Archive for the 'Android' Category

My New Nexus

Published May 11, 2010 Android , Technology Leave a Comment
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It’s been six weeks waiting for the Nexus One and finally it’s here.  The N1 runs smoothly and fast a Cyanogen ROM. Even though I’m using the same 3G connection (vodafone ES), now browsing the web is a delightful experience compared with HTC Magic. The battery lasts almost a couple of days with a normal use (email, web, rss, etc).

The parcel didn’t include any sort of manual except a couple of sheets with tips and tricks.

Here you can see more pictures.

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It’s been six weeks waiting for the Nexus One and finally it’s here.  The phone runs smooth and fast even using the same 3G connection (vodafone ES), now browsing the web is a delightful experience compared with HTC Magic. The battery lasts almost a couple of days running a Cyanogen ROM.

The parcel didn’t include any manual except a couple of sheets explaining tips and tricks. Here you can see some pictures.

Developing Android Apps with Java Part 2

Published April 20, 2010 Android , Technology , Training Leave a Comment
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It’s been announced the second part of the course “Developing Android Apps with Java” by O’Reilly. It will start in May 18th and it’s going to consist of six sessions in which a Twitter client app for Android will be developed. Interested? You can register for free at the course home page.  No excuses to learn Android Programming ;)

I wrote a review of the first part of the course in this post.

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Hello, Android

Published April 12, 2010 Android , Books , Technology Leave a Comment
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Hello, Android

By Ed Burnette

Regarding books, one of the things I appreciate the most is an honest relationship between title and contents. Unfortunately it’s quite common to find books out there promising things they don’t fullfill.

“Hello, Android” meets perfectly the commitment of its title. Don’t buy it expecting a reference manual of Android because it’ just an introduction to this platform, and I must admit that it does the work gracefully. It’s quick and brief so it tells you the essential and gives you resources for further research such as the sample projects that can be free downloaded from the book website.  A nice aspect to highlight is the hands-on approach, throughout the book concepts are illustrated with lots of code. Furthermore a Sudoku game is parcially developed during a couple of chapters.

So I basically recommend this book for beginners mainly for two reasons:

  1. Starts from the Scratch: Nothing is assumed so it’s a good point to start out as Android developer.
  2. Brevity: I don’t have time for an eight-hundred-pages book to start to develop. I’ll deal with the ins and outs as I go, not before.

Of course, like any book about Android, Java (or C++, C#, etc) basic understanding is recommended.

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Developing Android Applications with Java: Review

Published March 19, 2010 Android , Training 14 Comments
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The course “Developing Android Applications with Java” I was attending, has finished. It’s been six session (12 hours) of Android developing. One of the things I like was the hands-on approach of the trainning, actually 80% of sessions duration was developing time which helps me a lot with the environment Eclipse (I was used to Visual Studio).The level of this course was Beginner so the first sessions was basically dedicated to prepare the environment. After that, the next sessions (five) focused on explaining the foremost aspects of Android Programming while a Task Manager application was developed. The covered areas included:

  • Activities.
  • Basic Interface
  • Database (SQLite)
  • Location and Google Maps API.

You could take a look at the contents table in the course page. By the way, the course was given by Tony Hillerson. You can check out his profile here.

In a nutshell:

Pros:

  • Completely free.
  • Hands-on approach. Most of the time developing the “Task Manager” sample project let the audience get down to the nitty-gritty.
  • Publishing the source code of each session in advance. It helps to focus on Tony’s lessons.
  • Really good organization. And it wasn’t easy: live audience in Seattle, instructor in Denver and a number of online attendees. Actually, it was possible to ask questions to Tony (thanks to Ruth and Beth).In short, O’Reilly and CreativeTechs did a great work.
  • A forum was set up for posting homework, technical questions and all that stuff.

Cons:

  • A tiny thing. I missed one hour of the last session because the Daylight Saving Time in US starts two weeks before Europe. Course Organizers could have warned online attendees about it.

In Short:

I’d do it again so I recommend it. Five out of Five.

Update (03/20/2010)

Good news! I’ve received an email from O’Reilly with a couple of great announcements:

  1. It’s gonna be a second part of the course this Spring.
  2. They are giving free phones (Motorola DROID or Nexus One phone) to attendees who meet some conditions (take a look at the terms of the registration page for further information).

Update (03/23/2010)

Another email from O’Reilly telling that I’ll receive a free phone (hopefully a Nexus One) from Google for attending this Android Course. I just can say: THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :D

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Mobile Market View

Published March 5, 2010 Android , Mobile , Technology Leave a Comment
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Great presentation about the current Mobile Market.

It’s quite surprising the huge difference between Apple Store and the rest of competitors.

Source: Android-Spa

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Android Clipboard: Copy&Paste

Published February 28, 2010 Android Leave a Comment
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I know it’s pretty straightforward but I haven’t found any example out there of using the clipboard from Android Applications. So for beginners like me, here is an example of how to copy and paste some text using ClipboardManager object.

This is the Copy button code:

// Copy EditCopy text to the ClipBoard
private void copyToClipBoard()
{
ClipboardManager ClipMan = (ClipboardManager) getSystemService(Context.CLIPBOARD_SERVICE);
ClipMan.setText(editCopy.getText());
}

and the Paste button source:

// Paste ClipBoard Text to EditPaste
private void pasteFromClipBoard()
{
ClipboardManager ClipMan = (ClipboardManager) getSystemService(Context.CLIPBOARD_SERVICE);
editPaste.setText(ClipMan.getText());
}

Simple, right? ;) By the way, editPaste and editCopy are both EditText class objects. In case you need it, the whole project can be downloaded from my GitHub repository.

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Android Course: Week 1 – Homework

Published February 14, 2010 Android , Technology , Training Leave a Comment
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People from O’Reilly and CreativeTechs are doing a great work.  Now, they have created a Forum where students of Android Course can post their stuff. Furthermore, a tiny application’s been assigned as homework so we can practice our Android programming skills. So here’s mine:

You can check out the source code and download de APK visiting my GitHub repository. Feedback will be appreciated :)

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Exploring Android

Published February 11, 2010 Android , Architecture , Technology 1 Comment
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A couple of weeks arguing with Vodafone and I’ve finally had my new Android phone for few €. Even though I’m used to Windows Mobile OS; Android has made a good impression on me.  After reading the documentation and developing some examples, I’ve found Android’s Arquitecture pretty straighforward and plenty of possibilities from a security perspective.

Since I wanted more, I signed up for this O’Reilly Training Course. For the time being I’ve attended (online) the first day (consists of five) and it’s being pretty useful. So if you’re interested, you’re still on time to sign up here for the remaining sessions. It’s free.

By the way, this is my new phone …

…until I get one of these.

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Who’s in charge here?

Víctor Caveda

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