1. What is Android?

It is an open-sourced operating system that is used primarily on mobile devices, such as cell
phones and tablets. It is a Linux kernel-based system that's been equipped with rich
components that allows developers to create and run apps that can perform both basic and
advanced functions.

2. What Is the Google Android SDK?

The Google Android SDK is a toolset that developers need in order to write apps on Android
enabled devices. It contains a graphical interface that emulates an Android driven handheld
environment, allowing them to test and debug their codes.

3. What is the Android Architecture?

Android Architecture is made up of 4 key components:

• Linux Kernel
• Libraries
• Android Framework
• Android Applications

4. Describe the Android Framework.

The Android Framework is an important aspect of the Android Architecture. Here you can find all the
classes and methods that developers would need in order to write applications on the Android
environment.

5. What is AAPT?

AAPT is short for Android Asset Packaging Tool. This tool provides developers with the ability to
deal with zip-compatible archives, which includes creating, extracting as well as viewing its
contents.

6. Describe Activities.

Activities are what you refer to as the window to a user interface. Just as you create windows in
order to display output or to ask for an input in the form of dialog boxes, activities play the
same role, though it may not always be in the form of a user interface.
 7. What is the importance of having an emulator within the Android environment?

The emulator lets developers "play" around an interface that acts as if it were an actual mobile
device. They can write and test codes, and even debug. Emulators are a safe place for testing
codes especially if it is in the early design phase.

Intents displays notification messages to the user from within the Android enabled device. It can be
used to alert the user of a particular state that occurred. Users can be made to respond to intents.

8. What items are important in every Android project?

These are the essential items that are present each time an Android project is created:

• AndroidManifest.xml
• build.xml
• bin/
• src/
• res/
• assets/

9. What is the importance of XML-based layouts?

The use of XML-based layouts provides a consistent and somewhat standard means of setting
GUI definition format. In common practice, layout details are placed in XML files while other
items are placed in source files.

10. What are containers?

Containers, as the name itself implies, holds objects and widgets together, depending on which
specific items are needed and in what particular arrangement that is wanted. Containers may
hold labels, fields, buttons, or even child containers, as examples.

11. What is the importance of Android in the mobile market?

Developers can write and register apps that will specifically run under the Android
environment. This means that every mobile device that is Android enabled will be able to
support and run these apps. With the growing popularity of Android mobile devices, developers
can take advantage of this trend by creating and uploading their apps on the Android Market
for distribution to anyone who wants to download it.

12. What is adb?

Adb is short for Android Debug Bridge. It allows developers the power to execute remote shell
commands. Its basic function is to allow and control communication towards and from the
emulator port.

13. What are the four essential states of an activity?

• Active – if the activity is at the foreground

• Paused – if the activity is at the background and still visible
• Stopped – if the activity is not visible and therefore is hidden or obscured by another
activity
• Destroyed – when the activity process is killed or completed terminated

14. What is ANR?

ANR is short for Application Not Responding. This is actually a dialog that appears to the user
whenever an application have been unresponsive for a long period of time.

15. What is the function of an intent filter?

Because every component needs to indicate which intents they can respond to, intent filters
are used to filter out intents that these components are willing to receive. One or more intent
filters are possible, depending on the services and activities that is going to make use of it.

16. When is the onStop() method invoked?

A call to onStop method happens when an activity is no longer visible to the user, either
because another activity has taken over or if in front of that activity.

17. What are the different states wherein a process is based?

There are 4 possible states:

• foreground activity
• visible activity
• background activity
• empty process

18. What is the AndroidManifest.xml?

This file is essential in every application. It is declared in the root directory and contains
information about the application that the Android system must know before the codes can be
executed.
 19. What is the proper way of setting up an Android-powered device for app
development?

The following are steps to be followed prior to actual application development in an

Android-powered device:

-Declare your application as "debuggable" in your Android Manifest.

-Turn on "USB Debugging" on your device.
-Set up your system to detect your device.

20. What is AIDL?

AIDL, or Android Interface Definition Language, handles the interface requirements

between a client and a service so both can communicate at the same level through
interprocess communication or IPC. This process involves breaking down objects into
primitives that Android can understand. This part is required simply because a process
cannot access the memory of the other process.

