Android Wireless Application Development Book Review

Android Wireless Application Development is Addison Wesley's first Android development book. Android Wireless Application Development provides an introductory look at developing for Android devices. This book does assume that you have a basic knowledge of Java.

Android has many topics and features to cover. This attempts to cover all areas, but can only cover a few areas in depth.

This book does a very good job of explaining Activities and Intents which are the core of Android development. In chapter 2, you will find a thorough explanation of Activities and Intents that is very easy to understand.

Chapter 3 provides a good coverage application resources that include strings, arrays of strings, colors, dimensions, drawables, bitmap graphics, animation sequences, menus, xml, raw files, layouts, styles, and themes. You will also find details on internationalization and using different resource for different device configurations. The chapter also includes great information on working with Nine-Patch Stretchable Graphics which allow for a single image to be used no matter what the screen resolution is.

This book does cover all of the Android controls, but not in-depth. You will find adequate information on most controls. The ListActivity, Gallery control, and ImageSwitcher are barely covered and really need examples.

The Android Multimedia APIs are well covered. The author does a very good job of showing how to use these APIs to capture pictures, audio, and video as well as audio and video playback.

The author has attempted cover all areas of Android development. Below are more topics covered in this book:

• Using Preferences


• Reading and writing files


• Using SQLite Database


• Using network APIs


• Using location based services including GPS, geocoding, and the map view control


• Using the Telephony API including making calls and sending SMS


• OpenGL ES


• Using device sensors including accelerometer, light, magnetic field, orientation, and temperature


• Working with WiFi


• Monitoring the battery


• Using notifications including status bar, vibrating the phone, blinking the lights, and making noise


• Selling your applicaiton

Summary
The author's writing style is easy to read and keeps you interested in the book. The examples are easy to follow. The book is just under 500 pages, but it reads very quickly. Android Wireless Application Development is a good book for anyone that is familiar with Java, but is new to Android development.

Android Wireless Application Development is available at Amazon.com.