Android platform components

The Android system is a full software stack which is typically defined into the following four areas.

• Applications - The Android Open Source project contains several default application, like the Browser, Camera, Gallery, Music, Phone and more.
  
• Application framework - API which allow for high-level interaction with the Android system from Android applications.
  
• Libraries and runtime - Libraries for the Application Framework for many functions (graphic rendering, data storage, web browsing, etc.) and the Dalvik runtime and the core Java libraries for running Android applications.
  
• Linux kernel - Communication layer for the underlying hardware.
  

This architecture is despited in the following graphic.

The developer typically works with the top two layers to create new Android applications. The Linux kernel, the libraries and the runtime is encapsulated by the Application framework.