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Android Essentials
Dear Reader,
This book covers the essential information required to build an Android application. It will help
any developer, amateur, professional, or dabbler who is interested in developing for Android.
Over the course of the book, I cover the essentials you’ll need to get started with your own
innovative application. I took on this project because, after five years of working in the mobile
software industry, it has become clear that we need help. With mobile devices becoming more
ubiquitous, powerful, and, indeed, essential, fresh blood is necessary to overcome the stagnation
that has plagued our business. As an industry, we need to graduate from making cookie-cutter
ringtones, wallpaper, and e-mail applications. I hope, once you’ve finished this book, that you’ll
be in a position to start that killer mobile product you’ve told all your friends you’re going to
make.
In Android Essentials, I cover the details of installing and using the Android SDK,
making and rendering user interface tools, harnessing location tracking and Google Maps, and
putting everything together with a little glue from XML parsers and networking clients. These
tools and tricks should be enough to get you past your empty editor, the daunting blank canvas
of the developer world, and onto the path of your own innovative mobile app. Android
potentially represents our best hope for a break from the constricted world of mobile
development. Use it to make something amazing. I can’t wait to see what you create.
Regards,
Chris Haseman
Lead software engineer at Gravity Mobile
