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Professional Android Application Development 1st Edition

3.3 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

A hands-on guide to building mobile applications, Professional Android Application Development features concise and compelling examples that show you how to quickly construct real-world mobile applications for Android phones. Fully up-to-date for version 1.0 of the Android software development kit, it covers all the essential features, and explores the advanced capabilities of Android (including GPS, accelerometers, and background Services) to help you construct increasingly complex, useful, and innovative mobile applications for Android phones.

What this book includes

  • An introduction to mobile development, Android, and how to get started.
  • An in-depth look at Android applications and their life cycle, the application manifest, Intents, and using external resources.
  • Details for creating complex and compelling user interfaces by using, extending, and creating your own layouts and Views and using Menus.
  • A detailed look at data storage, retrieval, and sharing using preferences, files, databases, and Content Providers.
  • Instructions for making the most of mobile portability by creating rich map-based applications as well as using location-based services and the geocoder.
  • A look at the power of background Services, using threads, and a detailed look at Notifications.
  • Coverage of Android's communication abilities including SMS, the telephony APIs, network management, and a guide to using Internet resources
  • Details for using Android hardware, including media recording and playback, using the camera, accelerometers, and compass sensors.
  • Advanced development topics including security, IPC, advanced 2D / 3D graphics techniques, and user–hardware interaction.

Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications. It will give the grounding and knowledge you need to write applications using the current SDK, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Professional Android Application Development

Offering an open development environment, Android represents an exciting new opportunity to write innovative applications for mobile devices. This book provides you with a hands-on guide to building these applications using the Android software development kit. It takes you through a series of sample projects, each introducing new features and techniques to get the most out of Android. You'll learn all about the basic functionality as well as discover how to utilize the advanced features with the help of concise and useful examples.

Beginning with an introduction to the Android software stack, the author examines the philosophy behind creating robust, consistent, and appealing applications for mobile phones. You'll get the grounding and knowledge that is needed to write customized mobile applications using the current Android 1.0 SDK. Plus, you'll also gain the flexibility to quickly adapt to future enhancements in order to build the most cutting-edge solutions.

What you will learn from this book

  • Best practices for Android mobile development

  • An introduction to Activities, Intents, the manifest, and resources

  • How to create user interfaces with layouts and custom views

  • Techniques to store and share your application data

  • Instructions for creating map-based applications, using location-based services including GPS, and geocoding locations

  • How to create and use background Services and Notifications

  • Working with the accelerometers, compass, and camera hardware

  • All about phone and networking hardware such as telephony APIs, SMS, and network management

  • Advanced development topics, including security, IPC, and some advanced graphics and user interface techniques

Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or just starting out writing mobile applications.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author

Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Reto Meier now lives in London.
Reto is an experienced software developer with more than 10 years of experience in GUI application architecture, design, and development. He’s worked in various industries, including offshore oil and gas, before moving to London and into fi nance.
Always interested in emerging technologies, Reto has been involved in Android since the initial release in 2007. In his spare time, he tinkers with a wide range of development platforms including WPF and Google’s plethora of developer tools.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wrox
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 24, 2008
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470344717
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470344712
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.4 x 0.92 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.3 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

About the author

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Reto Meier
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Reto Meier has been helping Android developers create the best applications possible for their users since the initial Android release in 2007.

Reto is an experienced software developer with more than 20 years experience in application design and development. Reto has been involved in Android since the initial release in 2007, and has spent 10 years as a Developer Advocate, contributing countless articles, online training, conference talks, and YouTube videos to the developer community.

Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Reto Meier now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Customer reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars
33 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and appreciate its information quality, with one review noting how it concisely explains fundamental aspects of Android programming. However, the organization receives mixed feedback, with several customers describing it as poorly organized. Moreover, the material is criticized for being outdated. Additionally, customers disagree on whether the book is suitable for newcomers to Android development.

11 customers mention "Information quality"8 positive3 negative

Customers find the information in the book useful, with one customer noting that it provides background information about mobile programming platforms and another mentioning that it concisely explains fundamental aspects of Android programming.

"Good introduction to Android. I liked the book, although need more time to read it carefully." Read more

"...It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing..." Read more

"...This couldn't be farther from the truth. The book is inconsistent with the way topics are handled, and it feels almost entirely non-linear within..." Read more

"The author clearly and concisely explains the fundamental aspects of Android programming...." Read more

4 customers mention "Writing quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book.

"The author clearly and concisely explains the fundamental aspects of Android programming...." Read more

"...(and some surprisingly well-written sections), overall the book is too poorly organized to be effective...." Read more

"Excellent, well written and organized book, in keeping with the Wrox reputation...." Read more

"...The content match what i expected. It is written good." Read more

5 customers mention "Organization"3 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's organization, with some finding it poorly structured.

"...I've finished the first of the two, and it's quite a bit easier to follow than PAAD...." Read more

"...overall the book is too poorly organized to be effective...." Read more

"...Plenty of examples, code snippets, very good and clean explanations...." Read more

"...lot of information in here, it is presented piecemeal and in a disorganized fashion, leaving one to hunt all over Google's Android website to..." Read more

3 customers mention "Introduction to android"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's introduction to Android poor, with one customer noting it is not newcomer-friendly.

