Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
5 Social Apps for your droid
1. Facebook for Android
This is your digital-assistant to the largest social network on the globe, the facebook.
You can use your android device to stay connected to the network, and simply share with your friends.
Pros
- chat with your friends, with out using any third party applications
- Stay tuned in for your News Feed,
- Check in to Places to get Deals,
- Upload your favorite Photos with one click
- Share Your Favorite links with friends,
- Check your Messages, and watch videos.
- Available for Free with no advertisements
Cons
- Crashes and Force closes sometimes
- Very Slow on low end droids (even on Froyo)
- Reportedly having issues when running on ICS
Bottom-line- Facebook For Android is a good application, providing you with most of the practical tools to connect with your friends, however with little bit of trouble, including slow performance on older devices.
2. Go Chat For Facebook by SPARTANBITS
One of the best chat applications available for Android. Available in free and pro versions, and the free version is a sufficient choice for the average user
Pros.
- Easy and simple UI
- Easy to understand
- Smileys
- Facebook groups
- Favorites notifications
- Share images and location
- Send video, photos and voice notes over Facebook chat
Cons
- Consumes more battery power
- Group Chat can be buggy
3. FriendCaster for Facebook
This is similar to facebook for Android, and available both as free and paid versions
Pros
- You can Upload multiple photos
- View the Photos that your Friend’s are tagged in on Facebook
- View and Tag Friends in Photos on Facebook
- Upload Photos to Groups and Pages (that you own) on Facebook
- Videos
- Upload Video to Facebook
- Upload multiple videos with the Gallery App
Cons
- Reported Bugs and issues
4. MB Notifications for Facebook
This is a useful application to get your facebook notifications directly to your device.
Pros
- Options to view notifications
- In facebook for android application ( if installed)
- In FriendCaster (Free and Pro both supported) (if installed)
- In the browser
5. CheckIn
Another facebook app for your device which would keep you busy with the network
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Best Android Resources for Beginners
Android revolutionized the mobile OS industry, starting from version 1.0 not so long ago, and most recently upgrading to version 4.0 better known as Ice Cream Sandwich. While the journey was very amazing, which saw the birth of numerous masterpieces of smartphones with miraculous capabilities like Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation, and recently Galaxy Nexus by Google and Samsung, the marketplace it created for individuals and smaller companies is remarkable.
It is a very interesting task after all, to program in android.Its open source nature has made the android marketpack with thousands and thousands of great applications, now even the Amazon app store. I tried here to include information about some very useful Android resources for the beginners, both the useful websites and interesting books.
The Web Sites
This is the best and first place to start with. Start form setting up your Android SDK, and walk through every nook and corner in android. Almost everything you ever want to hear about android is here. This also provides tools, sample codes, documents you need to create magnificent applications. Never Miss This.
Also do not forget to check their blog android-developers.blogspot.com where you will find interesting stuff, including latest news (I felt the blog is for somewhat advanced developers in android, anyway when you become familiar with the stuff, you should never miss this too.
This Q and A site is a great place to get answers to your problems related to developing in android from experts. In fact it is mostly for advanced developers in android, but as a beginner you have many things to collect from this great-easy to use site. So don’t miss this.
This site is equally useful for beginners as well as advanced developers. You can find very useful posts, tutorials, sample codes and threads. You can post comments and even in the comment section you can ask the author about your problems related to the post and get further explanations.
- Some other sites (I haven’t used them much)
The Books
Android Apps for Absolute Beginners by Wallace Jackson
This is the best book to start with if you are totally new to computer programming. No knowledge in java or OOP (Object Oriented Programming) is necessary to follow this book. Although it contains only the basic features of the Android Platform, if you are just starting, this will be great.This Provides a Basic Introduction to Android, and then starting from downloading the Android SDK, JDK (Java Development Kit) and Eclipse, this book eventually guides you towards other Android features. Added advantages are instructions to create android icons in Adobe Photoshop, and the brief introductions about Java, OOP (Object Oriented Programming) and about XML.(Also available as a Kindle Edition)
Android Development for Dummies by Donn Felker with Joshua Dobbs
A great read. Provides a good introduction about the android odds and ends and takes you to the core features of the subject gradually. Includes a step by step guide to develop a feature rich Task Manager Application. Provides instructions for creating an account in the android market and publishing your applications, about pricing and monitoring the downloads etc. Plus you get a bonus chapter about additional tools useful to make your development procedure easier, tools to design the graphical user interface, to design icons for your applications etc.( Also available as a Kindle Edition)
Beginning Android by Mark L. Murphy
I haven’t personally used this book so I do not know much stuff. Any way the book expects you to have some knowledge in java. Also it does not include basic steps about downloading and installing the SDK.However the contents look nice. So give it a try. An added advantage is that the source codes used in the book are available for download on the Apress Web site www.apress.com (This book is also available as a Kindle Edition)
Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours
By Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder
This book is of course good, but personally I didn’t like it much when I was just starting Android, because I felt the presentation was somewhat messy. But the contents are great. The writes assume that you read the book in order, so they have avoided repeating the code discussed in earlier pages. That urges you to master the learnt materials thoroughly before you start the next thing. This is very good, to become proficient in a short time, because you avoid the habit of copy pasting the code.
Beginning Android Application Development by Wei- Meng Lee
Another great choice to be made. Starting from the very beginning this book guides you toward the advanced features of android. You are provided with a big amount of sample codes, and includes a How it Works feature, under your codes, so you can clarify what happened at each line you just typed. A great help. And also provides you instructions about publishing your Applications in the Android Market, and about using Eclipse for Android Development
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