Introduction to Android Application Development: Android Essentials (4th Edition) now available

What Every Android™ App Developer Should Know Today: Android Tools, App/UI Design, Testing, Publishing, And More

Note: This revamped, newly titled edition is a complete update of Android™ Wireless Application Development, Volume I: Android Essentials, Third Edition. We also welcome a new co-author to the mix, Joseph Annuzzi Jr.

This fully reworked edition of a proven title is the most useful real-world guide to building robust, commercial-grade Android™ apps. The content is revised and updated for the latest Android 4.3 SDK and the newest development best practices. Introduction to Android™ Application Development: Android Essentials covers all you need to quickly start developing professional apps for today’s Android devices. Three expert developers guide you through setting up your development environment, designing user interfaces, developing for diverse devices, and optimizing your entire app-development process—from design through publication. Updated throughout, this title includes extensive coverage of the most useful new Android tools and utilities. It adds an all-new chapter on planning an amazing Android app user experience, plus extensive new coverage of unit testing, dialogs, preferences, and app publishing. Throughout, key concepts are taught through clear, up-to-date example code.

This edition offers:

• Fully updated introductions to the latest Android 4.3 APIs, tools, utilities, and best practices
• Up-to-date strategies for leveraging new Android capabilities while preserving compatibility
• Navigation patterns and code samples for delivering more intuitive user experiences
• Example-based explanations of ActionBars, DialogFragments, and other key concepts
• Expert automated testing techniques to quickly improve code quality
• New Google Play Developer Console app publishing techniques that also offer more control

For Android developers at all levels of experience, this reference is now more valuable than ever. Students, instructors, and self-learners will especially appreciate new chapter-ending questions and exercises, carefully designed to test knowledge and deepen mastery. Register your book at the InformIT.com website to gain access to the Bonus KitKat chapter online as well as download the source code for this book.

Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours (3rd Edition) now available

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, learn how to build powerful apps for the world’s most popular mobile platform: Android 4.3. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll build complete Android 4.3 apps from the ground up as you master the skills you need to design, develop, test, and publish powerful solutions. Extensively updated for Android’s newest features and tools, every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success! Note: This revamped new edition is a complete update of Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours (2nd Edition). We also welcome a new co-author to the mix, Carmen Delessio.

Highlights of this new Third Edition include:

• Extensive new coverage: fragments, action bar, SQLite, content providers, Facebook SDK, and more
• Practical guidance on developing for multiple Android versions
• How to use open source projects to simplify Android development
• New topic-focused structure with at least one complete project in nearly every chapter

Learn how to…

• Quickly set up your development environment and create Android projects
• Use Android layouts and fragments to create apps that look great on phones, tablets, and even TVs
• Develop intuitive user interfaces using Android controls
• Access the cloud and retrieve data using the Flickr API
• Create a full-blown app that parses JSON, stores metadata, and displays Flickr images
• Use a SQLite database and content providers to create responsive, data-driven apps
• Write social apps using the Facebook Android SDK
• Use contact and calendar data
• Build location-based apps using LocationManager APIs or the new Google Play Location Services
• Internationalize your apps
• Work with media and cameras
• Use open-source libraries to add “finishing touches”
• Package and publish apps to Google Play and other app stores

Register your book at the InformIT.com website to gain access to the Bonus KitKat chapter online as well as download the source code for this book.

Android Wireless Application Development Volume II: Advanced Topics (3rd Edition) now available

Android Wireless Application Development has earned a reputation as the most useful real-world guide to building robust, commercial-grade Android apps. Now, authors Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder have systematically revised and updated this guide for the latest Android SDK and tools updates. To accommodate their extensive new coverage, they’ve split the book into two leaner, cleaner volumes. This Volume II focuses on advanced techniques for the entire app development cycle, including design, coding, testing, debugging, and distribution. It covers hot topics ranging from tablet development to protecting against piracy and demonstrate advanced techniques for everything from data integration and UI development to in-app billing. Every chapter has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest SDKs, tools, and devices. The sample code has been completely overhauled and is available for download on a companion website. Drawing on decades of in-the-trenches experience as professional mobile developers, the authors also provide even more tips and best practices for highly efficient development. This new edition covers:

