I think there is some confusion because the manifest is very clear to developers which permissions are required. However, when installing users are presented with categories of permssions rather than the complete list of individual permissions. I agree, a complete mapping of individual permissions to permission categories would be very helpful. Here are the categories one example application requires on install:
I found this resource which is helpful, but does not explain everything. http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/security/security.html explains that a developer can run the following command to display “permissions in a form roughly similar to how the user will see them”.
All Permissions:
Development tools: send Linux signals to applications, make all
background appli cations close, limit number of running processes,
enable application debugging
Your personal information: write Browser's history and bookmarks, read
Browser's history and bookmarks, read contact data, add or modify
calendar events and sen d email to guests, write to user defined
dictionary, read owner data, read user defined dictionary, write
contact data, choose widgets, read calendar events, wr ite owner data
Services that cost you money: send SMS messages, directly call phone
numbers
Your location: mock location sources for testing, access extra
location provider commands, coarse (network-based) location, fine
(GPS) location
Your messages: Exchanges messages and receives sync notifications from
Google se rvers, send WAP-PUSH-received broadcast, edit SMS or MMS,
read instant messages, receive WAP, write instant messages, send
SMS-received broadcast, read SMS or M MS, Read Email attachments,
receive SMS, receive MMS
Network communication: view network state, Broadcast data messages to
applicatio ns., Send heartbeat to Google Talk server, Broadcast data
messages to applicatio ns., Market license check, create Bluetooth
connections, view Wi-Fi state, Allow s the application to accept cloud
to device messages from application's service, full Internet access
Your accounts: Android services, Orkut, act as an account
authenticator, Google App Engine, Picasa Web Albums, view configured
accounts, Google Spreadsheets, Go ogle Notebook, Google Checkout
accounts, Google Groups, discover known accounts, act as the
AccountManagerService, Knol, Blogger, Google Checkout QA accounts, G
oogle Health, Google Checkout Sandbox accounts, Google Docs, Google
Book Search, Google News, Android services, iGoogle accounts, Google
Talk, YouTube, manage t he accounts list, JotSpot, Dodgeball, access
other Google services, Google Voice , AdWords, YouTube usernames, use
the authentication credentials of an account, Google mail, AdSense,
Google Webmaster Tools, Google Maps, access all Google ser vices,
contacts data in Google accounts, Google WiFi, Google Calendar, Google
mo bile applications, Google Base, Google Finance
Storage: modify/delete SD card contents
Phone calls: modify phone state, intercept outgoing calls, read phone
state and identity
Hardware controls: take pictures, control flashlight, test hardware,
record audi o, change your audio settings, control vibrator
System tools: allow Wi-Fi Multicast reception, delete all application
cache data , get information on secure storage, change background data
usage setting, force stop other applications, uninstall shortcuts,
disable keylock, read sync statis tics