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Infinite
Infinite

Reputation: 3408

Does Android OS for Mobile Phones share the same code base with Android Things?

Do they share the code base and version number?

Does Google release the same piece of code for both and just use different flags for mobile phones and Android Things?

This may be a strange question, as I am particularly interested in Android Application Framework.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 139

Answers (2)

Onik
Onik

Reputation: 19959

Do they share the code base and version number?

From an Android application developers's view point there is not much difference between Android OS and Android Things. I.e. you can successfully deploy an Android app developed for Android (OS version 7+) on a platform running Android Things.

Does Google release the same piece of code for both and just use different flags for mobile phones and Android Things?

No "flags" at all. It's rather a matter of adding new system (C/C++/Java) services specific to the supported platforms with its underlying hardware or removing the old ones, needed for mobile devices and not related to embedded systems. Actually Android Things is pretty much an inheritor of Brillo.

As a quick look consider the following overview of Android Things OS to see how it differs from Android.

Upvotes: 1

Nick Felker
Nick Felker

Reputation: 11968

With regards to the Android Application Framework, you can expect the vast majority of APIs to be the same on Android phones and Android Things. Specifically, this page details the APIs that are not available:

  • CalendarContract
  • ContactsContract
  • DocumentsContract
  • DownloadManager
  • MediaStore
  • Settings
  • Telephony
  • UserDictionary
  • VoicemailContract

Additionally, a few Google Play Service APIs are not available.

In terms of whether Google releases "the same piece of code for both" the answer is a bit complicated. Android's framework is a combination of a lot of files, some of which only make sense for specific form factors. Different build configurations state what files to include, which to not include, and how exactly to build the correct system image.

Upvotes: 0

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