• Advanced app design with async processing, services, SQLite databases, content providers, intents, and notifications
• Sophisticated UI development, including input gathering via gestures and voice recognition
• Developing accessible and internationalized mobile apps
• Maximizing integrated search, cloud-based services, and other exclusive Android features
• Leveraging Android 4.0 APIs for networking, web, location services, the camera, telephony, and hardware sensors
• Building richer apps with 2D/3D graphics (OpenGL ES and RenderScript), animation, and the Android NDK
• Tracking app usage patterns with Google Analytics
• Streamlining testing with the Android Debug Bridge

Code Downloads for "Android Wireless Application Development Volume I: Android Essentials" Available Here

We've added the source code downloads for the book, Android Wireless Application Development Volume I: Android Essentials (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library) to the downloads page.

Download it now to use with your copy of the book or ebook!

Android Wireless Application Development Volume I: Android Essentials (3rd Edition) now available

Android Wireless Application Development has earned a reputation as the most useful real-world guide to building robust, commercial-grade Android apps. Now, we have systematically revised and updated this guide for the latest Android SDK 4.0. To accommodate their extensive new coverage, they’ve split the book into two volumes. Volume I focuses on Android essentials, including setting up your development environment, understanding the application lifecycle, designing effective user interfaces, developing for diverse devices, and optimizing your mobile app development process--from design through publishing. Every chapter has been thoroughly updated for the newest APIs, tools, utilities, and hardware. All sample code has been overhauled and tested on leading devices from multiple companies, and many new examples have been added. Drawing on decades of in-the-trenches experience as professional mobile developers, we provide valuable new best practices--including powerful techniques for constructing more portable apps. This new edition contains full chapters on Android manifest files, content providers, effective app design, and testing; an all-new chapter on tackling compatibility issues; coverage of today’s most valuable new Android tools and utilities; and even more exclusive tips and tricks. An indispensable resource for every Android development team member.

Code Downloads for "Introducing Android Development with Ice Cream Sandwich" Available Here

We've added the source code downloads for the minibook, Introducing Android Development with Ice Cream Sandwich, to the downloads page. The code includes the fix for previously mentioned errata.

Download it now to use with your copy of the ebook.

Errata for "Introducing Android Development with Ice Cream Sandwich"

We recently completed a very short, very small book project: "Introducing Android Development with Ice Cream Sandwich." It's a minibook that was targeted to release with Ice Cream Sandwich. As such, the testing and development timeline was incredibly short and truncated, and devices are still not available to everyone who wants them worldwide.

Right off, we've had a reader point out one issue:

In Chapter 1, when adding the code to play an audio file from a remote URL, Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) now requires and enforces the Internet permission. We've tested on previous SDK versions and, indeed, this permission was not enforced on any prior platform versions. In this case, we completely agree that it should have been -- the sample application has been using Internet data without needing to request a permission since Android 1.0-but now it needs this permission.

Luckily, the LogCat output makes this crystal clear:


12-04 15:08:15.674: D/MediaPlayer(605): Couldn't open file on client side, trying server side
12-04 15:08:15.684: W/ServiceManager(36): Permission failure: android.permission.INTERNET from uid=10044 pid=605
12-04 15:08:15.684: E/MediaPlayerService(36): Request requires android.permission.INTERNET
12-04 15:08:15.684: E/MediaPlayer(605): Unable to to create media player

The Android documentation has been updated to state, at the class level, that MediaPlayer requires the INTERNET permission when used with network based content. As it should. What isn't stated is if older SDKs will eventually be updated to enforce this permission or not. Right now, we only see this permission being enforced when running the application on API Level 14, which, right now, is less than 1% of all devices in the field. 

We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this issue has caused. The update will also be applied to the full book, Android Wireless Application Development: Volume 1: Android Essentials: Third Edition (or, as we like to call it, AWAD3EV1). We will also update the code available on this website to reflect the permission policy change.