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PhoneGap is an open source development framework for building cross-platform mobile apps. Build apps in HTML and JavaScript and still take advantage of core features in iPhone/iPod touch, iPad, Google Android, Palm, Symbian and Blackberry SDKs.

OSGi (Open Service Gateway Initiative) is Java framework for developing and deploying modular software programs and libraries

To find your minimum width and height in density-independent pixels (dp), use this formula: (number of cells * 74) - 2

how often the App Widget framework should request an update from the AppWidgetProvider by calling the onUpdate() method

exactly on time

Android's search framework provides a user interface in which users can perform a search and an interaction layer that communicates with your application, so you don't have to build your own search Activity. Instead, a search dialog appears at the top of the screen at the user's command without interrupting the current Activity.

As part of my job, I ran into memory leaks issues in Android applications and they are most of the time due to the same mistake: keeping a long-lived reference to a Context.

There are two easy ways to avoid context-related memory leaks. The most obvious one is to avoid escaping the context outside of its own scope. The example above showed the case of a static reference but inner classes and their implicit reference to the outer class can be equally dangerous. The second solution is to use the Application context. This context will live as long as your application is alive and does not depend on the activities life cycle. If you plan on keeping long-lived objects that need a context, remember the application object. You can obtain it easily by calling Context.getApplicationContext() or Activity.getApplication().

In summary, to avoid context-related memory leaks, remember the following: Do not keep long-lived references to a context-activity (a reference to an activity should have the same life cycle as the activity itself) Try using the context-application instead of a context-activity Avoid non-static inner classes in an activity if you don't control their life cycle, use a static inner class and make a weak reference to the activity inside. The solution to this issue is to use a static inner class with a WeakReference to the outer class, as done in ViewRoot and its W inner class for instance A garbage collector is not an insurance against memory leaks

It allows third-party application servers to send lightweight messages to their Android applications. The messaging service is not designed for sending a lot of user content via the messages. Rather, it should be used to tell the application that there is new data on the server, so that the application can fetch it. C2DM makes no guarantees about delivery or the order of messages. So, for example, while you might use this feature to tell an instant messaging application that the user has new messages, you probably would not use it to pass the actual messages. An application on an Android device doesn’t need to be running to receive messages. The system will wake up the application via Intent broadcast when the the message arrives, as long as the application is set up with the proper broadcast receiver and permissions.

It uses an existing connection for Google services. This requires users to set up their Google account on their mobile devices.

C2DM imposes the following limitations: The message size limit is 1024 bytes. Google limits the number of messages a sender sends in aggregate, and the number of messages a sender sends to a specific device

Rhodes is an open source Ruby-based framework to rapidly build native apps for all major smartphone operating systems (iPhone, Windows Mobile, RIM, Symbian and Android). These are true native device applications (NOT mobile web apps) which work with synchronized local data and take advantage of device capabilities such as GPS, PIM contacts and calendar, camera, native mapping, push, barcode, signature capture, and Bluetooth.