Android SDK - Android Community

Tagged: Android SDK

Android Source-Code released: Google keep Open-Source promise

By Chris Davies
on 21 Oct, 2008

Google have, as promised, released the Android source-code for their mobile platform. Timed to coincide with the launch of the T-Mobile G1, the first commercially released Android device, the source-code will allow developers and OEMs to create software and new devices. In addition, Google are hoping that the software community will feed back into the Android project, adding fresh functionality and driving platform innovation. Until now, access to the Android SDK was limited to certain developers and testers; from now, however, it will available to anybody who wishes to download it. The move stands in complete contrast to Apple, whose iPhone OS is both a closed environment and a strongly guarded one. Google, however, are actively encouraging coders to manipulate, change and improve the Android source-code; indeed, some functionality, including on on-screen QWERTY keyboard, will not be present in Android v.1 out of the box, and require a third-party to develop. You can access the Android source-code, together with documentation and support, at http://source.android.com/. Don't forget, if it's help with coding, ideas for what new features would be popular, or talk about Android and the G1 that you're looking for, you'll find it in the Android Community forums. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y4thikv-OM[/youtube] Press Release:

Google and the Open Handset Alliance Announce Android Open Source Availability Today, Google and the Open Handset Alliance announced the availability of the Android platform source code to everyone, for free, under the new Android Open Source Project. This represents the first truly open and fully featured mobile platform which will enable people to create a mobile device without restrictions, build applications that run on Android powered devices, and contribute to the core platform. As an open source project, anyone can contribute to Android and influence its direction. It means that anyone can download, build, and run the code needed to create a complete mobile device. With an open source platform, developers, OEMs, carriers and code contributors are given the opportunity to build faster, cheaper and more innovative devices and services. Android is a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations. Having an open source mobile platform will dramatically reduce the time and resources required to bring mobile devices to market. Handset manufactures can access a complete, full featured mobile stack without any barriers and get a head-start in creating as contemporary a device that they want to build. Developers for the first time can contribute code, with a full set APIs that allows the platform to host applications written by third-party developers and carriers can offer faster, cheaper and more innovative devices and services. "Open source allows everyone and anyone equal access to the ideas and innovation that can make good products great," said Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms, Google. "An open sourced mobile platform, that's constantly being improved upon by the community and is available for everyone to use, speeds innovation, is an engine of economic opportunity and provides a better mobile experience for users. With the availability of Android to the open source community, consumers will start to see more applications like location-based travel tools, games and social networking offerings available to them directly; cheaper and faster phones at lower costs; and a better mobile web experience through 3G networks with richer screens. The code can be found under the Android Open Source Project, the open source initiative for Android now available at source.android.com.

T-Mobile USA Update On T-Mobile G1 Pre-Launch Availability

By Vincent Nguyen
on 3 Oct, 2008

Here's the latest official response from T-Mobile pertaining to the T-Mobile G1 pre-launch availability. If you didn't pre-order the T-Mobile G1, you are now OFFICIALLY SOL.

Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our Oct. 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through Oct. 21, for delivery at a later date.

Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning Oct. 22. Details are available on the T-Mobile G1 Web site, www.T-MobileG1.com.

UPDATE: T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through Oct. 21, for delivery sometime in early November 10th time frame. Thanks Kristen, T-Mobile Spokesperson

Android Community Week in Review – Week 38 2008

By Staff Editor
on 28 Sep, 2008

It has been a very busy week for Google's Android platform with the announcement of the G1. T-Mobile has started taking pre-orders for the G1 with price starting at $179,with a release date of October 22nd. A lot of people however were not happy to hear the data plan being capped at 1Gig. T-Mobile quickly removed the 1Gig soft cap after getting a lot of negative feedback about the decision.

