Android development -- how to get started?

Dave! · 25-09-2009 4:16pm #1

Hi folks,

A friend of my brother (who works in IT) told me that the 'next big thing' will be Android app development. I seem to have missed the boat with regards iPhone app development

So I'd like to latch onto the (alledged) incoming Android craze! Just a quick look on YouTube and wikipedia seems to support the opinion that it's on the way up

Anyways I was wondering if anyone has experience working with this and could they give me suggestions on how to get started? I suppose getting an Android phone would be a start

I have ye olde iPhone now

My background is that I've recently finished a BA in Computer Science and History. I'm good at java, but not good with graphics or anything. I'm also decent enough at C++. I'm hoping to improve my programming skills anyway! Don't think it's relevent, but I'm good at web design, CSS, HTML, etc.

Thanks for any help

Dave

Tabcan. · 25-09-2009 4:22pm

Download Eclipse and install the Adroid Development Tools. Also install the android sdk.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/1.6_r1/installing.html It's all there.

It's really simple. Excellent documentation. The emulator is fantastic too - way better than the visual studio emulator for the Windows Mobile platform.gl

thirtythirty · 25-09-2009 4:22pm

He is right, android is going to grow hugely this year, and first-mover developers are making big gains (well on sought-after stuff anyway!).

Personally i think you've got the best shot at making some dough through games, as there's millions of utilities, but not very many decent games. (Unless you've got a utility idea that stands out from the crowd).

No harm in joining forums like http://androidforums.com/ and http://www.androidandme.com/ to talk to the users. The developers of speedforge have done that and it's really driving sales. Games don't have to be 3d to be successful btw (as i know you dont have much experience in graphics!) just look at flight control for iphone - so simple, yet making millions.

Have a read here to get started: http://developer.android.com/index.html

Sparks · 25-09-2009 4:43pm

spottyelephant wrote: »

He is right, android is going to grow hugely this year

Yeah, if you believe the hype.
Of course, if you believe the hype, Palm Pre WebOS apps will be huge.
And so will Moblin apps.
And so will just about every other fad out there.

Look, keep this in perspective: the iPhone has 99% of the mobile device internet market. And that's only 23% of the overall mobile internet market*. There's only the one actual Android phone out there in the wild at the moment, even if there are more in the pipeline (they're vapourware until they're in the shops). As heavy as Google is made out to be, they're really really small bit players in the telecomms sector, even in the sub-sub-niche of mobile device internet stuff. "Big" means Nokia. Nokia has a bad day and Finland's GDP takes a hit. That's what "big" means. It means 50% market penetration worldwide - one phone for every two humans (man/woman/child) on the planet, and that market's growing, and since the mobile internet sector is a percentage of that overall penetration, the mobile internet sector is growing as well.

And last time I checked, Nokia was backing Maemo5 and QT-based apps for their mobile internet devices to the point of ditching S60 for it. And there's already a Nokia Maemo-based phone out in the wild with the N900, so that's as many hardware platforms as Android already.

If you want to follow the money and not go for the iPhone, I'd be going for Maemo.

* Figures released by boingo in June 2009

thirtythirty · 25-09-2009 4:51pm

Sparks wrote: »

Yeah, if you believe the hype.
Of course, if you believe the hype, Palm Pre WebOS apps will be huge.
And so will Moblin apps.
And so will just about every other fad out there.

Look, keep this in perspective: the iPhone has 99% of the mobile device internet market. And that's only 23% of the overall mobile internet market*. There's only the one actual Android phone out there in the wild at the moment, even if there are more in the pipeline (they're vapourware until they're in the shops). As heavy as Google is made out to be, they're really really small bit players in the telecomms sector, even in the sub-sub-niche of mobile device internet stuff. "Big" means Nokia. Nokia has a bad day and Finland's GDP takes a hit. That's what "big" means. It means 50% market penetration worldwide - one phone for every two humans (man/woman/child) on the planet, and that market's growing, and since the mobile internet sector is a percentage of that overall penetration, the mobile internet sector is growing as well.

And last time I checked, Nokia was backing Maemo5 and QT-based apps for their mobile internet devices to the point of ditching S60 for it. And there's already a Nokia Maemo-based phone out in the wild with the N900, so that's as many hardware platforms as Android already.

If you want to follow the money and not go for the iPhone, I'd be going for Maemo.

* Figures released by boingo in June 2009

Your comments might have been right...LAST YEAR! One android phone in the wild!? There are several HTCs, Samsung, motorola this month, and another 18 or so by various manufacturers planned this year (LG, Dell etc).

Not to mention most tablets like Asus are launching with android.

Maemo is f'd. Nokia is the only one backing it.

Sparks · 25-09-2009 4:59pm

spottyelephant wrote: »

Your comments might have been right...LAST YEAR! One android phone in the wild!? There are several HTCs, Samsung, motorola this month, and another 18 or so by various manufacturers planned this year (LG, Dell etc).

For sale? In Ireland or the US or anywhere outside Japan? Recheck - all those phones were scheduled for launch beween Q3 this year and Q4 next year and that was before the economic crash kicked sales in the crotch.

Not to mention most tablets like Asus are launching with android.

And Windows 7 and Ubuntu. And yet, they're still very thin on the ground (netbooks running android that is).

Maemo is f'd. Nokia is the only one backing it.

Oh dear.
Look, seriously, if your product's problem is that only Nokia is backing it, be happy at your imminent coke-and-hooker-filled early retirement. Having Nokia be your only backer is like "only" owning the patent on the paperclip.

