Dashboard a landing page of an application containing large and clear symbols of main functionality and optionally an area for relevant new information.
Check out Google I/O 2010 conference presentation Android UI design patterns for a conference presentation about UI design patterns. It features the dashboard pattern.
Pattern card
Problem
Very clear and easily accessible navigation to application's main functionality is very important in mobile applications. They are used for short periods of time usually to achieve a very simple goal (post a update to a social network, send a message, take a picture, etc).
Read more: Android UI pattern blog