Android comes full of much loved features such as Youtube, and the Android equivalent to iTunes "Amazon MP3". The clean interface on these applications give them the edge over competitors applications of the same nature. Google's new mobile version of Street View is a feature that all people will find useful. Visa has been at work creating an application that will offer account notifications, merchant offers and ATM locations. It appears that the white G1 was held back from pre-orders, rumor is the white paint used to coat the device was chipping. The white version was even scarcely seen at T-Mobile's G1 announcement. The G1 "Getting Started" guide got out a few weeks early revealing a lot more about the device including the box contents. Also released this week was the long awaited official Android SDK 1.0. Not much new to see in this polished version. Photo of the dressed up Android is courtesy of Android Community's member htc_dreamer. [gallery] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kngcp0ooDig[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3omdLHn6YM[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSCOGxh5LEk[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZoxIqZtYJ4[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POI1n0v-GDA[/youtube]

T-Mobile G1 pre-order has come to an end [Updated]

By Staff Editor
on 27 Sep, 2008

Update: Pre-order is back up. Thanks A-Tron! We heard from our friends at T-Mobile today and here's the official statement:

"The T-Mobile G1 microsite experienced a technical glitch this morning, and is now back up and running. Since Tuesday's announcement, we've experienced heavy demand for the device. A small quantity of T-Mobile G1s are still available at this time for T-Mobile customers. Please visit http://www.T-MobileG1.com for details." -thanks Kristen!

Note that there are only a small quantity of the T-Mobile G1s are available. That means if you want a G1, you better hurry because T-Mobile is running out! With the overwhelming response to the announcement of the T-Mobile has run out of available devices for the G1 pre-order. Hundreds of people immediately jumped on T-Mobile's site to pre-order their device. So many in fact that the site was down for several hours.

Android SDK v1.0 released early

By Chris Davies
on 23 Sep, 2008

If you were following our Live Blog this morning then you'll know that Google promised to release the final Android SDK simultaneously with the launch of the T-Mobile G1 on October 22nd. If you're a new developer, or are simply bored with v0.9 of the platform, that could seem like a long way off; thankfully, after some sneaky digging, links to v1.0 for Windows and Linux have turned up.

So far the main changes spotted are a new "maximize" button for the browser, but presumably the whole thing will be more stable, too. Google have previous stated that they cannot guarantee anything coded with v0.9 will be fully compatible with v1.0. There's no telling how long the links will stay active - something tells me that Google will yank them as soon as they realise the mistake. However if you're quick you might be able to get them: Windows: http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk-windows-1.0_r1.zip Linux: http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk-linux_x86-1.0_r1.zip [via AndroidGuys]

Android handset makes appearance at Google London Developer Day

By Chris Davies
on 16 Sep, 2008

Google brought along what was described as a working Android cellphone "for the first time in Europe" at the London Google Developer Day earlier this morning. Although the handset's branding was covered, those present at the event described it as looking " very much like the HTC Dream" and being "far more polished" than engineering samples we've seen previously. It also saw Android's Mike Jennings reaffirm that the platform was not just for cellphones. When asked by a developer whether the open-source OS could be loaded on devices other than mobile handsets, he replied "why not?" The software demonstration given included an OpenGL and Java app that could render, on the Android handset itself, a rotating and morphing cube at an impressive 40 frames per second. Google also confirmed that users would be able to update the OS on their device themselves, likely through a USB connection rather than over the air. Gears for Mobile was also discussed, with the system now having a geolocation API that should tie into Android's location-specific functionality. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmniBnVB6wA[/youtube] [Thanks Alan!]

Big in Japan Exclusive Video Interview

By Chris Davies
on 12 Sep, 2008

Android Community had an invite to spend some time with developers Big in Japan, the team behind GoCart which was one of the ten apps to win $275,000 in Google's Android Developer Challenge. Ewdison Then, our resident Linux expert, made the trip over to their Dallas offices to ask them about the motivation behind GoCart, why the team decided to focus on Android, and what most excites them about the platform and its future.

"Finally people are going to think of their phones as something more than a way to talk to their friends" Rylan Barnes, Big in Japan

GoCart is a mobile shopping comparison app, that uses the camera on an Android device to scan a product's barcode. Once recognized, the app checks pricing for the product in online stores; however, it also uses GPS to find local stores and query their inventory, offering alternative places to shop if you're not willing to wait for delivery. Alternatively, users can set a price band they'd be willing to pay, and choose to be alerted when the product drops to that price.