Tabcan. · 25-09-2009 5:09pm

Sparks wrote: »

Yeah, if you believe the hype.
Of course, if you believe the hype, Palm Pre WebOS apps will be huge.
And so will Moblin apps.
And so will just about every other fad out there.

Look, keep this in perspective: the iPhone has 99% of the mobile device internet market. And that's only 23% of the overall mobile internet market*. There's only the one actual Android phone out there in the wild at the moment, even if there are more in the pipeline (they're vapourware until they're in the shops). As heavy as Google is made out to be, they're really really small bit players in the telecomms sector, even in the sub-sub-niche of mobile device internet stuff. "Big" means Nokia. Nokia has a bad day and Finland's GDP takes a hit. That's what "big" means. It means 50% market penetration worldwide - one phone for every two humans (man/woman/child) on the planet, and that market's growing, and since the mobile internet sector is a percentage of that overall penetration, the mobile internet sector is growing as well.

And last time I checked, Nokia was backing Maemo5 and QT-based apps for their mobile internet devices to the point of ditching S60 for it. And there's already a Nokia Maemo-based phone out in the wild with the N900, so that's as many hardware platforms as Android already.

If you want to follow the money and not go for the iPhone, I'd be going for Maemo.

* Figures released by boingo in June 2009

Nokia are dead ducks.

iPhone/Android/WinMobile will be the top 3 platforms.

Sparks · 25-09-2009 5:20pm

Tabcan. wrote: »

Nokia are dead ducks.

*snort*

iPhone/Android/WinMobile will be the top 3 platforms.

Winmobile?
Oh dear.

thirtythirty · 25-09-2009 8:50pm

Sparks wrote: »

For sale? In Ireland or the US or anywhere outside Japan? Recheck - all those phones were scheduled for launch beween Q3 this year and Q4 next year and that was before the economic crash kicked sales in the crotch.And Windows 7 and Ubuntu. And yet, they're still very thin on the ground (netbooks running android that is).Oh dear.
Look, seriously, if your product's problem is that only Nokia is backing it, be happy at your imminent coke-and-hooker-filled early retirement. Having Nokia be your only backer is like "only" owning the patent on the paperclip.

Well ye I suppose android phones launched in uk, italy, germany, france and a number of other places don't count...!

I did like ur paperclip analogy tho! To be fair the n900 does look v nice, and ihope it reinvent nokia cuz I was a nokia fan my whole life till the n97, but I just don't think there are enough devs interested yet.

Maybe maemo will do well, but android def has the most potential as of now

Dave! · 28-09-2009 4:03pm

Cheers lads

I downloaded the SDK and the emulator is running... Ran a Hello World application

Now have to dive into the complicated stuff

If you have any tutorials that you found particularly helpful then post the url please !

Thanks

Dave

Atomic Pineapple · 28-09-2009 5:00pm

I made an Android app for my 4th year project.

found it to be very powerful without the need for extensive coding, made a location aware application without too much trouble or major set backs.

its not very good though but still I enjoyed making it and am just about to start all over again to try and make an actual useful app.

my website contains some info, not sure if you'll find any of it helpful, the references section might help.

http://www.donalrafferty.com/

As per the hype, I had to research Android and its potential and I agree with Sparks comments, Android hasn't taken off as well as I had hoped and Nokia not backing it is a big blow.

However the idea of Android and its openness will lead to some great apps being created and with more phone manufacturers on board I think it can become a success, not as much as the iphone but successful all the same.

Thanks for mentioning Maemo Sparks, its something I think I will look into as well.

EDIT:

I used these forums, some good info but not great forums, I'm sure theres better out there now - http://www.anddev.org/

thirtythirty · 28-09-2009 5:02pm

Dave! wrote: »

Cheers lads

I downloaded the SDK and the emulator is running... Ran a Hello World application Now have to dive into the complicated stuff

If you have any tutorials that you found particularly helpful then post the url please !

Thanks

Dave

Good stuff! Only tutorials i know of are http://androidforums.com/developer-101/

But ask in the developer forum there and im sure people will point you in the right direction.

Keep us posted on anything you're working on / anything you want beta tested!

thirtythirty · 07-10-2009 2:06pm

Just to re-affirm android's growth, here's the results of a gartner report

Sparks · 07-10-2009 2:13pm

Dude, those are predictions. AKA guesses

Here are some actual observed data for you.

From Boingo this June:

From JiWire's Q3 report:

thirtythirty · 07-10-2009 2:31pm

hehe i know, was waiting to see if it provoked anything though!

I'm well aware of current stats. However do remember that firstly, those are US stats which have a remarkably high level of iphone users compared to normal countries (probably cuz they were so far behind in phone hardware before that came out!), and more importantly those stats have extremely low blackberry rates for the penetration RIM have of the US...which gives some clue as to the demographic those stats are collected from, and therefore the accuracy of the overall data!

edit: glad to see the n95 appearing there - nokias greatest achievement in my eyes!

Sparks · 07-10-2009 3:30pm

They're the US specs, yes - here are some global ones from AdMob:

Android's not that big. S60 stuff is large because of the pre-iPhone established base, but the iPhone is still the 800lb gorilla and it's getting larger. Android's climbing, but even in the early rocket stage of growth, it's being outpaced by the iPhone. Same for the Pre, which given the time it's had on the market, is outpacing Android as well - but it's too early to really tell. Rim's declining too. And WinCE isn't even a player anymore really. PalmOS is already discontinued by Palm, that statistic is just legacy stuff.

Android development -- how to get started?

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