The start-to-finish guide to Android development–from concept to market!
Android Wireless Application Development combines all the reliable information, sample code, and best practices you need to build, distribute, and market successful Android mobile applications. Drawing on their extensive experience with mobile and wireless development, Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey cover everything you need to execute a successful Android project: from concept and design through coding, testing, packaging, and delivery.
Conder and Darcey explain how mobile development differs from conventional development, how Android differs from other mobile platforms, and how to take full advantage of Android’s unique features and capabilities. They present detailed, code-rich coverage of Android’s most important APIs, expert techniques for organizing development teams and managing Android projects, and dozens of time-saving tricks and pitfalls to avoid.
This book is an indispensable resource for every member of the Android development team: software developers with all levels of mobile experience, team leaders and project managers, testers and QA specialists, software architects, and even marketers.
Rating: 
(out of 8 reviews)
List Price: $ 44.99
Price: $ 21.50
Customer Reviews:
Gabor Paller
Rating:
Gee, there are SO MANY THINGS in Android – that was the lingering feeling after having read the book. Because the authors’ strong intention is not to make compromises. They methodically go through every feature of the Android API, including 1.5 features. Have you heard about AppWidgets before? Or LiveFolders? I admit that I have not but now I know about them because the book mentioned it.
The enormous breadth of the discussion comes with a cost, however. Even though everything (or almost everything) is mentioned, very few topics are discussed in depth. For example I checked the most popular topics of my blog – unit tests, adapters. The Android unit testing framework is discussed as a bulleted list (no code examples) and the ArrayAdapter example uses Strings as backing data which causes so many problems for developers.
It is best to handle this book as an inventory of Android features and as such, it is very valuable. Such an inventory takes 573 pages, as of version 1.5. I wonder what that number will be in 3 years time.
Related posts:
Gabor Paller
Rating:
Gee, there are SO MANY THINGS in Android – that was the lingering feeling after having read the book. Because the authors’ strong intention is not to make compromises. They methodically go through every feature of the Android API, including 1.5 features. Have you heard about AppWidgets before? Or LiveFolders? I admit that I have not but now I know about them because the book mentioned it.
The enormous breadth of the discussion comes with a cost, however. Even though everything (or almost everything) is mentioned, very few topics are discussed in depth. For example I checked the most popular topics of my blog – unit tests, adapters. The Android unit testing framework is discussed as a bulleted list (no code examples) and the ArrayAdapter example uses Strings as backing data which causes so many problems for developers.
It is best to handle this book as an inventory of Android features and as such, it is very valuable. Such an inventory takes 573 pages, as of version 1.5. I wonder what that number will be in 3 years time.
Rory Rezzelle
Rating:
As I have used Android more and more my developer sense started to tingle and I wanted to create my own Android app. I looked at a couple of development books but they all just seemed to be the same: how to install the development environment and then all about how great the Android is to develop for. Nothing I could find actually moved past walking you through your first app on the code side. So when I was emailed about a new book by authors Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey all about Android Application Development I jumped at the chance to review it!
Android Wireless Application Development is a hefty book, weighing in at 573 pages with appendices and a CD, it is chock full of wonderful little tidbits of information that make Android so much fun to develop for. I was never a fan of Java in my programming classes but now that I see it in another light I’m slowly coming around to it. Of course the book starts you off by getting you to install Eclipse (Win/Mac/Linux) and all the tools necessary to create that app that’s going to make you rich in the end, then you are walked through how to write your first app, run it on the virtual Android phone, and then how to install it on a device to test. The book follows that with introductions in design, interface essentials, common Android APIs, 3D graphics, and finally how to deploy and sell your marvelous app through the Marketplace.
I found the book a marvellous teaching tool, it keeps your attention and has plenty of screenshots, images, and code snippets to satisfy even a beginner (like myself). I was so excited in the intro app when I was able to get my app to play a media file from the web with a small bit of code. The authors have the perfect balance of teaching and explaining that this is one book you will not get bored reading, you will definitely be ready to use what you’ve learned to make a new app as soon as you are done reading about it.
I’ll be looking for YOUR app in the marketplace soon!
J. L. Gillaspy
Rating:
This is my fourth Android book and by far the best. Concepts that I was uncertain about are explained clearly and completely. I especially like the order in which the topics are covered. The other books launched into developing an application without much underlying explanation of the individual topics – putting that off until later, and not doing it as well. If I had bought this book first, I probably wouldn’t have or need the others.
Nicholas Nezis
Rating:
I’ve read almost every Android development book out there, and this book is by far my favorite. The author has done a great job in laying out the content and covers just enough to give it a quick read through while jumping into code samples (included on the CD). I’ve recommended this book to other budding Android developers.
Jason Holden
Rating:
This book does a good job brushing on most of the APIs in Android, but the code examples are lacking. Almost none of the code examples are comprehensive, so basically this book just gives you hints as to what classes/functions need to be exercised for a given functionality. I almost always needed to consult google for better examples.
This is definitely not the best book if you are new to android.