users. This proposal was accepted, and on 28 June 2006,
Theodore Ts'o, the ext3 maintainer, announced the new plan of
development for ext4.
FC/FC's:Short for "force close," meaning an app that has crashed.
Fastboot:A diagnostic protocol used primarily to
modify the flash filesystem in Android smartphones from another
computer over a USB connection. It is part of the Android Debug Bridge
library.
Utilizing the Fastboot protocol requires that the device be started
in a boot loader or Second Program Loader mode in which only the most
basic hardware initialization is performed. After enabling the protocol
on the device itself it will accept any command sent to it over USB
via a command line. Some of most commonly used fastboot commands
include:
•flash - Overwrites a partition in flash with a binary image stored on the host computer.
•erase - Erases a partition in flash.
•reboot - Reboots the device into the either the main operating system or the system recovery partition.
•devices - Displays a list of all devices (with Serial #) connected to the host computer.
Flashing:The ROM memory used in smartphones and
tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB
flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while
running the operating system.
Hotspot:A spot that offers Internet access over a
wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a
link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi
technology.You can connect wifi campatible devices to it.
HDMI:High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a
compact audio/video interface for transmitting encrypted uncompressed
digital data.It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards,
such as radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video,
SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA (also called D-sub or
DE-15F). HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top
boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD
camcorders, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles (such as the
PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), AV receivers, tablet computers, and mobile
phones) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video
projectors, and digital televisions.
Hboot:It’s mainly responsible for checking and
initializing the hardware and starting the phone’s software. It can
also be used for flashing official software releases, as well as a few
other things. HBoot can be compared to the BIOS on a computer.
HAVS:a control system that dynamically adjusts the
voltage based on CPU load. This has proven to be a battery saver, but
it can actually have the opposite effect when multiple control systems
are operating (like setCPU).
JIT:The Just-in-Time Compiler. Released with Android 2.2, it's a method of greatly speeding up apps in Android on the software side.
Kang:Someone writes a code,someone else modifies the code to make their own release,its concidered a kang release.
Kernel:A kernel is a layer of code that allows the
OS and applications to interface with your phone's hardware. The degree
in which you can access your phone's hardware features depends on the
quality of code in the kernel. The homebrew (rooting) community for HTC
has made several kernel code improvements that give us additional
features from our hardware that the stock kernel does not. When you
flash a custom ROM, you automatically get a kernel. But you can also
flash a standalone kernel ROM on top of the existing one, effectively
overwriting it. These days, the difference in custom kernels is less
about new features and more about alternate configurations. Choosing a
custom kernel is basically choosing one that works best with your ROM.
Launcher:Collectively, the part of the Android user
interface on home screens that lets you launch apps, make phone calls,
etc. Is built in to Android, or can be purchased in the Android Market.
LCD Density:Pixel density is a measurement of the
resolution of devices in various contexts; typically computer displays,
image scanners, and digital camera image sensors.
First of all you need to understand that the Android User Interface
uses something called a "display independent pixel" or a "dip" (yes,
it's confusing because the density settings are in "dots per inch" or
"dpi" which are considered the same as "ppi" or "pixels per inch" as
well).
The default LCD Density setting on Android is 160 dpi. As far as the
operating system is concerned 1 dip @ 160 dpi = 1 screen pixel. It
doesn't mean that's actually true, but you've gotta start somewhere. In
my opinion it would have been a lot nicer if they'd chosen 100 dpi
because then it would be an easy percentage thing, but they didn't so
we're stuck with this formula.
Mod:The act of modifying a piece of hardware or
software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not
originally conceived or intended by the designer.
Nandroid:To backup the current running rom.
Nightly:A build that is performed at the end of each
day of development. If you use a continuous integration server, it
will generally be configured to build the code and run the unit tests
on every check in. At the end of each day you may want to run more
extensive tests, regression test and integration tests for example,
which take too long to run on each check in and these would be triggered
after the nightly build. If you have a full continuously delivery
pipeline the nightly build may also be used to deploy the built code to
environments for user testing.