"The Android platform, being open, really creates a lot of opportunities for us, where you can decide what you want the phone to look like: is it a phone or an internet device? Really that line becomes blurred with the Android platform. With the iPhone platform, it's a really closed environment that's really neat - it's a phone, and it does really neat things - but you have to play by Apple's rules, and Apple's rules say "right now, you can't touch the camera", the SDK doesn't let you manipulate that. There're all sorts of things that you can't necessarily do with the iPhone platform" Alexander Muse, Big in Japan

In the interview, Ewdi and the Big in Japan team discuss Android versus Apple SDKs, how they see the platform benefiting from having Google behind it, and the problems an open-source, multi-device OS faces in trying to stand up to a more managed environment like the iPhone. They also touch on the possibility of carriers and device manufacturers creating their own custom Android builds, and what impact that could have on code development. Our thanks again to the Big in Japan team for the invite. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWngmkwXaAM[/youtube]

Apps-for-Android gets 3 new code samples: graphics & download

By Chris Davies
on 11 Sep, 2008

Android developer Jack Palevich has released three new open-source samples on the official project blog, two giving insight on how best to implement the OpenGL ES 3D graphics APIs, while the last is an example of a downloader. Triangle is, according to Palevich, the "Hello World" of OpenGL ES apps, and is a simple use of the GLView class and the OpenGL ES 3D library in creating a spinning, textured triangle. SpriteText adds to that, with the inclusion of screen-aligned text:

"SpriteText contains a reusable LabelMaker class for drawing static text and screen-aligned images, as well as a Projector class for finding the 2D screen coordinates corresponding to a 3D point, and a MatrixTrackingGL class for keeping track of the current transformation matrix. Finally, it shows how to use these classes to display a milliseconds per frame counter. A ms/f counter can be helpful for tuning graphics performance" Jack Palevich, Android Developers Blog

Finally, Downloader is an example of a file download system that could be added to the start of any new Android app. It automatically downloads any number of files from an XML configuration document stored on a named web server, and would be useful in situations where there is more local data than can fit into an .apk file. The code is available to download and experiment with now. Click to discuss now in Android Community. [gallery]

Android Photostream App

By Vincent Nguyen
on 4 Sep, 2008

Google just announced a new open source sample application called Photostream. Photostream has been added to the aapps-for-android project, and it's available for you to test drive.

Photostream is a simple photos browser and viewer for Flickr. All you need to use it is a Flickr screen name or user name (the application offers a default user name if you just want to try it.) This application serves as an illustrative example of several Android features and APIs:

Activity aliases
Adding custom shortcuts to Home
Adding a new wallpaper chooser to the system
Custom layouts
Custom XML attributes
Use of themes
Use of styles
Use of text colors
Use of <include>
Use of bitmap and layer drawables from XML
Use of HttpClient
Proper interaction between background threads and the UI thread
Efficient display rotation (using the new onRetainNonConfigurationInstance() API)
Animations and layout animations
Cropping an image
Image manipulation

My favorite feature is the ability to add a new shortcut type in Home, to create a shortcut to any Flickr account. The shortcut shows a custom icon, downloaded from the Flickr user profile:

If you plan on reusing the source code to access Flickr in your own application, you should modify the Flickr.java file to replace the existing API key with your own. The application source code also contains a very handy class called UserTask.java. This class is designed to help you easily write background operations that interact with the UI thread.

