Programming Android

What does it take to build well-engineered Android applications? Explore Android's core building blocks and APIs in depth with this authoritative guide, and learn how to create compelling apps that work on a full range of Android devices. You'll work with proven approaches to app design and implementation—including application frameworks that you can use as a starting point for your own projects.

Delve into sensors, native development, 3D graphics, and many other topics, and discover how to build apps on the platform of your choice. If you're an intermediate to advanced programmer, you'll learn how to make great Android apps.

• Learn how to use the Android SDK with the Eclipse IDE
• Apply advanced Java concepts regardless of your experience with the language
• Create an Android user interface that's captivating and easy to navigate
• Use the Fragment API for tablet user interfaces
• Make your application compatible with Honeycomb and earlier versions
• Understand Android's unique database design issues and the role of SQLite
• Use sensors and gestures to expand your app's input beyond just tapping and scrolling
• Explore Android APIs for multimedia, location, communication, NFC, and other applications

Zigurd Mednieks is a consultant to leading OEMs, enterprises, and entrepreneurial ventures creating Android-based systems and software. Previously he was Chief Architect at D2 Technologies, a voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology provider. There he lead engineering and product definition work for products that blended communication and social media in purpose-built embedded systems and on the Android platform.

Laird Dornin is a mobile development architect with extensive experience in Java, Android, J2ME, SavaJe, and the webkit browser library. He was a member of the J2SE development team at Sun Microsystems specializing in java.rmi and Jini technology. Laird is currently a Senior Engineer at a major wireless carrier, where he provides Android architectural guidance and Network API support to members of the carrier's developer community.

Blake Meike is a software engineer with more than 20 years of experience, much of it with Java. He has built systems as large as Amazon's massively scalable AutoScaling service and as small as a pre-Android OSS/Linux based Java-like platform for cell-phones. Blake is currently an Android Evangelist, working at Marakana. He is co-author of two O'Reilly books on Android, including the best-selling, "Programming Android".

With over a decade of software engineering experience, Masumi Nakamura has worked in various positions within the mobile technology arena, from building out mobile infrastructure to founding his own mobile company. He was one of the primary Android developers of the Where Android app and now is Principal Architect for the Big Data and Recommendations Group at Where, Inc. Outside of coding, he spends his time practicing Ba Gua Zhang and caring for his two cats.