Part 2. Exercising the Android SDK

The Android SDK provides a rich set of functionality enabling developers to create a wide range of applications. In part 2 we systematically examine the major portions of the Android SDK, including practical examples in each chapter. We start off with a look at the application lifecycle and user interfaces (chapter 3), graduating to Intents and Services (chapter 4). No platform discussion is complete without a thorough examination of the available persistence and stor-age methods (chapter 5) and in today’s connected world, we cannot overlook core networking and web services skills (chapter 6). Because the Android platform is a telephone, among other things, we take a look at the telephony capabilities of the platform (chapter 7). Next we move on to notifications and alarms (chapter 8). Android graphics and animation are covered (chapter 9) as well as multimedia (chapter 10). Part 2 concludes with a look at the location-based services available to the Android developer (chapter 11).