If you've been following Android Police, you've probably seen the Android programming book giveaway series that we're doing together with O'Reilly Media and now informIT (#1, #2, #3, #4). It's time to announce the winners of the 4th giveaway, selected by the joint AP/informIT panel, who will receive a brand new copy of Android Wireless Application Development (2nd Edition).
Again, the question was:
What kind of app are you thinking of making as your first project?
Here are the winners and their comments:
The first app I have in mind is a soundboard game for toddlers. Locks down all of the hard and soft buttons and puts from large, colorful shapes on the screen that change and make sounds when pressed.
Eric:
I wish to develop a mobile Android version of the Enhanced 911 Emergency Response mapbooks that are widely used by Volunteer Fire and Rescue departments nationwide to quickly identify response addresses/locations. In our modest 35+K population county alone the mapbook is 300+ printed pages, and over 2 inches thick. Some region's mapbooks are almost twice this size. I'd like to port these books to an app, eventually possibly utilizing voice recognition, for fire and rescue personnel to use in more quickly, efficiently and effectively responding to these emergencies.
I've been thinking about an app for Meetup.com.
Using your meetup account and gps, you can find out when you are close to another person at the meetup, making it much easier to get the group together when in places like pubs/parks etc.
Perhaps even have an augmented reality feature that can link names to faces just by looking at them with the phone camera. Oh wait, that's an app in itself, after all, who doesn't find it hard remembering someone's name 20 seconds after being introduced!
I want to make an application that is both web and android based. The application will be like a online classroom. Using Google+'s API which is hopefully released soon. Classes would be managed through circles. Circles will be able to be locked down by instructors and sub groups created. The application would also link in with live video in the classrooms for when you are not able to make it. As well as a dashboard for the instructor to ask questions during presentations. Basically I want to revolutionize the classroom.
It wouldn't be true to say what I'm doing now is my "first app". That's because my first app was started way back in a days of the first ADC (Android Developers Challenge, a developers competition for than-newly-announced platform, for those who don't remember). But I was only working part time on Android projects, writing some stuff for other people mostly, doing a bit consulting, etc.
But now I'm finally free to do whatever I want! I've quit a full-time job to become a full time independent Android developer, and already have few project in pipeline and hopefully will able to release my first own Android apps to the Market soon. I'm currently working on two games, and one productivity app using finally implementing "for real" the idea that have been conceived during ADC - a universal tracker app, which allows to track borrowed disks, books, money, remind people and you about the time to return items, catalog items and keep track of their history.
Congratulations, guys - all of you will be contacted by informIT for your information and shipped a brand new copy of Android Wireless Application Development (2nd Edition).
Everyone else - keep participating to win more great Android development books!