What is Android HAL?

Android HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) is a layer that isolates Android from device-specific hardware. It provides a standard interface for hardware vendors to implement, allowing Android to be hardware-agnostic. HALs are typically implemented as shared libraries (.so files) and loaded by the Android system at runtime. This allows Android to work with various hardware components, such as cameras, audio devices, and sensors, without needing to know the specifics of their implementation. Essentially, it's an abstraction layer between the Android framework and the underlying hardware drivers.