Creating Android Applications: Develop and Design (Develop and Design)

Capturing more than half of the global smartphone market, Google’s Android mobile platform offers a vibrant and growing marketplace for developers. In this book, Android programming expert Chris Haseman shows you how to use the powerful set of Android tools to begin writing the next generation of Android applications. Chris provides a complete introduction to developing for Google’s mobile OS, offering tons of insights and hard-earned advice. After a tour of how to install and configure the Android SDK and Eclipse IDE, you jump right in, building your first Android project. Chris starts off with how to use the major building blocks to create an intuitive and good-looking interface. Next, he shows you how to retrieve data and how to use lists to display data. Chris then explores how to use services—important, and often under-utilized, components of the Android platform. Chris examines how to handle media and location services before showing you how to write applications for the Android ecosystem.

Creating Android Applications: Develop and Design starts with platform installation and then winds its way around commonly made mistakes as it covers the basics of application development. Along the way the author takes side trips to teach about GPS sensors, media playback, and advanced graphics. At its core, this book teaches Android development using accessible, simple language and straightforward, code-based tutorials.

Chris Haseman has been a professional mobile software engineer since 2003. He's worked on software for Motorola's BREW SMS/MMS messaging software for the RAZR /KRAZR. He also worked on MusicID, a Java ME app for identifying music preloaded on all AT and T feature phones. Chris currently heads the mobile team at doubleTwist. Its premium music player app is in the top 5 of the paid section in the Android marketplace. Chris is the author of Android Essentials, published by APress, and has published many articles over the past several years with Developer.com and DevX.com.