Need Suggestion

[cyang]

I am thinking to start learning about Android and was wondersing do I need an Android phone or Andorid tablet device. I know I can use the default emulator inside the sdk, but eventually I would like to package the apk to a real device.

I am a developer for client/server and web applications development for the past 15 years, so I think I have a pretty good idea about programming in general. I just need a few pointers to get me started in the right direction.

I have tried Goggle Appinventor, it's was a good idea, but the block editor got me confused, and a single view not really got me excited. I am more comfortable with codes then visual gadgets.

Eclipse and Java, well, if I spend 24 hours a day, then I am probably going to be very productive coder within a month or two. But right now, I only have a few hours here and there and a full-time job.

Basic4Android seems to be a easy but also powerful tools to learn and develop Android applications. I am really thinking to purchase the licenses and start learning. Just wondering what else do I need to develop my marketable Android applications? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mistermentality]

Basic4Android seems to be a easy but also powerful tools to learn and develop Android applications. I am really thinking to purchase the licenses and start learning. Just wondering what else do I need to develop my marketable Android applications? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

You need B4A and of course the free Android SDK from Google and the Java JDK (also free) but once setup you don't need to get grips with those as the B4A ide interacts with those for you.

For testing your apps an emulator is great for simple stuff like designing layouts or seeing how the app will look at different screen resolutions but it is useful to have an actual Android device.

I have my Android phone, it's a basic 320x480 screen so I design for that and where needed adjust the layout for different screen sizes using the emulator.

The majority of Android devices tend to be phones, though there are many more Android tablets appearing, so having an android phone would be useful for testing your apps.

If you want an easy way to get your apps to lots of different Android users once you've developed them the best option is to sign up as registered Google developer which enables you to publish applications on the Android market. They charge a one off fee of I think $25.

Dave

 

[cyang]

Thanks Dave for your extensive comments.

Anyone know about best Android Phone or Android Tablet that I should keep an eye for them?

 

[mistermentality]

I can't recommend models but I can tell you that out of the apps I have on the market out of 13,000 downloads the device screen resolutions are pretty evenly split between my own devices resolution (320x480) and screen resolutions of around 800.

The smaller screen resolutions are more commonly used but not by a large amount (its about 60 % to 40% in favour of the lower screen resolution) with the most widespread version of Android being version 2 (2.1 and 2.2 devices account for just under ninety percent of all my app downloads with version 2.2 accounting for 61%).

Not sure if this will help you, and it is just in relation to my own apps which are all simple and free apps, so that may affect who chooses to use them but it seems version 2.2 of Android is most widely used with a medium to high screen resolution and most devices are currently mobile phones.

Obviously I have to point out 13,000 downloads is not much over a couple of months but hopefully the data will be of some help in giving you an idea what sort of specifications to look for on a device.

Dave

 

[cyang]

Dave,

Actually, this is very helpful info to know. I read something about most of the Android apps were running on 2.1 or 2.2 SDK. If you don't mind, may I look up one of you apps developed by using basic4android? This would help me to decide whether continue the path of Eclipse+Java or basic4android? Thanks.

 

[mistermentality]

Dave,

Actually, this is very helpful info to know. I read something about most of the Android apps were running on 2.1 or 2.2 SDK. If you don't mind, may I look up one of you apps developed by using basic4android? This would help me to decide whether continue the path of Eclipse+Java or basic4android? Thanks.

I am still learning the language and my code is not as good as some, I have an app (gps app) in the share your creations forum but for an example of what can be achieved you might want to see some of the posts there from others as mine don't do the power of the language justice.

In the forum you can also find my magic eight ball app with source code if you want to see what you can achieve in a short space of time.

I think there are only two apps on the market I haven't posted here so the forum may be more useful as you'll also see the code involved

Dave

 

[cyang]

Thanks, Dave.

I will check out your apps soon. I guess I just want to see a few sample of apps developed by b4a. I am interested in Business related or Utilities, but not complete rule out of 2D or 3D games. I am not a game developer, just want to learn how a Android game is developed, that's all.

Charles