BasicKnowledgeaboutAndroid

*KIESminiKiesMiniisanofficialapplicationfromSamsungthatisusedtoupdatethesoftware
onyourphone.ItshouldnotbeconfusedwiththefullKiesapplication,whichhasalotmore
functionalityandisnotofficiallysupportedintheUSA.Therefore,abbreviating"KiesMini"as
just"Kies"cancauseconfusion.
*CWRakaClockworkModRecoveryAcustomrecoveryforAndroidphonesandtabletsthat
allowsyoutoperformseveraladvancedrecovery,restoration,installationandmaintenance
operationsonyourAndroiddevicethatarentpossiblewiththestockrecovery.
*SuperuserAprogamwhichgivesunlimitedaccessprivilegestoperformanyoralloperations
ontheoperatingsystem.
*ODINOdinistheSamsungsoftwareusedtoupdateSamsungphones.Itdoesnotworkwith
anyotherdevicesotherthanofficialSamsungphones.
*OTAorFOTA(F)OTAstandsfor(Firmware)OverTheAirandistheprocessbywhichrequired
updatesandenhancementstoyourphone'sbasicoperatingsystemcanbesenttoyouthrough
thecellularnetwork.TheGalaxySIIsoftwareupdatewillbesentviaFOTAandisavailable
throughSamsungKiesmini.0
*ODEXInAndroidfilesystem,applicationscomeinpackageswiththeextension.apk.These
applicationpackages,orAPKscontaincertain.odexfileswhosesupposedfunctionistosave
space.Theseodexfilesareactuallycollectionsofpartsofanapplicationthatareoptimized
beforebooting.Doingsospeedsupthebootprocess,asitpreloadspartofanapplication.On
theotherhand,italsomakeshackingthoseapplicationsdifficultbecauseapartofthecoding
hasalreadybeenextractedtoanotherlocationbeforeexecution.
*DEODEXDeodexingisbasicallyrepackagingoftheseAPKsinacertainway,suchthattheyare
reassembledintoclasses.dexfiles.Bydoingthat,allpiecesofanapplicationpackageareput
togetherbackinoneplace,thuseliminatingtheworryofamodifiedAPKconflictingwithsome
separateodexedparts.Insummary,DeodexedROMs(orAPKs)havealltheirapplication
packagesputbacktogetherinoneplace,allowingforeasymodificationsuchastheming.Since
nopiecesofcodearecomingfromanyexternallocation,customROMsorAPKsarealways
deodexedtoensureintegrity.
*BusyboxAsetofUnixtools/commandsthathasbeencompiledforuseonyourphone.These
arenotusuallyfullfeaturedversionsoftheUnixcommandsfoundonthelargerplatforms
counterparts,buttheyareprettycloseandusefulnonetheless.
*3G/4G3G/4Gisthetermgenerallyusedtodescribe3rd/4rthGenerationmobile