Open GL:An open source 3D graphics library used in many devices, including Android devices.
Open & Closed Beta:Developers release either a
closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a
select group of individuals for a user test and are invitation only,
while open betas are from a larger group to the general public and
anyone interested. The testers report any bugs that they find, and
sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in
the final version.
Overclock:To increase the speed of your CPU.
Partition:The phone's internal memory (not the SD
card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned
much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists
in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system,
cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the
hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to
interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
PRL:The Preferred Roaming List, basically a way of telling your phone which towers to connect to first.
RUU:a complete software package released by HTC, it
can contain many things they are trying to update. Radio, ROM,
bootloader, etc... Installing an ruu is like installing an image on a
hard drive it wipes the phone and installs the image. It will wipe
everything data and all so if you install one be prepared.
Recovery Mode:A small separate operating mode you
can boot your device into, used for device administration. Two popular
custom recovery modes are Amon Ra and Clockwork.
RC:Developers release either a closed beta or an
open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of
individuals for a user test and are invitation only, while open betas
are from a larger group to the general public and anyone interested.
The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest
additional features they think should be available in the final
version.
Rom/Firmware:Read-Only Memory and technically
speaking, it refers to the internal storage of a device, which is
supposed to contain the operating system instructions that needn’t be
modified at all during the device’s normal operation.
Radios:On the HTC side of things,the radios persist of:
•WiFi, which operates at 2.4-5ghz depending on what channel it's running
•Cellular/3G, which carries voice and data
•4G/WiMAX, which only carries data
•GPS, which is receive-only
•Bluetooth, which talks to WiiMotes and headsets
Flashing a radio means updating the code that controls the phones way of sending and recieving a signal.
Ram:(Random Access Memory) A group of memory chips,
typically of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) type, which function as the
computer's primary workspace. When personal computers first came on the
market in the late 1970s, 64KB (64 kilobytes) of RAM was the upper
limit. Today, 64MB (64 megabytes) of SDRAM is entry level for a desktop
computer, a thousand times as much (see SDRAM).
The "random" in RAM means that the contents of each byte of storage
in the chip can be directly accessed without regard to the bytes before
or after it. This is also true of other types of memory chips,
including ROMs and PROMs. However, unlike ROMs and PROMs, RAM chips
require power to maintain their content, which is why you must save
your data onto disk before you turn the computer off. To learn about
the types of RAM chips and how to upgrade your memory, see memory
module. To learn how memory is used to process data, see computer or
memory. See also dynamic RAM and static RAM.
Recovery:RecoverySystem contains methods for
interacting with the Android recovery system (the separate partition
that can be used to install system updates,wipe user data,etc).
Root:The first level of a folder.
Rooting:A process allowing users of mobile phones,
tablet PCs, and other devices running the Android operating system to
attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's
subsystem. Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming
limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some
devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system
applications and settings, run specialized apps that require
administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are
otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. Rooting is analogous
to jailbreaking devices running the Apple iOS operating system or the
Sony PlayStation 3. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the
complete removal and replacement of the device's operating system.
SBC:(the ability to charge your battery beyond the
default safe limit). The concept is similar to overclocking a
processor: you're overriding the safety limits established to achieve
additional performance. The benefit here is that you may gain more use
of your battery per charge. The drawback is that you can damage the
battery and significantly reduce its longevity. Some kernels claim they
are using a safe technique to prevent battery damage. Just be aware of
the potential risks.
Sideloading:It means installing applications without using the official Android Market.
Splash Screen:A splash screen is an image that
appears while android is loading.Splash screens cover the entire screen
or simply a rectangle near the center of the screen. The splash
screens of operating systems and some applications that expect to be
run full-screen usually cover the entire screen.
Superuser/SU:On many computer operating systems, the
superuser is a special user account used for system administration.
Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account
might be: root, administrator or supervisor.
Normal work on such a system is done using ordinary user accounts,
and because these do not have the ability to make system-wide changes
any viruses and other malware - or simple user errors - do not have the
ability to adversly affect a whole system. In organizations,
administrative privileges are often reserved for authorized experienced
individuals.
Script:The Scripting Layer for Android (abridged as
SL4A, and previously named Android Scripting Environment or ASE) is a
library that allows the creation and running of scripts written in
various scripting languages directly on Android devices. SL4A is
designed for developers and is still alpha quality software.
These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to normal
Java Android applications, but with a simplified interface. Scripts can
be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale.
SDK:(SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of software
development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a
certain software package, software framework, hardware platform,
computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar
platform.
Stock:This is the operating system in its default
form, without any modifications made to it except for any
device-specific support required to run it on the particular device.
S-On:Security on,means no acces to the phones operating system.
S-Off:Security was exploited,now have access to the operating system.
Tethering:Means sharing the Internet connection of
an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices. This sharing can
be offered over a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, or by physical
connection using a cable. In the case of tethering over wireless LAN,
the feature may be branded as a mobile hotspot.The Internet-connected
mobile phone acts as a portable router when providing tethering services
to others.
Underclock:To reduce the speed of your CPU.
Undervolt:Undervolting means taking some of the
voltage from the CPU which in return gives a longer battery life and
lower temperature during intensive use of the CPU.
USB:Stands for Universal Serial Bus. Is a method of
connecting devices to a computer. Most smartphones now use microUSB
cables to charge and sync.
Updater Script:When Android devices install updates
via 'update.zip' files using recovery mode they have to perform a wide
range of functions on files and permissions. Instead of using a minimal
shell such as {b,d,c}sh the Android designers decided to create a
small functional language that can be extended by device manufacturers
if necessary. Since the Android "Donut" release (v1.6) the scripting
language is called Edify and is defined primarily in the
bootable/recovery/{edify,edifyscripting,updater} directories of the
Android source-code tree.
Wireless N:Wireless N technology increases wireless
internet connection. Wireless 'N' routers also work with Wireless 'G'
and 'B' wireless adapters.
WiiMax:(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
Access) is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering
high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas.
YAFFS:Yaffs1 is the first version of this file
system and works on NAND chips that have 512 byte pages + 16 byte spare
(OOB;Out-Of-Band) areas.[clarification needed] These older chips also
generally allow 2 or 3 write cycles per page,which YAFFS takes
advantage of - i.e. dirty pages are marked by writing to a specific
spare area byte.
Newer NAND flash chips have larger pages, 2048 bytes + 64 bytes spare
areas, and stricter write requirements.Each page within an erase block
(128 kilobytes) must be written to in sequential order, and each page
must be written only once.YAFFS2 was designed to accommodate these
newer chips.YAFFS2 is based on the YAFFS1 source code,with the major
difference being that internal structures are not fixed to assume 512
byte sizing,and a block sequence number is placed on each written page.
In this way older pages can be logically overwritten without violating
the "write once" rule.[clarification needed]
YAFFS is a robust log-structured file system that holds data
integrity as a high priority.A secondary YAFFS goal is high
performance.YAFFS will typically outperform most alternatives.It is
also designed to be portable and has been used on Linux, WinCE, pSOS,
eCos,ThreadX and various special-purpose OSes.A variant 'YAFFS/Direct'
is used in situations where there is no OS, embedded OSes and
bootloaders: it has the same core filesystem but simpler interfacing to
the OS and NAND flash hardware.
Zipalign: An archive alignment tool introduced first
time with 1.6 Android SDK (software development kit). It optimizes the
way an Android application package (APK) is packaged. Doing so enables
the Android operating system to interact with the application more
efficiently, and hence has the potential to make the application and
overall the whole system much faster. Execution time is minimized for
zipaligned applications, resulting is lesser amount of RAM consumption
when running the APK.
