Shared Data and Interapplication Communication

Android includes thress techiniques for transmitting information from your applications for use elsewhere:

1) Notifications.

2) Intents.

3) Content Providers.

 

Notifications are the standard means by which a mobile device traditionally alerts users. Using the API you can trigger audible alerts, cause vibration, and flash the device's LED, as well as control status bar notification icons.

 

Intents provide a mechanism for message-passing within and between applications. Using Intents you can broadcast a desired action(such as dialing the phone or editing a contact) system-wide for other application to handle. Intents are an important core component of Android.

 

Content Provider to give managed access to your application's private databases. The data stores  for native applications, such as the contact manager, are exposed as Content Providers. so you can create your own applications that read or modify this data.