Posts

Intents and Extensions
Intents and Extensions I have been focused primarily on the Android platform for about 5 years, so the Intents framework is pretty much a part of my DNA at this point. When Twitter went aflame with...
On the Edge of the Sandbox: External Storage Permissions
On the Edge of the Sandbox: External Storage Permissions Much has been said lately about Android's external storage in the tech press. I'll be the first to admit that what we have now seems like a bit of a mess at first. With all...
Mastering the Android Touch System
Mastering the Android Touch System I recently gave a talk on the Android touch framework at AnDevCon. The abstract, recording and slides from my talk are below: How does Android handle touch? This talk provides...
Android Source Diving – Video Tutorial
Android Source Diving – Video Tutorial The skill that separates good Android developers from great ones is the ability to understand how the platform works through an ability to efficiently navigate through the...
Android’s New Launcher Paradigm
Android’s New Launcher Paradigm The ability to create a new Home/Launcher application for your Android device is not a new concept. There’s even a sample application in the SDK that shows you exactly what...
Bluetooth Smart for Android – Video Tutorial
Bluetooth Smart for Android – Video Tutorial Bluetooth Low Energy (or LE) is a very cool technology. The possibilities it enables for the connected world via mobile devices are simply amazing. Thanks to my friends over...
Fastboot on the BeagleBone Black
Fastboot on the BeagleBone Black When I first saw the BeagleBone Black, it was a no-brainer instant buy. An open platform, powerful enough to run Android effectively, for under $50, with an onboard eMMC for...
Watch That Baseline Alignment
Watch That Baseline Alignment I'll go out on a limb and say that every Android developer at one point or another uses LinearLayout to build a row of elements. Let’s take the following simple layout as an...
RenderScript Support for All
RenderScript Support for All I really like RenderScript. I love what it represents—that a schmuck like me can write performance-critical code that is architecture independent. I was even more enthralled...
iOS7: What’s New in Bluetooth LE?
iOS7: What’s New in Bluetooth LE? Core Bluetooth The Core Bluetooth Framework, which was introduced in iOS 5, put Apple and iOS at the forefront of enabling mobile developers to integrate Smart Bluetooth LE...
Android Inside…Well…Everything!
Android Inside…Well…Everything! You don't have to dig too deep into the tech press today to hear the buzz phrase "The Internet of Things" thrown around. The term is meant to describe how all of the...
Context, What Context?
Context, What Context? Context is probably the most used element in Android applications... it may also be the most misused. Context objects are so common, and get passed around so frequently, it...
Layout Inflation as Intended
Layout Inflation as Intended Layout inflation is the term used within the context of Android to indicate when an XML layout resource is parsed and converted into a hierarchy of View objects. Its common...
TextDrawable: Draw Some Text! Note: You can find the full source code for TextDrawable and the sample project on GitHub. The Drawable framework in Android is a neat and really flexible way to create...
Efficient Multi-Screen Resource Selection Since its inception, one of the key elements of the Android platform has been the tools provided in its resource framework to select appropriate assets tailored to the user's...
TextView Inner Shadows with EmbossMaskFilter A common request from designers that I work with is to draw text in an application that contains an inner shadow. An example of what this looks like is provided below (top...
Monitoring EditText Sessions Something that has bothered many Android developers (including myself) since the dawn of the soft keyboard is having a way to track the simple event of when a user is done...
Simplifying Interaction with Contacts With the introduction of the new ContactsContract to replace the previous Contacts API in Android 2.0, came a drastic increase in both functional capability and API complexity...
A Developer’s Adventures in Rooting Update: November 2011 As a comparison study, I spent some time going through the process of converting a "commercial" Nexus S 4G device (originally released via...
Synchronizing ScrollView Recently, Kirill Grouchnikov made a post on his blog providing details on how the Android Market app uses a synchronized scrolling technique to take a certain view from inside...
Multiple Clickable Zones in ListView Items Developers often have a need to create rows in a ListView that have multiple interactive locations that the user can touch, instead of just one single clickable row. This is a...
Manufacturing Unique R.id Values If you have been developing in Android for any length of time, you'll most likely be aware that one of the most useful portions the resource framework is the fact that Views...
Signing Up UITableView Thanks mainly to Apple's design choices when building the Settings app for iOS devices, the Grouped-Style UITableView has become the de facto standard UI for app developers to...
The Missing Manual: Android Bluetooth RFCOMM Update: As of Android 4.0.3 (API Level 15), the methods BluetoothDevice.fetchUuidsWithSdp() and BluetoothDevice.getUuids() have been made part of the public SDK, so developers...
Processing UIImagePickerController The UIImagePickerController class has been the developer's best friend and worst enemy since its introduction into the iPhone SDK in iOS 2.0. For those who have not used it,...