Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform

Android combines the ubiquity of cell phones, the excitement of open source software, and the corporate backing of Google and other Open Handset Alliance members. The result is a mobile platform you can't afford to ignore. This second edition is completely updated for Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and Android 1.6 (Donut), with new appendixes on creating widgets and selling your application in the Android Market.

You don't even need an Android phone-just install the Android SDK and the phone emulator that comes with it onto a convenient computer. Within minutes, Hello, Android will get you creating your first working application: Android's version of "Hello, World."

From there, you'll build up a more substantial example: an Android Sudoku game. You'll learn about many aspects of Android programming: creating user interfaces (including touch, D-pad, and keyboard input), building location-based services (including GPS and cell-tower triangulation), and working with sensors (harnessing the compass and the accelerometer).

You'll also see how to build in audio and video support, add graphics using 2D and 3D OpenGL, network with web pages and web services, and store data with SQLite. You'll get a full overview of the Android application life cycle.

If you'd rather be coding than reading about coding, this book is for you.

Ed Burnette is a software industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience as a programmer, author, and speaker. His development credits include everything from commercial video games to high-performance grid computing systems. Ed is a founding member and senior researcher at the SAS Advanced Computing Lab. Ed has authored numerous technical articlesand books, including Google Web Toolkit: Taking the Pain Out of Ajax and Eclipse IDE Pocket Guide. He writes the Dev Connection blog for ZDNet and is the creator of Planet Android (planetandroid.com).