telecommunications,specificallyallowingforgreaterthroughputofdataovercellularnetworks.
*Baseband/ModemBasebandreferstotheoriginalfrequencyrangeofatransmissionsignal
beforeitisconverted,ormodulated,toadifferentfrequencyrange.
*BloatwareSoftwareor'apps'thatyoudon'tneed,butcomepreinstalledtoadevice's/system
partition,meaningthatyoucannotremovethemunlessthedevicehasbeenrooted.Usually,
theseareappsaresponsoredbyacompanyandincludedbyacarrierforprofit.Forexample,
thePhotobucketappincludedontheG2byTMobile.
*CDMACodedivisionmultipleaccess(CDMA)isachannelaccessmethodusedbyvariousradio
communicationtechnologies.Itshouldnotbeconfusedwiththemobilephonestandardscalled
cdmaOneandCDMA2000(whichareoftenreferredtoassimplyCDMA),whichuseCDMAasan
underlyingchannelaccessmethod.
*FirmwareProgramsstoredintheROM,EPROM,orflashmemorythatusuallycontrolvarious
internalelectronicdevices(HardDrives,Keyboards,Displays,etc).Firmwareistypically'fixed'
softwarethatisnotupdatedinconsumerdevices,howeveritisoftenupdated(or'flashed')by
advanceduserstofixbugsoraddfeaturestothedevice.Flashingfirmwaredesignedforone
deviceontoadifferentdevice,ornotfollowingaspecificprocedurewhileflashingwilloften
renderthedeviceunusable.
*FlashNonvolatilecomputerstoragethatcanbeelectricallyerasedandreprogrammed(similar
toEPROM).Nopowerisneededtomaintaintheinformationstoredinthechip.Thistechnology
isprimarilyusedinmemorycardsandUSBflashdrivesforgeneralstorageandtransferofdata
betweencomputersandotherdigitalproducts.Becauseofitseaseofuse,speed,abilitytobe
updated(seeflashing),thistechnologyisoftenusedinmobiledevices,PDAs,digitalmedia
players.
*KernelThecentralorcoresoftwarecomponentofmostoperatingsystems.Itsresponsibilities
includemanagingthesystem'sresources(thecommunicationbetweenhardwareandsoftware
components)andcanprovidethelowestlevelabstractionlayerforresources(especially
memory,processors,andI/Odevices).
*IMEITheInternationalMobileEquipmentIdentityisanumberuniquetoeveryGSM,WCDMA,
andiDENmobiledevice,aswellassomesatellitedevices.TheIMEInumberisusedbytheGSM
networktoidentifyvaliddevicesandthereforecanbeusedtostopastolendevicefrom
accessingthenetwork.Forexample,ifamobiledeviceisstolen,theownercancalltheir
networkproviderandinstructthemto"ban"thedeviceusingitsIMEInumber.Thisrendersthe
deviceuseless,whetherornotthedevice'sSIMischanged.TheIMEIcanbedisplayedbydialing
*#06#.

*IRCInternetRelayChat.Basicallyachatroom,oracrossbetweenInstantMessaginganda
forum.
*OpensourceOpensourceissoftwarethatanyoneisallowedtoseethe'source'code.Inthe
contextofAndroid,Opensourcereferstotheapproachtothedesign,development,and
distributionofsoftware.Thisoffersaccessibilitytoasoftware'ssourcecodeformodification,
improvement,bugfixing,andsecurityenhancement.CyanogenModisbasedonthisprinciple.
*ASOPAndroidOpenSourceProject
*RadioThecellularradioonthedevicewhichneedscontrolsoftwarecalledfirmwaretocontrol
it.
*ROMReadOnlyMemory.InthecontextofanAndroiddevice,ROMistheinternalflash
memorywherethecoreoperatingsystemresides.Itcanalsorefertoaspecificversionfirmware
thatcanbeappliedtoadevicethroughaprocessusuallyreferredtoasflashing.Animproperly
flashedROMcanoftenbrickthedevice,renderingitunusable.
*SDKSoftwareDevelopmentKit.
*VanillaAclean,unmodifiedversionofsomething.InthecontextofAndroidROMs,vanilla
referstothestockROMthatcamepreinstalledonthedevice.
*WidgetAnapplicationthatlives(inotherwords,isalwaysrunning)onthehomescreeninstead
ofbeing'run'likearegularapp.Commonexamplesarecalendersandweatherwidgets.Android
SpecificDefinitions
*ADBAndroidDevelopmentBridge.Commandlinetoolusedtocommunicatewith&control
thedeviceoveraUSBlinkfromacomputer.TheADBcommandisfoundintheAndroidSDK.
*AndroidUnveiledon5November2007,Androidisamobileoperatingsystemrunningonthe
LinuxkerneldevelopedbyGoogle.
*Apps2SDMoveapplicationsfromtheinternalNANDmemoryonthedevicetoaremovableSD
Card.
*CyanogenModUpdaterAnupdaterwrittenbyCyanogenthatallowsyoutoreceiveOTA(Over
TheAir)updatestoCyanogenMod.
*DalvikCacheThedalvikcachedirectoryholdsalloftheprecompiled.dexfilescreatedfrom
installedapps.Thesefilesarestaticanddonotchangeunlesstheappisupdated.
*FastbootFastbootisprotocolusedtodirectlyupdatetheflashfilesysteminAndroiddevices
fromahostoverUSB.Itallowsflashingofunsignedpartitionimages.Itisdisabledalmostall

