Developing an Android App

I have finally started working on an Android app. I found out that the easiest way to go about it is really to just start with the documentation given by Google as found in http://developer.android.com/index.html.  First thing would be to do the basic tutorial in their Getting started page, then work next on the Notepad Tutorial found here: http://developer.android.com/training/notepad/index.html.

Next step is to start working on your own app, and once stymied -- look through the documentation for help or see if your problem was already answered in stackoverflow.com.

The Whats and Whys of my Favorite Apps

• Aldiko - a really nice ebook reader
• ES File Explorer - easy way to check the contents of my smartphone's files and folders
• BBC News - nice news site
• Calendar - nice interface to track my schedules and appointments, can synchronize with other calendars
• Cam Scanner - take photos of documents and transform them into pdf files
• Dropbox - a place to keep documents, photos that you can also access from your other devices, such as your laptop or Ipad
• ConvertPad - easy conversions from one scale of measurement to another, i.e. kilos to pounds
• Viber - call and send messages, even picture messages to mobile phones over wifi
• Flashlight - a handy flashlight with lots of other cute lighting applications
• SportsTracker - tracks my sports activities, like running and walking
• Shush! - shuts off the phone volume for a specified amount of time, nice for when you want to listen to a talk or watch a movie, without needing to turn off your smartphone
• Quickdic - nice offline language translator that I use for english-german and vice versa
• TheWeatherChannel - nice and clear weather reports
• myFitnessPal - tracks my calories and exercise with the end goal of my losing weight, i.e. calories in less calories lost from exercise must be < calories needed to achieve a certain weight goal
• Out of Milk - task and grocery shopping reminders
• Flipboard - nice magazine type app to read up on interesting stuff
• TripIt - tracks trips, i.e. flights, hotel bookings
• Moneywise - tracks daily expenses
• IMediaShare Lite - connects to smart tv and other smartphones for sharing/playing media
• NavFree - GPS that works offline, used when you travel to another country where you do not have mobile data coverage, though the best online one is still Google Maps