[gallery]

Congrats to Winners of the Android Developer Challenge I

By Vincent Nguyen
on 29 Aug, 2008

Google officially announced the winners of Android Developer Challenge. Out of 50 teams of finalists, 10 teams received a $275,000 award each and 10 teams received a $100,000 award each. Congratulations to everyone. $275,000 Award Recipients cab4me Konrad Huebner, Henning Boeger Ever been looking for a cab? cab4me is the answer. Anywhere. Anytime. Read more CompareEverywhere Jeffrey Sharkey Shop smarter using your phone. Compare prices, read reviews, and connect with local stores. Read more Ecorio Jeff Kao, Gary Pong, Robert Lam, Taneem Talukdar Ecorio automatically tracks your mobile carbon footprint, suggests transit and carpooling alternatives and lets you stay carbon neutral by offsetting your trips easily. Read more GoCart Rylan Barnes Scan a product's barcode with your phone's camera and view all the best prices online and at nearby, local stores. Read more Life360 Chris Hulls, Dilpreet Singh, Luis Carvalho, Phuong Nguyen, Steve Potell From major natural disasters to little things like your child wandering away at the mall, there is a lot you might worry about. Life360 can help. Read more Locale Carter Jernigan, Clare Bayley, Jasper Lin, Christina Wright Locale is an advanced settings manager that automatically changes your phone's settings based on conditions, such as location. Read more PicSay Eric Wijngaard Easy to use image editor that enables you to quickly personalize your pictures and share them with friends or photo sites. Read more Softrace Staffan Kjellberg, Thomas Kjellberg Turn your workout into a thrilling race and challenge the world in real time. Read more TuneWiki TuneWiki Inc. TuneWiki Social Media Player, is an advanced player, featuring synchronized lyrics for audio or video, translation, music maps and a social network. Read more Wertago Kelvin Cheung,Teresa Ko, Peter Ree, Robert Sarvis, Douglas Young The mobile application nightlifers have been waiting for. Find the hottest parties in town and connect with friends and others all night long. Read more $100,000 Award Recipients BreadCrumbz Amos Yoffe BreadCrumbz offers a unique approach to navigation. What sets it apart is its focus on picture-based navigation and user-created navigation content. Read more Cooking Capsules Mary Ann Cotter, Muthu Ramadoss Inspiration for novices and chefs alike, Cooking Capsules puts a fresh, elegant and portable new way to cook in the palm of your hand. Read more Maverick Virgil Dobjanschi Maverick is a multimedia enabled, Google Talk compatible instant messenger and a Google Blogger publishing tool which runs on the Android Platform. Read more PebbleBox Yin Wang, Tao Jin A location-based information exchange and sharing application, allowing people to collect and distribute various geo-related information through mobile phones. Read more PhoneBook 2.0 Voxmobili PhoneBook 2.0 is a secure, contextual and social address book. Ideally suited for teenagers willing to share their mood and location, it also helps business people to keep their contacts secure and up-to-date. Read more Piggyback Christophe Petit, Sébastien Petit Piggyback is a revolutionary real-time carpooling application for mobile phones that helps you save time and money while reducing your carbon footprint. Read more Pocket Journey Anthony Stevens, Rosie Pongracz Pocket Journey turns your mobile phone into a personal tour guide by connecting you to location-specific multimedia created by a community of the most professional tour guides and storytellers worldwide. Read more Rayfarla Stephen Oldmeadow Have fun with music. Play music based games and make music with your phone using a range of virtual musical instruments. Read more ShareYourBoard Mikhail Ksenzov ShareYourBoard is an Android application for capturing, processing and sharing whiteboard data. Read more Teradesk e-Storage José Augusto Ferrarini Teradeks is an application for Virtual Storage and Remote File Access allowing companies and individuals to keep their files in the cloud, accessible from anywhere. Read more

