Preface

Welcome to the dynamic world of Android smartphone and tablet app development with the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) 2.3.x and 3.x, the Java™ programming language and the Eclipse™ integrated development environment (IDE).

This book presents leading-edge mobile computing technologies for professional software developers. At the heart of the book is our app-driven approach. We present concepts in the context of 17 complete working Android apps—16 developed in the native Android environment and one developed in HTML5 for the portable world of the web—rather than using code snippets. Chapters 3–19 each present one app. We begin each of these chapters with an introduction to the app, an app test-drive showing one or more sample executions and a technologies overview. Then we proceed with a detailed code walkthrough of the app’s source code. The source code for all the apps is available at www.deitel.com/books/AndroidFP/.

Sales of Android devices and app downloads have been growing exponentially. The first-generation Android phones were released in October 2008. A study by comScore^® showed that by July 2011, Android had 41.8% of the U.S. smartphone market share, compared to 27% for Apple’s iPhone and 21.7% for Blackberry.^[1] Billions of apps have been downloaded from Android Market. More than 500,000 Android devices are being activated daily. The opportunities for Android app developers are enormous.

^[1] www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/8/comScore_Reports_July_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share.

The demand for mobile devices is increasing as more people rely on smartphones and tablets to stay connected and be productive while away from their personal computers. According to comScore, 234 million Americans used mobile devices in a three-month period ending in July 2011. Of those subscribers, 40.6% used apps.^[2]

^[2] www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/8/comScore_Reports_July_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share.

Fierce competition among popular mobile platforms (Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and others) and among mobile carriers is leading to rapid innovation and falling prices. Competition among the dozens of Android device manufacturers is driving hardware and software innovation within the Android community. There are now over 300 different Android devices.

Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach was fun to write! We got to know and love Android, many of its most popular apps and the diversity of Android-based devices. We developed lots of Android apps. The book’s apps were carefully designed to introduce you to a broad range of Android features and technologies, including audio, video, animation, telephony, Bluetooth^®, speech recognition, the accelerometer, GPS, the compass, widgets, App Widgets, 3D graphics and more. You’ll quickly learn everything you’ll need to start building Android apps—beginning with a test-drive of the Doodlz app in Chapter 1, then creating your first app in Chapter 3. Chapter 2, Android Market and App Business Issues walks you through designing great apps, uploading your apps to Google’s Android Market and other online app stores, what to expect in the process, deciding whether to sell your apps or offer them for free, and marketing them using the Internet and word-of-mouth, and more.