Determining When to Use Services

A service in the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) can mean one of two things. First, a service can mean a background process, performing some useful operation at regular intervals. Second, a service can be an interface for a remote object, called from within your application. In both cases, the service object extends the Service class from the Android SDK, and it can be a standalone component or part of an application with a complete user interface.

Certainly, not all applications require or use services. However, you might want to consider a service if your application meets certain criteria, such as the following:

• The application performs lengthy or resource-intensive processing that does not require input from the user.