Finalists

B4E Mr. Che, Mr. Happy C. B4E focuses on information broadcasting and online transactions, creating value for the society and individuals. Read more Beetaun Sergey Gritsyuk, Dmitri Shipilov Beetaun is a social network application for everyone wishing to share and explore interesting and extraordinary places and routes in the city they visit or live in. Read more BioWallet José Luis Huertas Fernández Biometric authentication system and security platform that performs user identification based on something that user is, rather than something that the user knows or owns. Read more City Slikkers PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems City Slikkers is a Pervasive Game which takes place in the real-existing city. It is designed to connect a large number of players through-out the city and lets them organize the city's metaphorical recapture. Read more Commandro Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha Commandro is a universal map-centric application, allowing users to set up and share activities, places, and map-markers with others, set alerts, and send invitations. Read more Diggin Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin Play your music in style and listen to thousands of streaming radio stations. Personalize your music collection, and your music player as well! Read more Dyno Virachat Boondharigaputra Dyno is an application used to evaluate vehicle performance on the road. Read more e-ventr Michael Zitzelsberger e‐ventr is your personal event organizer and friendship scout for your mobile. Read more Em-Radar Jack Kwok Em-Radar keeps you informed of severe weather and emergencies near your location. Its Em-Beacon feature helps you stay connected to your family and friends in an emergency. Read more Fingerpaint Rob Mickle Fingerpaint is a collaborative drawing application. Draw by yourself, or together with friends – anywhere in the world. Read more FreeFamilyWatch.com Navee Technologies LLC Free location-based services helping family to navigate safety risks in daily living through real-time and risk-preventing measures against crimes, environmental health hazards and distressing emergencies. Read more GolfPlay Inizziativa Networks Provides support to all real time necessities of a golf player during a game. Read more gwalk Klaus ten Hagen, Marko Modsching, Christian Klinger, Rene Scholze Discover a destination individually by a multimedial gWalk tour that is fully based on personal preferences including interests, available time and position. Read more iMap Mobile™ Weathertop Consulting, LLC iMap Mobile™ builds on WDT's iMap Weather™ multimedia weather platform to provide radar images, lightning strikes, conditions and forecasts at your location and locations you choose. Read more IMEasy Yan Shi IMEasy is an IM based application designed particularly for touch screen mobile users. Read more JOYity Zelfi AG JOYity is a platform for next generation mobile entertainment applications and provides a pioneering mixture of real-life adventure games, geocaching and intensive social networking activities. Read more LifeAware Gregory Moore, Aaron O’Brien, Jawad Akhtar Be aware of your surroundings and the location of your friends and family. Take control of your social life. LifeAware™ - Where is Your Life? Read more Marvin Laurent Pontier Publish in private, to your peer network or to the world, geolocalized rich messages. Broadcast personal information feeds on the move using the Marvin Services. Read more mobeedo Sengaro GmbH mobeedo aims to become a comprehensive and uniform system for providing, consuming, and recording all kinds of information relevant in mobile everyday life. Read more MyCloset Mamoru Tokashiki Manages photographs and information about the fashion items you own, and coordinates and records your daily outfits. Read more PedNav RouteMe2 Technologies Inc. PedNav is a location-aware day planner that allows you to create an itinerary and can suggest public transit routes as well as provide walking directions. Read more SafetyNet Michael DeJadon SafetyNet is an automated alert system that combines the concept of social networking along with the latest mobile technologies to help protect our loved ones. Read more ShapeWriter ShapeWriter Inc ShapeWriter is an innovative, easy, fast and fun method of entering text into touch screen mobile phones. One can write an entire word with a single gesture. Read more SocialMonster Tommy Ng, Ben Hui Stay on top of your social life with SocialMonster and start organizing personal events with all your contacts in your handset’s phonebook. Read more SplashPlay Andreas Ipp, Keith Sturch, Friedger Müffke and Ronan Schwarz SplashPlay provides an easier method to learn, create and share music. Quickly learn guitar chords to your favorite songs and share creations with others. Read more Sustain Niraj Swami Sustain is a utility that helps its users naturally and fluidly communicate with their contacts. Read more SynchroSpot Shaun Terry Service featuring location-based personal reminders and geo-specific notes for others. Also provides for the receipt of special, targeted discounts and offers from nearby businesses. Read more The Weather Channel for Android The Weather Channel Interactive Inc. The Weather Channel for Android is a fully customizable weather application catering to both weekend planners and serious weather enthusiasts alike. Read more TokPlay Sung-Suh Park TokPlay provides the opportunity of talking to friends, family and others using video and voice messages, bringing a human touch back to communication. Read more Wikitude Philipp Breuss Wikitude is a mobile travel guide based on location-based Wikipedia content. Points of interest can be viewed in a map, list, or a cam view. Read more