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Q. Where do I even begin to really understand what Android really is about???
A. Attend our trainings / workshops / presentations
A. See the Google I/O Video tutorials listed here…
A. Work on it.
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Q. Are there actual physical Android devices?
A. Yes, as of this writing, the HTC “Dream” T-Mobile G1 and the unlocked Google Android Developer Phone 1 (ADP1). Also, very recently (24 Feb 2009) the HTC “Magic” Vodafone G2 has been released. All handsets have been built by OHA-member HTC.
Update [2 May '09]:
Samsung has just released the Samsung I7500 Android mobile smartphone; the announcement was made on 27 April 2009.
Application Development
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Q. Prerequisites?
A. You should know (at least the basics of) Java programming. -
Q. How does one develop applications for Android?
A. First, download and install the SDK. Read the Developer Guides, tutorials, books (etc). Write applications (using Java, and probably, the Eclipse IDE with the Android ADT plugin). Start here.
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Q. Is there a basic “Hello, World” for Android tutorial I can follow?
A. Yup. -
Q. What about Mailing Lists / Support Groups?
A. Indeed there are; see this page. -
Q. Besides the on-line tutorials/groups, is there a good book(s) on Android application development available?
A. Yes of course. I personally have “Professional Android Application Development” by Reto Meier, Wrox Press. It’s pretty comprehensive.
There are several books, in fact (and certainly more to come).
As a quick start, “The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development” by Mark L Murphy, Commonsware, LLC, looks to be a very good book.
Internals
- Q. Is there a “global” place I can get started on Android Internals?
A. Google is your friend
A. Well, try the Android Internals Wiki site, a good jump-off point.
A. There are (too?) many (specifically targeted) Android-related groups/mailing lists also of course.
A. Also, one can search within all Android-related mailing lists from here.
Direction, Contribution
- Q. Is there a formal road map for Android?
A. Yes. - Q. Can I contribute toward the effort?
- A. Yes. Details here and here.
Other
- Q. What if I need to glue-in some C (or C++) code (perhaps for speed-sensitive code paths)?
A. One can do that, using JNI. A blog post on this topic.
