INTRODUCTIONTHIS IS AN EXCITING TIME FOR ANDROID DEVELOPERS. Mobile phones have never been more popu¬lar; powerful smartphones are now a regular choice for consumers; and the Android ecosystem has expanded to include tablet and TV devices to further expand the audience of your Android applications.Hundreds of stylish and versatile devices — packing hardware features such as GPS, accelerometers, NFC, and touch screens, combined with reasonably priced data plans — provide an enticing plat¬form upon which to create innovative applications for all Android devices.Android offers an open alternative for mobile application development. Without artificial barriers, Android developers are free to write applications that take full advantage of increasingly powerful mobile hardware and distribute them in an open market. As a result, developer interest in Android devices has exploded as handset sales have continued to grow. As of 2012, there are hundreds of handset and tablet OEMs, including HTC, Motorola, LG, Samsung, ASUS, and Sony Ericsson.More than 300 million Android devices have been activated, and that number is growing at a rate of over 850,000 activations every day.Using Google Play for distribution, developers can take advantage of an open marketplace, with no review process, for distributing free and paid applications to all compatible Android devices. Built on an open-source framework, and featuring powerful SDK libraries, Android has enabled more than 450,000 applications to be launched in Google Play.This book is a hands-on guide to building mobile applications using version 4 of the Android SDK. Chapter by chapter, it takes you through a series of sample projects, each introducing new features and techniques to get the most out of Android. It covers all the basic functionality to get started, as well as the information for experienced mobile developers to leverage the unique features of Android to enhance existing products or create innovative new ones.Google’s philosophy is to release early and iterate often. Since Android’s first full release in December 2008, there have been 19 platform and SDK releases. With such a rapid release cycle, there are likely to be regular changes and improvements to the software and development libraries. While the Android engineering team works hard to ensure backward compatibility, future releases are likely to date some of the information provided in this book. Similarly, not all active Android devices will be running the latest platform release.Wherever possible, I have included details on which platform releases support the functionality described, and which alternatives may exist to provide support for users of older devices. Further, the explanations and examples included will give you the grounding and knowledge needed to write compelling mobile applications using the current SDK, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements. WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android platform. It includes information that will be valuable, whether you’re an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications.
It will help if you have used smartphones (particularly phones running Android), but it’s not neces¬sary, nor is prior experience in mobile application development.
It’s expected that you’ll have some experience in software development and be familiar with basic object-oriented development practices. An understanding of Java syntax is a requirement, and detailed knowledge and experience is a distinct advantage, though not a strict necessity.
Chapters 1 and 2 introduce mobile development and contain instructions to get you started in Android. Beyond that, there’s no requirement to read the chapters in order, although a good under¬standing of the core components described in Chapters 3-9 is important before you venture into the remaining chapters. Chapters 10 and 11 cover important details on how to create an application that provides a rich and consistent user experience, while Chapters 12-19 cover a variety of optional and advanced functionality and can be read in whatever order interest or need dictates.
WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS
Chapter 1 introduces Android, including what it is and how it fits into existing mobile development. What Android offers as a development platform and why it’s an exciting opportunity for creating mobile phone applications are then examined in greater detail.
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