Days to Xmas widget tutorial
Posted by jozsi on Monday Mar 8, 2010My second article based on Norbert Möhring's HelloWidget tutorial, but i think it's easier. :) It will look like this:
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Google Labs Release Gesture Search App For Android
Posted by admin on Thursday Mar 4, 2010
Google have released a new Google Labs application that enables Android users to search their phones by drawing letters on their screens.
The new app known as Gesture Search searches the phones contacts, audio tracks, apps and bookmarks based on what letter is drawn on the handsets touchscreen.
Today we're pleased to announce Gesture Search, a new Google Labs application for Android-powered devices running Android 2.0 or above in the US. Gesture Search lets you quickly find a contact, an installed application, a bookmark or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items, by simply drawing alphabet gestures on the touch screen.
The app is also capable of returning results for multiple interpretations should it be unsure if the letter drawn is a 'H' or an 'A' for example.
The application is available to download from the Android Market from today, just search for 'Gesture Search'.
Previous Google Labs app releases for Android include Listen, and Places Directory.
[via googlemobile.blogspot.com]
For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides
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AT&T Motorola Backflip To Include Yahoo! As Default Search Engine
Posted by admin on Thursday Mar 4, 2010
AT&T's first Android powered handset, the Motorola Backflip, will use Yahoo! as its default search engine.
According to a report by BusinessWeek, the Motorola Backflip will feature Yahoo! as the default search engine, although users will be able to manually change the provider to Google if they wish.
Yahoo! Vice President David Katz commented, "We have a long-standing relationship with AT&T and more than 80 carrier partnerships around the world for our award- winning mobile-search experience. Mobile search continues to be a focus for investment and innovation".
The Backflip will be the first Android handset to not feature Google as the default search engine. Unlike the Nexus One, the Motorola Backflip is not a Google-branded device and therefore allows for deeper carrier customization.
The Motorola Backflip will be powered by Android 1.5 and will feature a 3.1-inch (320 x 480 pixels) TFT touchscreen display, 5 mega-pixel camera with LED flash and auto-focus, video capture, and 2GB of memory (upgradeable to 32GB). The handset also includes a 3.5mm audio jack, 3G connectivity, and Wi-Fi.
The Motorola Backflip will be available across the US from March 7th.
[via businessweek.com]
For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides
AT&T Motorola Backflip To Include Yahoo! As Default Search Engine
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How to disable a button on an appwidget?
Posted by gabor on Wednesday Mar 3, 2010Would you like to disable a button on an appwidget?
As far as I know it can not be done, since the appwiget UI manipulation is limited by the methods of the RemoteViews class.
But if you insist to do that there is a way to make it look like the button were disabled!
RemoteViews can't manipulate a buttons enabled/disabled state, but it can modify its visibility. So the trick is to have two buttons, the real one, and an other which is designed to look like the real one in disabled state, and change witch one is visible.
Lets see a simple example:
We want to have two buttons on the widget, a stop and a start button in order to stop and start some kind of functionality. Once we have started it, we can not start it agin, until we stopped it and vica versa, so we want to disable the button which can not be used right now.
The XML definition of the buttons can be like this:
- <Button android:id="@+id/startbutton" android:text="Start" android:visibility="visible"></Button>
- <Button android:id="@+id/startbutton_disabled" android:text="Start" android:clickable="false" android:textColor="#999999" android:visibility="gone"></Button>
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Data Storage tutorial, basic samples are included
Posted by bence on Monday Mar 1, 2010- Data Storage Methods
- Preferences Preferences is a lightweight mechanism to store and retrieve key-value pairs of primitive data types.
- Files You can store your data in files on your mobile phone, or in a removable storage medium.
- Databases Android Api supports SQLite databases. All databases, SQLite and others, are stored on the device in /data/data/package_name/databases.
- Network You can also use the Internet to store and receive data, whether it's an SQLite database, or just a simple textfile.
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Introducing the Android Emulator, managing Android Virtual Devices (AVD)
Posted by gabor on Wednesday Feb 24, 2010
The emulator available in the Android SDK is not just a tool that allows you to easily test applications without having to install it to a real device, or even having one. With the proper configuration it is possible to test situations which are hardly reproduced on a physical one.
After installing the android plugin and SDK in eclipse an icon is automatically placed on the toolbar to quickly access the Android SDK and AVD (Android Virtual Device) manager.
You can create multiple AVDs with different parameters:
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My first encounter with an Android (T-Mobile Pulse)
Posted by bence on Monday Feb 22, 2010
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Recently I had a chance to try out my first Android device. It's called the "T-Mobile Pulse / Huawei U8220 ". Previously I tried an HTC Diamond, which was running on Windows Mobile, both platforms have a very nice UI. |
At first, when the boot-up screen showed up, I thought to myself that these devices are just like PC-s from now on, rather than mobile-phones. Not to speak about those very high DPI values. It is also very comfortable and useful that you can rotate the mobile by 90 degrees both direction, the display is going to be rearranged.
The Pulse has a version 1.5 of Android, and it features aGPS, 3.2mp camera, g-sensor, Wifi, etc...
About Andoid
just take a quick look at this chart...
android (blue) | windows mobile (red) | symbian (orange)
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