http://www.androiddev.co.uk/index.htmlLatest BlogenJane FisherCopyright 2011, Organise Ltd2012-04-23T10:48:20+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Fri, 11 May 2012 10:42:55 +0100Jane FisherLiam's Blog2012-04-23T10:48:20+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/8a2ea9d4d0fecf48ab127d666991f8c6-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/8a2ea9d4d0fecf48ab127d666991f8c6-11.html#unique-entry-id-11With JobFinder on the iTunes Apple store hitting many downloads (approx. 100,000) and the figures still increasing, we have decided to create the app on the Android platform and update the current iPhone version. This will be the first Android Application project Jane and I will be publishing live, which will be a great challenge. When the application is finished we will be submitting it to the Google Play store and the Amazon Android App store.

Recently I have been doing research on the App stores and studies have shown Amazon’s Appstore is generating more revenue per day than Google Play store. Amazon examines apps for quality and attracts customers to return daily with promotions so it may not be that surprising.  Also current users with Amazon accounts can simply make one click instant purchases if they have their credit card information stored on their profile. This makes purchasing very simple and helps boost the numbers.

Before purchasing apps on the Amazon store users can preview them using TestDrive. This enables them to get a taste of the app using an Android device emulator that runs in their browser. Now with the Google Play store the situation is a lot different, previously you would have been able to purchase the application and have 24 hours to claim a refund if you didn't like it or didn't think it was worth the money. However there have been issues with this as some gaming apps are so simple they can be completed in far less than a day. So Google have made a change, users now only get 15minutes to claim a refund. The Play Stores now also allow developers to host apps up to 4GB.

So where do you get your apps from? Do you have a preference?
source - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401702,00.asp ]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2012-03-06T11:18:05+00:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/1feef786aef0928b4de027c539825303-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/1feef786aef0928b4de027c539825303-9.html#unique-entry-id-9 For Facebook you first need a personal profile before you can create a company page. It only takes few minutes,following quick and simple steps. Once that is complete you can create the company page. Here is an example, AndroidDevUK.
Facebook allows you to have your own custom url with your own information, photos, events and links to your main website, androiddev.co.uk. It is great for brand exposure and customer relations.
I have been maintaining the Facebook page for a few months now, creating a small community of people interested in the Android field. For those who only look at the ROI we haven't received any business through Facebook yet, but the page is gaining likes and shares at a good rate so the company name is getting spread around a bit more which can only be a good thing.
Facebook now provides a nice summary of the progress of your company page;


For Twitter to be useful it is good to create a username your clients and customers will recognise - @AndroidDevUK. You should then follow potential customers, existing clients and other users that are in your field.
Use other social media websites with links to your Twitter account to let people know you have joined. You can then quickly respond to people and also direct message chat.
As with Facebook I have been maintaining the Twitter account, I have been gaining a few followers each month, some which have tweeted me questions. I have also been asked about the website which confirms that linking all social media and the websites up together has been useful. However you do have to be aware of promoting too much. You must find a balance between content and spam because this can lead to a loss of followers.



For Google+ A step-by-step guide is provided to you for setting up your Google + page. You can have your own company user name but unfortunately not your own URL (the best way to shortened/customise the Google Plus URL is to use gplus.to ,e.g. gplus.to/AndroidDevUk). To get started you should add work colleagues and customers in your Google + Circles which are already created for you, there are customisable according to your needs. With the circles you can post content just aimed for the specific audience of that circle. I have only started using Google + since December, the business page rapidly started to get +1s to the name. I linked the Google + account on Twitter and Facebook to notify people I had joined Google + and this has helped me gain more people. The content I post is the same through out Facebook and Twitter but it seems that Google + has been attracting more interest with people sharing the page.



What social media is your company making use of? Do you find it helps find you new customers or even new friends? Or do you feel it takes up too much time for so little reward? Feel free to Tweet me, post to my wall or add me to your circle to give me your feedback.
]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2012-03-06T11:05:05+00:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/d6be16bab640d2228fb7a027fad3402e-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/d6be16bab640d2228fb7a027fad3402e-8.html#unique-entry-id-8Head First Java.
This book is excellent for people who want to learn programming for Java, as Java is used to create Android applications it is a great way to learn the basics from the start. Head First Java is very clearly explained for people who have no programming experience, just like me. It has a variety of ways of providing the information, there is straight text, quizzes, images with text and few jokes which keeps it from being boring.
I tried to learn Android application development straight away but I was very confused with what was going on and what I was doing. I first started off with Beginning Android Application Development, as you may have read on the previous article. This development guide explained how Java was applied to Android application development but didn’t really show me the basic roots on how Java worked. Head First Java has really helped me to understand the key basics of programming.

Once I have completed the book (or a large part of it) and I am confident to move on from Head First Java I will then start to go through Android for Beginners. Stay in tuned as I will be doing more articles on my progress towards Android development. ]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2012-03-06T10:39:56+00:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/01d21a0df7c2bde24b98eeb01030b5f3-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/01d21a0df7c2bde24b98eeb01030b5f3-7.html#unique-entry-id-7Super AMOLED display and 6GB of storage, with a 5 megapixel rear and VGA front-facing camera.

