Get thoroughly up to speed on Android programming, and learn how to create up-to-date user experiences for both handsets and tablets. With this book's extensively revised second edition, you'll focus on Android tools and programming essentials, including best practices for using Android 4 APIs. If you're experienced with Java or Objective-C, you'll gain the knowledge necessary for building well-engineered applications.

"Programming Android" is organized into four parts: Part One helps programmers with some Java or iOS experience get off to a fast start with the Android SDK and Android programming basics.Part Two delves into the Android framework, focusing on user interface and graphics class hierarchies, concurrency, and databases. It's a solid foundation for understanding of how the most important parts of an Android application work.Part Three features code skeletons and patterns for accelerating the development of apps that use web data and Android 4 user interface conventions and APIs.Part Four delivers practical coverage of Android's multimedia, search, location, sensor, and account APIs, plus the Native Development Kit, enabling developers to add advanced capabilities.

This updated edition of "Programming Android" focuses on the knowledge and developer priorities that are essential for successful Android development projects.

Want to build apps for Android devices? This book is the perfect way to master the fundamentals. Written by experts who have taught this mobile platform to hundreds of developers in large organizations and startups alike, this gentle introduction shows experienced object-oriented programmers how to use Android's basic building blocks to create user interfaces, store data, connect to the network, and more. Throughout the book, you'll build a Twitter-like application, adding new features with each chapter. You'll also create your own toolbox of code patterns to help you program any type of Android application with ease. Become familiar with the Android platform and how it fits into the mobile ecosystem Dive into the Android stack, including its application framework and the APK application package Learn Android's building blocks: Activities, Intents, Services, Content Providers, and Broadcast Receivers Create basic Android user interfaces and organize UI elements in Views and Layouts Build a service that uses a background process to update data in your application