As I have used Android more and more my developer sense started to tingle and I wanted to create my own Android app. I looked at a couple of development books but they all just seemed to be the same: how to install the development environment and then all about how great the Android is to develop for. Nothing I could find actually moved past walking you through your first app on the code side. So when I was emailed about a new book by authors Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey all about Android Application Development I jumped at the chance to review it!

Android Wireless Application Development is a hefty book, weighing in at 573 pages with appendices and a CD, it is chock full of wonderful little tidbits of information that make Android so much fun to develop for. I was never a fan of Java in my programming classes but now that I see it in another light I’m slowly coming around to it. Of course the book starts you off by getting you to install Eclipse (Win/Mac/Linux) and all the tools necessary to create that app that’s going to make you rich in the end, then you are walked through how to write your first app, run it on the virtual Android phone, and then how to install it on a device to test. The book follows that with introductions in design, interface essentials, common Android APIs, 3D graphics, and finally how to deploy and sell your marvelous app through the Marketplace.

I found the book a marvellous teaching tool, it keeps your attention and has plenty of screenshots, images, and code snippets to satisfy even a beginner (like myself). I was so excited in the intro app when I was able to get my app to play a media file from the web with a small bit of code. The authors have the perfect balance of teaching and explaining that this is one book you will not get bored reading, you will definitely be ready to use what you’ve learned to make a new app as soon as you are done reading about it.

I’ll be looking for YOUR app in the marketplace soon!

Android Wireless Application Development was written by Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey and published by Pearson Education, Inc. It is available in paperback now on Amazon.com for $26.69, on Kindle for $23.75, and at your local bookstore.