productiondevicessinceUSBsupportisdisabledinthebootloader.
*GAppsSeeGoogleApps.
*GoogleAppsAnaddonforGoogle'sapplications(Market,GMailetc.),packagedseparatelyto
avoidcopyrightissues
*LogcatAdebuggingtoolbuiltintoAndroiddevicesthatdisplayssystemlogsastheyoccur.See
Logcat.
*NANDroidAsetoftoolsthatwillenableanyonewhohasrootontheirAndroiddevicetomake
FULLsystembackups,incasesomethinggoeswrongoryouwanttotryoutthatnew
experimentalROM/theme.NANDroidwillbackup(andrestore)/system,/data,/cache,and
/bootpartitions.
*RecoveryModeAspecialenvironmentthatyoucanbootintofortroubleshootingand
upgradingpurposes.
*TetheringUsingawirelessdevice(e.g.anAndroidphone)toshareit'swirelessdataconnection
toanotherdevice(e.g.laptop).WithanAndroiddevice,thewirelessdataconnectioncanusually
besharedviaWiFi,BluetoothorUSBconnection.
*WipeUsuallyreferstowipingdataandcachepartitionsofthedevice.
*ZipalignReducestheamountofRAMconsumedwhenrunningtheapplicationbyallowingdata
tobemmap'din;whichcausesalluncompresseddatawithinthe.apk,suchasimagesorraw
files,tobealignedon4byteboundaries.HackingDefinitions
*AftermarketAftermarketgenerallyreferstoanyproductorserviceappliedorrequisitionedby
enduserstoaddusabilityorfunctionalitytotheoriginalproduct.Manyaftermarket
modificationscanvoidthemanufacturer'swarranty.Fromamanufacturer'sperspective,the
aftermarketisanygoodsorservicesofferedbythemanufacturerdirectlytoendusersofa
givenproductorservice.Aftermarketservicesincludesupportforwarranties,contracts,and
partsandaccessoriessales
*Brickadevicethatnolongerfunctions,generallycausedbyafailedfirmwareorSPLupdate.
Sincethedevicenolongerworksasintended,itisoftenreferredtoasa"brick"or"paper
weight",sincethatisallitisgoodfor.
*FlashingTheprocessofapplyingafirmwareimage(orROM)toadevice.Itgenerallyentailsa
veryspecificorderofsteps.Failingtocompleteanyoneofthesestepsproperlymayresultin
brickingthedevice.

*KangTheprocessofcreatingacodebasedofsomeoneelse'scodeorreapplyingcodethat
someoneelsecreatedintoyourowncode(e.g.gitcherrypick)
*RootingObtainingroot("administrator",or"full")accesstothedevice.Thismeansyoucan
mountitsinternalmemorypartitionasread/write,whichletsyoudovariousthings:haveUSBor
WiFitethering,uninstallapplicationsyouotherwisecan'tuninstall(e.g.theAmazonMP3store),
installapplicationsthatneedrootaccess(suchasAdFree),disablethecamerashuttersound
(simplybydeletingtheshuttersoundfile),overclockorunderclocktheCPU,installandboot
Debian,andsoon.InstallingCyanogenModrootsthedeviceintheprocess.The"Superuser"app
controlswhatapplicationsmaygainrootprivileges.
*UnlockMostGSMdevicesarelockedtoonlyworkwiththesimcardsofaparticularcarrier.
Obtainingrootaccess(e.g.installingCyanogenMod)onthedeviceusuallydoesnothingtothe
simlock.TheusualwaytounlockthedevicetoallSIMcardsistoobtainasubsidyunlockcode
fromacarrier.