21. Questions for “App Developer”

What is the Aim of Your Mobile App?
Can you lay down what your Mobile App will do in a few words?
How can you protect your Mobile App Idea?
Who owns the project?
Who will be your Mobile App’s main user?
Which Platform will be the best for those users?
What makes your Mobile App different from your Competitors’?

22. What are the different versions of Android OS that you remember?
Given below are the various versions of Android.

VERSION NAME
ANDROID 8.0 Oreo
ANDROID 7.0 – 7.1.2 Nougat
ANDROID 6 – 6.0.1 Marshmallow
ANDROID 5 – 5.1.1 Lollipop
ANDROID 4.4 – 4.4.4 KitKat
ANDROID 4.1 – 4.3 Jelly Bean
ANDROID 4.0-4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
 23. What is the difference between Mobile Application Testing and Mobile Testing?
Answer: Mobile app testing is the testing of applications on a device which mainly
focuses on functions and features of the application.

And Mobile Testing is the testing of the actual mobile device and focuses on mobile
features like Call, SMS, Contacts, Media Player, inbuilt browsers, etc

24. Name the languages supported for Android Development.

Answer: Java is the widely used language for Android development. It also supports
C/C++ and when used with Android SDK, it improves the performance speed too.

25. Explain Android Architecture briefly.

Answer: Android architecture is in the form of software stack components.

The below diagram describes the different layers in the Android architecture.

Linux Kernel: Linux Kernel is placed at the bottom of the software stack and is the
foundation of the Android architecture. Using Linux kernel, Android provides a
connection between the other layers of the software. It helps to develop drivers like the
keypad, display, audio for device manufacture, etc.

Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL): HAL provides an interface between device drivers
and API framework. It consists of library modules that are specific to the hardware
component.

Android Runtime: Linux kernel provides a multi-tasking execution environment so that

multiple processes can execute each process runs on its own instance of Android
Runtime (ART). Android has core runtime libraries like Dalvik VM specific libraries, Java
Interoperability Libraries, Android Libraries, and C/C++ libraries.

Application Framework (Java API Framework): The entire android functionalities are
available through the API. It consists of multiple services like Activity Manager, Resource
Manager, Notification Manager, etc., which form the environment in which the android
application runs.

Applications: The Android application is a top layer and all types of in-built applications
such as SMS, Browsers, Contact, etc are included in this top layer. It also includes third-
party applications that are installed by the user such as Games, etc.
 26. Explain Android Framework.

Answer: Android framework is a set of API’s using which the Android developers write
code for the mobile apps. It contains the methods and classes to write the programming
code.

Android framework includes a different set of tools to create image pane, text field,
buttons, etc. It also includes “Activities” with which the user interacts and “Services”,
which are the programs that run in the background. It is a package of different
components like Intents, Broadcast Receivers, Content Providers, etc.

27. Provide the important core components of Android.

Answer: The core components of Android operating systems are:

• Activity
• Intents
• Services
• Content Provider
• Fragment

28. Explain briefly – what is meant by Activities?

Answer: Activities are the part of the mobile app which the user can see and interact
with.

For Example, if you open an SMS app which has multiple activities like create new SMS,
add a contact from the address book, write the content in the SMS body, send SMS to
the selected contact, etc.

Activity keeps a track of the following:

• Keeps track of what a user is currently looking for in an app.

• Keeps a track of previously used processes, so that the user can switch between ongoing process
and previous process.
• It helps to kill the processes so that the user can return to their previous state
29. What is meant by Services?

Answer: Service is an Android component that runs in the background and acts
independently. It does not provide any user interface.

Though the services are running behind the scene, a user can continue their work on
different apps. Most of the time, the users are not aware of the services which are
running in the background. These services allow the system to kill the process without
interrupting the user’s ongoing work.

30. What is an Intent?

Answer: Android has an Intent class when the user has to navigate from one activity to
another. Intent displays notifications from the device to the user and then the user can
respond to the notification if required.

Given below are the two types:

• Implicit Intents
• Explicit Intents

31. Differentiate between Implicit and Explicit Intents.

Answer: Implicit Intent calls the system components while Explicit Intents invoke the
Activity class.
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