developers - 5/8 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

windup-knight-now-available-for-android-mixes-classic-platforming-with-unique-visual-style_waut-_0

Watch The Android Developer Story Of Wind-Up Knight

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

Over on the AndroidDevelopers YouTube account, Google has produced a little video about the development of Wind-Up Knight.

It's a short interview with the founders of Robot Invader, the developer behind the game. They talk about what a good idea it was to develop for Android, and go over some of Android's advantages for developers. They reach 100 devices with a single binary, they can update builds in 24 hours, (*ahem* ..Apple) and they're approaching a million users in only 2 weeks.

The video appeared with the Android.com redesign, which has all sorts of great stuff on it.

Nov

[Video] Paradroid Is A Self-Navigating, Skydiving Robot Controlled By An Onboard Android Handset

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, Videos

Adding to the list of awesome Android-related gadgetry, Tomer Weller and Yossi Sorin have created Paradroid, a self-navigating skydiving robot powered by an attached Android handset.

Beginning as a project for Google Developer's day ADK challenge, Paradroid is still a work in progress. That being said, it already seems to have some impressive capabilities, functioning from heights of over 1000ft., parachuting safely to the ground, and navigating to a predetermined location, all while sending back handy status reports.

While it's already a pretty amazing device, it will be interesting to see how the project progresses, and what applications will be found for the Paradroid, outside being a fun curiosity.

Oct

Google TV SDK Goes Final, Start Coding!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Development, Google TV, News

Hey GTV fans: Fantastic news! The final version of the Google TV SDK went live today - Google TV is still alive! This is a follow up to the preview build released in August.

Apparently, the differences between this and the preview version are pretty minor: by popular demand, the Action Bar now renders horizontally (like tablets), and there are additional on-screen quick access keys, like picture-in-picture, fast forward, and channel buttons.

The finalization of the SDK means it's time for developers to really get cracking. So fire up your Linux box, grab the add-on from the SDK Manager, and get to work!

Aug

HTC Officially Opens Doors At HTCDev.com With The OpenSense Framework - Stereoscopic 3D And Pen SDKs Now Serving

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, HTC, News

The HTC dev site, HTCDev.com, announced in early June, opened its doors a few minutes ago to welcome developers from all over the globe into the wonderful world of what HTC is calling OpenSense. OpenSense is a collection of APIs, which currently includes Stereoscopic 3D, Pen, and Common Controls. Developers can download the OpenSense SDK, and view sample code together with handy API docs.

In addition to the OpenSense framework, HTCDev.com is also a new home for all HTC kernel source and ROM update downloads, various FAQs, and, probably the most interesting bit - the Bootloader Unlock tool (coming soon).

Jun

HTC Launches HTCDev.com, Announces OpenSense SDK With Scribe Tablet Pen And Stereoscopic 3D APIs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, HTC, News

In another step toward becoming one of the most dev-friendly Android manufacturers, HTC today launched HTCdev.com, a website "dedicated to providing you with the tools, advice, and community you need to pursue the possibilities."

The vast majority of the site's content has to do with the OpenSense SDK, which should be launching... sometime in the future (though you can sign up for emails about it now). HTC doesn't go into details about what it does, stating only that it will allow developers to write applications better integrated into Sense UI. Specifically, HTC notes that devs will be able to access a "Tablet pen API" for the Flyer/View 4G as well as a "Stereoscopic 3D display API" for the EVO 3D.

May

[I/O 2011] Q&A With Core Android Developers - Some Of Your Questions Answered

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, News

On the night before Google I/O 2011, I posted an open call for any questions you might have had for Google core developers. And you delivered - within a few hours, we had over 50 questions of varying complexities, and I realized I was in trouble. Office hours are meant for developers asking dev questions, whereas most of the ones you've asked were about policies and availability. Still, I proceeded to ask away at office hours and at the end of each session, fearing being shunned forever. Unsurprisingly, some devs would force me to move on after realizing the volume of questions, but some persistently tried answering, referring me to the right people along the way if they didn't know something.

Apr

Unhappy Developers: 86% Say Android Fragmentation Is A Problem

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, News

A recent study by William Powers of Baird Research has revealed that a whopping 86% of developers think that Android fragmentation is a problem. While only 24% of devs described it as a "huge problem," it doesn't discredit the fact that the overall percentage was so outrageous.

Venture capitalist Fred Wilson still recommends developers write for Android before iOS, as he predicts that iPhone vs. Android is just a remake of Macintosh vs. Windows. Of course, there are a certain number of developers that write for both platforms, many of whom found that it was easier to get exposure on iOS than Android, citing the amount of "junk apps" in the Android Market as the reason.

Apr

Android Developers Helplessly Fuming Over App Publishing Console Downtime - 4 Days And Counting

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Development, News

On March 31st, the Android Developer Console, which developers use to publish their apps to the Market, started experiencing issues that ranged from 404s and disappearing applications to missing statistics and apps that no longer obeyed.

As more and more panicking developers chimed in with similar experiences to multiple support threads, the only response from Google so far came from an employee named Ash back on the very first day, apologizing for the inconvenience and then shortly after announcing that all issues had been fixed.

Except they weren't.

The next day was April Fools' - nice prank, Google. Reports from devs all over the world kept flooding support forums, but Google was not responding anymore, even though April 1st was Friday - a workday, and this was no laughing matter (although they did fix something obviously more important).

Mar

Google Wants You To Earn That Free I/O Ticket; Announces 10 Day Developer Challenge

Posted by Zak Stinson in Android OS, Contests / Giveaways, Development, News, Tips & Tutorials

When Google opened registration for I/O, demand from the public made the Tickle-Me-Elmo rush look like a small group of seniors enjoying a day at the mall. After the servers were slammed for a total of 59 minutes, every last ticket had been sold, at least according to Google. At the end of February, tickets for the event (and the supposed hardware goodies that come with attending) were being hocked on eBay for $2000. Given those two facts, I'm guessing you didn't manage to get your golden ticket.

Well, if you are a talented developer, there is still one last ray of hope.

Feb

Official Gingerbread ROM Leaked For European And Asian Samsung Galaxy S i9000 Phones

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Samsung

The XDA forums are on fire this afternoon after a user posted a thread linking to a Polish Android forum, claiming to contain a download for an official Gingerbread build for the Samsung Galaxy S i9000. Before you get too excited, let me reiterate: this is not for US devices, and I would not recommend trying it on your Captivate/Vibrant/Fascinate/Epic.

That said, the handy development community will get their paws on this and have a field day, so you may be seeing unofficial Gingerbread ROMs for US phones (aside from CyanogenMod 7) start floating around on XDA in the next week or so.