PROJECT 1: A PHOTO-DIALER

Up to this point we have concentrated on specific aspects of application building, such as screen design, Google maps, multiscreen applications, and so on. Let’s combine several of those principles to build an interesting and fun-to-use application. Anyone with a smart phone has probably used the on-board contact list to make a call. On the Android, it looks something like Figure 12.1.

The user could add a tiny icon or thumbnail for a person on the contact list, but that is still a little impersonal. To make a call, the user must start the contact list app, scroll the contact list until the target is reached, click the name, and then click again for the call. Wouldn’t it be fun to bring up a picture of your family or favorite people and be able to start a call by touching a face? Well, we know how to display a photograph, we know how to save files, and we know how to use built-in services on the device, so let’s give this a try.