"...The book has useful information, but it is not for those new to Android." Read more

"The book was a poor introduction to Android for someone that had not done any before...." Read more

"Not newcomer friendly AT ALL..." Read more

3 customers mention "Material age"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's content outdated.

"...on the 2.0 release of Android (and moving on to 2.1), this book is quite a bit obsolete...." Read more

"The material is outdated, the software it refers to you can't get. the MFR says there is no written updates to use the book with current software...." Read more

"Be aware, old edition, poor print quality...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I bought this book as my first foray into Android development, based on the reviews here so far. Now, though, I know that I probably should've actually read the reviews, as they may be a bit more thorough than their simple star-based ratings convey.

    The book touts itself as, being for "anyone interested in creating applications for the Android mobile phone platform. It includes information that will be valuable whether you're an experienced mobile developer or making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications."

    From the "making your first foray, via Android, into writing mobile applications" part, I'd assume it meant newbies. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The book is inconsistent with the way topics are handled, and it feels almost entirely non-linear within any given chapter.

    There are many different issues with the book, among those:
    * This book targets Android somewhere back around the 1.0 release. As we're now on the 2.0 release of Android (and moving on to 2.1), this book is quite a bit obsolete. Most of the coding is still functional of course, but if you're new to development in general, you're most likely not gonna be able to figure out how to retool the code.
    * Though he walks you through sample applications to familiarize you with the concepts he teaches, he seems to lose interest fast and goes on seemingly random tangents throughout the book. Case in point: Chapter three had you making a revision to the layout of a ToDo List app you were designing. After making a minor change to the code, he starts you off on a Compass app.

    All that being said, if you're completely new to Android development, I would suggest you avoid this book as your first option. Instead, you should go with something a bit more simple like "Hello, Android". And while you're at it, you'll probably want to pick up a book on Java development, since both Android books assume some level of knowledge in Java development. The one I purchased to go along with "Hello, Android" is "Sams Teach Yourself Java in 24 Hours". I've finished the first of the two, and it's quite a bit easier to follow than PAAD. What's more, it's linear, and he doesn't stray from the current lessons to go on some sort of tangent about how robust Android is like Mr. Meier does.

    I didn't even finish this book.

    I can't.

    And I probably never will.

    Not with so many other fine choices available.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2008
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The author clearly and concisely explains the fundamental aspects of Android programming. The coverage of Android topics is pretty comprehensive and the depth of coverage was just right for my needs. Mr. Meier provides some background information about mobile programming platforms in general, so the only real prerequisite for this book is familiarity with Java programming. The examples are also very informative and build new features incrementally, which keeps the focus on the most recently covered material, and reflects modern incremental development practices. This book, in conjunction with the excellent materials available online from Google, anddev.org and elsewhere, provide an effective staring point for developers looking to get started quickly on the Android platform.
    21 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Although there is some valuable information here (and some surprisingly well-written sections), overall the book is too poorly organized to be effective. There are too many digressions and tangents that distract from the overall flow of the book, and it is also hampered by poor editing.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2009
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Good introduction to Android. I liked the book, although need more time to read it carefully.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2014
    OK - this is not as much a review of the content of the book, but more about the print quality and the confusion about the edition. At the time a bought the book it showed a release date of September 9, 2014, and I thought that it was a newer (and updated) edition . Silly me. It has a new cover, but internally it is just the oldest edition (2008), but what is even worse is that this seems to be a printed on demand version with pretty poor printing quality. A lot of the heading titles have weird spacing between the letters, and it seems printed on a regular laser printer on a letter format page, so you get huge margins around the text, which might be great if you want to make a lot of notes, but not what I expect of a good quality book. Big disappointment, and not what I had expected on Amazon.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I bought this on the strength of the other Amazon reviews, but was disappointed. I have years of programming and application design experience, some in Java, but none with mobile applications or Android. At the beginning of the book is a section on "who this book is for" and it says you don't have to know Java, mobile development or Android to get through the book. This is false. While there is a lot of information in here, it is presented piecemeal and in a disorganized fashion, leaving one to hunt all over Google's Android website to complete the partial explanations one finds in the book. In addition, take note that it was written for Android 1.0;the most current Android version is 2.0 and is somewhat different. Having used other Wrox books and having found most of them very logically organized, with clear explanations of the code, I was surprised by this one. I'd suggest the author include more complete descriptions of the code and the terms used, how to set oneself up in the IDE, and some appendices containing information about the most used classes. The book has useful information, but it is not for those new to Android.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2008
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I was struggling with Android documentation (there is a lot of it but can be improved a lot, although the Notepad examples are very good) trying to understand the programming concepts for G1. So I got this book on pre-order and it was worth waiting for. Plenty of examples, code snippets, very good and clean explanations. I like author's approach of taking an application (Earthquake) through a series of improvements, so you can learn it gradually, from simple to more complex (and sophisticated) approach.
    It is hard to cover a massive SDK in 400 pages but it is enough to learn basics and then start digging with some understanding and confidence into the on-line documentation. I am recommending this book to anybody who wants to learn the principles of G1 platform programming. Great job Reto!
    14 people found this helpful
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