Robi’s blog

In case you are wondering why I keep posting Google Android code snippets the reason is I have been working on a book called Unlocking Android: A Developers Guide from Manning Press. I happen to have written a few chapters for this upcoming book and I think if you are interested in Android as a platform you should really check it out. I have seen several of the other books and in my biased opinion ours seems to have the greatest breadth and depth. Two of the Authors have just done a fantastic job on their sections especially considering the difficulty of trying to write against a SDK/API that’s in flux and has made some radical changes and may make some more.

Anyways here is some background on the book from Manning and if you want to get access to the book now I suggest you check out Manning’s Early Access Program (MEAP) which lets you get the content now.

“Android is an open source mobile phone platform based on the Linux operating system and developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of over 30 hardware, software and telecom companies that focus on open standards for mobile devices. Led by search giant, Google, Android is designed to deliver a better and more open and cost effective mobile experience.

Unlocking Android: A Developer’s Guide provides concise, hands-on instruction for the Android operating system and development tools. This book teaches important architectural concepts in a straightforward writing style and builds on this with practical and useful examples throughout. Based on his mobile development experience and his deep knowledge of the arcane Android technical documentation, the author conveys the know-how you need to develop practical applications that build upon or replace any of Androids features, however small.

Android has been available in pre-release form for only a few months now, with actual hardware still months away from commercial availability, and already thousands of software developers have embraced it as a potential market mover to rival the incumbent cell phone platforms.

Unlocking Android: A Developer’s Guide prepares the reader to embrace the platform in easy-to-understand language and builds on this foundation with re-usable Java code examples. It is ideal for corporate and hobbyists alike who have an interest, or a mandate, to deliver software functionality for cell phones.“