The first thing you notice with Ice Cream Sandwich running is the lock screen, you can go straight into the unlock or straight into the camera. This is improving the speed of access to the camera, which is a great shortcut. With the App Draw instead of scrolling up and down it has been changed to scroll left to right now, which I personally find better. Another cool feature you have is widget tab right within that space. You can resize the widgets to suit your needs making it more customisable to suit you. Creating folders is different now; you just drop an app on top of another to create a folder.

The YouTube app has changed for ICS, it is more brightly lit up than the previous one, as it was much darker on the gingerbread and it seemed quite crammed as well. It now runs a lot smoother with shortcuts and quick advance searching. Messaging – the new voice recognition comes up instantly and picks up the words as you are speaking which is pretty cool for those who speak out before they text! The browser has a few new changes, you have the new window tabs, and you can save pages for offline reading now. The final new feature that I like is the camera. You can now do panorama shots, whereas before I had to download an app to do this, and there are some new editing options providing some features similar to Instagram.

P.S. (Note From Jane) At MWC this year they were giving away real Ice Cream Sandwiches every half an hour, much to the delight of the waiting crowd. I can vouch for the fact that the real thing was just as good as the technical version!

]]>Jane FisherJane's Blog2011-10-26T10:48:01+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/3b466a05bd15edd61dde7d8dc03f2800-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/3b466a05bd15edd61dde7d8dc03f2800-6.html#unique-entry-id-6 I found this great site where you can create your own charts based on the data held against smartphone usage. So I tried it out and have got some expected and some surprising results.]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2011-10-12T13:56:34+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Basics%20-%20Adding%20buttons%20in%20Android.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Basics%20-%20Adding%20buttons%20in%20Android.html#unique-entry-id-5
Mark, my employer gave me an Android For Beginners development guide which was much easier to follow. However the guide didn't cover the different ways you can achieve the same results.

For example, following the guide, I was writing code in the main.xml to create buttons . . .

<Button android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:text="Button"
android:id="@+id/button1"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
></Button>
<Button
android:id="@+id/button2"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:text="Button" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
></Button>
<Button
android:id="@+id/button3"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Button" ></Button>


. . which took a lot of time. Then Mark showed me how I could just easily drag and drop the actual button in the graphical layout.




I Understand the guide was trying to return to absolute basics, in order to explain what the coding means. However not showing any alternative ways to do something so critical to app development was not very helpful.

It just shows you can’t beat having an expert on hand to help you along the way!]]>Jane FisherMark's Blog2011-09-21T14:51:24+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Using%20Market%20Intent.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Using%20Market%20Intent.html#unique-entry-id-4Sometimes, when developing, the functionality you require is already available via an Intent provided by another app. A list of these Intents is available here.

However in order to use these intents within your app the user also has to have the app with the intent installed on their device. If the user doesn't have the app installed you want to automatically point them to the apps that they require, i.e. open up the Android Market at the right page ready for them to install it. The user can then install the required app and perform a back action to return to your app. This can be achieved with a simple piece of code.

Lets say for example you want to incorporate barcode scanning within your app. You could utilise ZXing. So within the method where you are trying to access the intent (i.e. scan a barcode) you can add code like this:-

       try        {            Intent newIntent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN");            startActivityForResult(newIntent, BARCODE_SCAN );        }        catch (Exception e)        {            String zxingUrl = "market://details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android";            Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,                    Uri.parse(zxingUrl));            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);            startActivity(intent);        }
The FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY value stops the marketplace from being kept on the history stack. so as soon as the user navigates away from it the marketplace is killed and the user will be returned to your app.]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2011-09-14T11:19:47+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Starting%20Off.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Starting%20Off.html#unique-entry-id-3This is my first blog for the website, so let me introduce myself. My name is Liam. I am currently doing an internship with a local iPhone, Android and Blackberry App development company. Since I am new to this field I have been looking for a beginners guide for Android Development to get me started. Going through a dozen of websites I found that Android Developers was the most useful. It has loads of information to download from the development software to beginners tutorials. Now it is time to download the kit, install the components and get cracking on with my first project - Hello World, of course!
]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2011-09-14T11:30:00+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Starting%20Development.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/Starting%20Development.html#unique-entry-id-2As I have just started to get into Android development I have been searching around for a useful guide to help me progress my learning into the development of Apps. Android Blog Spot is the home for Android Developers. It has all the resources, references and a development guide which I am currently following at the moment. Anybody who wants to start learning Android Development I highly recommend for you to use this website.

Check out -

Android Blog Spot - provides project's news, tips and tricks and development examples.






]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2011-09-12T12:08:49+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/0aefe84c5a5e708583c8d43211719ac9-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/0aefe84c5a5e708583c8d43211719ac9-1.html#unique-entry-id-1 Google Voice

BUMP

Documents To Go 3.0

Locale

AK Notepad

]]>Jane FisherLiam's Blog2011-09-11T13:37:37+01:00http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/c519508f3d865a12d01afd497ee6b9ca-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.androiddev.co.uk/files/c519508f3d865a12d01afd497ee6b9ca-0.html#unique-entry-id-0#4 Samsung Galaxy S 4G
#3 Nexus S
#2 Motorola Droid X
#1 HTC EVO 4G

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