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Finally, the second android phone for the U.S.! T-Mobile has announced that the HTC MyTouch will be available for sale July 8th for existing T-Mobile customers and early August new T-Mobile customers. The price will be $199 with a 2 year contract. Thanks to Uncle Google, I was given this phone phone about 3 weeks ago when I More »
Hi everyone, I ran across and interesting post over @ the android developer group created by Dan Morril. He discusses the ins and outs of localizing your android app for other markets. I thought I’d repost it here. More »
Help me figure this one out…. again, Flurry analytics continues to provide interesting data. Apparently, a2b is being used in China and has been on a consistent basis since April 13th/14th. Not just on one network, but 2 ~ China Mobile and China Mobile Communications Corporation. I have no idea if these companies are one in the same but they both show up as separate networks on the Flurry report. More »
Is it weird to call a phone sexy?! haha. If loving android is wrong, I don’t want to be right! :) :) :) Anyways, enough of that… more big news in the world of android devices. Samsung is releasing their first android capable handset – Samsung I750. Here’s a quick video to wet your appetite. More »
Hey everyone, I just went through the process of trying to figure out how to unlock a T-Mobile G1 and use it on the ATT network. I was able to do it and believe it or not, so far it works flawlessly! I can download free apps, paid apps, and the data network works great! FYI ~ a2b works really well too! More »
If you’re interested in learning how to design you’re own android application or hearing about the pros/cons of being involved with android, you might want to check out this podcast. Randy and Suzanne from Motorola development ask me a series of questions and I provide Froogloid’s honest feedback. It’s a thriller… check it out :)
Enjoy! If you have any questions, comments or your own experiences, post em up!
Hi everyone, quick heads up ~ Froogloid will be featured on Motorola’s development podcast tomorrow 4/22 morning. If you have any android / Froogloid related questions feel free to post them here and I’ll make sure Motorola is aware.
Here’s link to podcast info: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/motodev/2009/04/22/MOTODEV-Android-Podcast-1
Date: 4/22/09
Time: 11:00 am cst
Occasionally I receive an email asking if it’s hard to design and build android applications and what’s the best way to get started. So, I figured it made sense to post a quick how-to on our blog on how to make a design. Unfortunately, I’m not a developer so I’ll only be covering the design aspects of the process. With that said, stay tuned for future dev how-to’s from Froogloid’s master android developer, Chris Pick.
First, chose an application idea that’s do-able. For example, don’t try to invent a time traveling mobile application your first time out the gate :) Once you have your idea, do some research to see who else is offering a similar product. If someone has already built an application that’s very similar to your idea, don’t be discouraged. The reality is, your idea is probably not an original. Study what other people have built and figure out a way to add additional features and streamline the apps usability. Often times it’s better that someone has already built a product similar to your idea so that you can learn from their design shortcomings.
Now that you have your idea, let’s get started with the design. First, if your not familiar with the Microsoft office application “visio”, I HIGHLY encourage you to learn. It’s a simple application that will allow you to create screenshot designs very easily and fast. If you’re a newbie check out the visio how-to video’s on youtube. Here’s one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDjmm0btO8 Here’s the best part…. a company by the name or artbitfuls has created a custom visio stencil specifically designed for android UI creation. You can download the stencil here and also see some of the designs they’ve created using visio. Keep in mind that visio is very helpful in regards to designing your layout and picking which android widgets to use. However, visio is not a great tool to design custom buttons and graphics. I would strongly encourage you to use photoshop for this. When designing, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The android SDK has provided a wealth of existing widgets to use in your design. USE THEM! Trust me, it will make your life so so so much easier! The previously mentioned visio stencil provides graphics of most of the widgets however, go here for a complete list.
When I make design I try to focus on one thing ~ “make the application as user friendly and intuitive as possible”. Here’s a tip: try to find the most non-techie person you know, in my case it’s my girlfriend, and without telling them anything about the application you’ve designed ask them to review the screenshots and provide a play by play on what the application does and how the user will interact with it. If you’ve designed, let’s say, a bowling game and they think you’ve designed a baseball game you’ve got a problem :) It’s best to change your design as early in the process as possible. Otherwise you’ll have a very angry developer :)
Here’s a couple before and after screenshots of a2b. You’ll notice the layouts are very similar but the actual graphics are different.
Visio Designs:
Built Application:
