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.
Chapter 2 covers some best practices for mobile development and explains how to download the Android SDK and start developing applications. It also introduces the Android developer tools and demonstrates how to create new applications from scratch.
Chapters 3 through 7 take an in-depth look at the fundamental Android application components.
Starting with examining the pieces that make up an Android application and its life cycle, you’ll quickly move on to the application manifest and external resources before learning about Activities, their lifetimes, and their life cycles.
You’ll then learn how to create user interfaces with layouts and Views, before being introduced to the Intent mechanism used to perform actions and send messages between application components.
Internet resources are then covered before a detailed look at data storage, retrieval, and sharing. You’ll start with the preference-saving mechanism before moving on to file handling and databases. This section finishes with a look at sharing application data using Content Providers.
Chapters 8 to 14 look at more advanced topics. Starting with maps and location-based services, you’ll move on to Services, background Threads, and using Notifications.
Next you’ll learn how your applications can interact with the user directly from the home screen using widgets, live folders, Live Wallpaper, and the quick search box. After looking at playing and recording multimedia, and using the camera, you’ll be introduced to Android’s communication abilities.
The telephony API will be examined as well as the APIs used to send and receive SMS messages before going on to Bluetooth and network management (both Wi-Fi and mobile data connections).
Chapter 14 examines the sensor APIs, demonstrating how to use the compass, accelerometers, and other hardware sensors to let your application react to its environment.
Chapter 15 includes several advanced development topics, among them security, IPC, advanced graphics techniques, and user–hardware interactions.