1. Applico…
Android...
…and All the Above

2. Agenda
 Applico: Who We Are
 Android – What is it?
 Android Classic
 Android Tablet
 Android Now - ICS
 Android Compatibility
 Future of Android

3. Applico
 Headquartered in Manhattan (23rd and
3rd), with offices in LA, Chicago and
Boston (2012)
 We make mobile apps … and more!
 Technical footprints come from the DoD
 We don’t just make apps, we make
systems.

4. Android – What is it?
 Technology stack that includes an
operating system and a set of APIs
 Based on the Linux kernel and Java.
Supports SQLite for data storage
 Supports various media formats
 Integrated browser based on WebKit …..
And More!

5. Android 1.6 – 2.X
 Classic Android (< 3.0)
 Each Screen (Activity) has its own activity
lifecycle
 onCreate
 onRestart
 onStart
 onResume
 onPause
 onStop
 onDestroy

6. Android 1.6 – 2.X
 Tomaximize screen real-
estate, navigation
elements were off screen
 Menu Button
 Gesture’s are rarely used
 The back button was
used to navigate
throughout the app

7. Android 1.6 – 2.X
 Rotation changes had the potential to kill
long running processes.
 3D Animations (for the most part) were
dedicated tasks for OpenGL
 There is no support for hardware acceleration
 Devices typically fell into 4 sizes and 3
resolutions
 Small, Normal, Large, X-large (2.3)
 LDPI, MDPI, HDPI

8. Honeycomb
 Honeycomb (3.x) is targeted at just tablets
 Each Activity still has its own lifecycle, but that
activity now contains elements (Fragments)
each with their own lifecycles.
 onAttach
 onCreate
 onCreateView
 onDestroyView
 onDetach

9. Honeycomb
Pre-Honeycomb Honeycomb
Activity Activity
Fragment A Fragment B
I have one model view and I have one I have one
controller! model view model view
and and
controller! controller!

10. Honeycomb
 How can you add fragments to your activity?
 Programmatically
FragmentTransaction ft =
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
FooFragment frag = new Fragment();
ft.add(id, frag);
Ft.commit;
 Through Layouts
 <fragment android:name=“com.foo.FooFragment”
android:Id=“@+id/foo”
android:layout_width=“wrap_content”
android:layout_height=“wrap_content”/>
 Don’t think of Fragments as UI elements!

11. Honeycomb
 Nomore menu
options!
 Hardware button is
being phased out
 All navigation is being
moved to an on
screen model
 System Bar
 Action Bar

12. Honeycomb
 New Animation library Renderscript
 Renderscript is based on C. Provides some performance
gains over OpenGL
 Usability, while it is a set of new APIs it does simply
development and makes the initialization of rendering
easier
 Support for large heap. Devices can allocate up to
256MBs to the heap compared to 2.X which is 16MB
 Multiple Screen Sizes are now based on width:
 Before: res/layout-small, res/layout-normal, res/layout-
large
 Now: We use minimum screen
width, res/sw600dp, res/sw800dp
 While it’s not idea it gives developers more control when
dealing with OEMs

13. Ice Cream Sandwich – 4.0
 Ice Cream Sandwich!!!!
 It’s a unified version of the OS that combines
Honeycomb and 2.X
 Fragments and Loaders
 On Screen Navigation – Good-Bye Hardware
Buttons!
 Build once for phones and tablets, no need for
multiple APKs.
 Also adds facial unlock, NFC, camera
enhancements, a social networking api, an official
calendar API (Hooray!) and much more

14. Ice Cream Sandwich
 How do I check for dual pane mode?
 Add a view to your layout!
 If the View is null, start a new activity, otherwise show the
fragment
View detailsFrame =
getActivity().findViewById(R.id.details);
if(detailsFrame != null){
mDualPane = true;
}
If(mDualPane){
showFragment(…use the fragment manager)
}else{
startActivity();
}

15. Ice Cream Sandwich

17. Compatibility
 How do I target the largest audience?
 Android penetration of Feb 1, 2012
 Android 4.0 : 1%
 Android 3.0 : 3.5%
 Android 2.2 – 2.X: 86.4%
*Source: http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html
 Unless you need specific 3.0+ API support
target 2.2+!!! (You can still turn on large heap
and hardware acceleration in the manifest
file, older versions will still run and ignore it!)

18. Compatibility
 Why?
 There are a lot of nice APIs available for 3.0+,
but the biggest changes to prepare for are the
architectural and navigational ones.
 85%+ is using 2.2!
 How can I make legacy apps feel
ICS/Honeycomb like and use the new design
patterns?
 Compatibility packages!
 Support for Android 1.6+

19. Compatibility
 What’s in it?
 Official Android Package supports Fragments!
 ActionBarSherlock is an open source extension to
the compatibility package!
*source: http://actionbarsherlock.com/
 How do I use it?
 The official support package is a jar that you can
include in your project
 The ActionBarSherlock is a library project
 Using these libraries will help prepare you to
officially support ICS while not having to design
two apps and maintain two apk’s.

20. Future of Android
 ICS will penetrate the market slowly.
Need for multiple APKs will dwindle
 Ultimately I would bet on the back button
disappearing (usability issues)
 More NFC!
 Integration with Android@Home

21. Questions?