Category Archives: News

Latest news about the Android Platform.

Droidweb: A Work In Progress

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If you’ve noticed lately, there’s been quite a bit of swirl on Droidweb.com. The site was largely unusable about a month ago (thanks to some DNS mismanagement on my part), the layout has been in flux over the past week or so, and worst of all, there hasn’t been any new content in a while!  Have no fear, these things are being fixed in an ongoing series of improvement to everyone’s favorite Android resource, Droidweb.com.

A New Look

Over the years, Droidweb has gone through quite a few redesigns (at the rate of about one or two a year). On each iteration, we’ve tried to improve the site usability in various ways. This update focusses on a few areas:

  • Responsive: Droidweb.com is now fully responsive. Whether you’re on your phone, tablet, desktop, or laptop, it shouldn’t matter. And now at Droidweb, it doesn’t. All content should be accessible from any screen. There are a still a few rough edges being ironed out (mostly in the area of third party included on the site), but we’re making progress every day.
  • Coming soon – Content Accessibility: There’s a lot of stuff that’s been shared on Droidweb.com over the years. App reviews, website and tool recommendations, tutorials, op-eds, and much more. In the coming weeks, all of this content will be combed through and organized under a few categories so as to make the content a lot more accessible.
  • Holo is Beautiful: It’s no secret: the Holo theme and design guidelines for Android applications is pretty awesome. It really makes app designs beautiful, usable, and more accessible for the less strictly design-minded among us. The new Droidweb redesign attempts to bring some of that awesome to this blog. As you can see, the page takes advantage of elements of the Holo design including color scheme and some page elements.

A New Mission

Generally Droidweb has focused on Android developments. It has transitioned from being more of a general Android news source to trying to be more of a developer’s resource. Many times there has been content that should be shared, but has been glossed over because it didn’t strictly apply to Android. However, the landscape of the increasingly mobile web has changed since Droidweb was first started. Android has grown considerably since the days of m5-rc14 and has established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Responsive web design has grown from being a industry underground buzzword to being a design imperative. And HTML5 is gaining adoption by the day (including being supported on IE).

While Android will remain a core topic of discussion here at Droidweb, the scope of topics will be broadened a little to include the web at large. In today’s state of technology, web development (whether it be a web app, a responsive page, or something else) is just as important as native development and the two are being inextricably intertwined. As such Droidweb is going to include more information about web tech at a higher level, including how it affects us inside the Android ecosystem.

Thanks

As always I’d like to take a second and thank you, the reader. Whether a Droidweb regular, or a new visitor, you’re a vital portion of the site; without you there would be no Droidweb. Keep on being awesome, and don’t be afraid to engage with the content on Droidweb. Feel free to tweet, share, and comment what you see here. And if you’d like to see a particular topic covered, feel free to let us know that. Droidweb is interested in what you’re interested in!

History of Android: An Infographic

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I stumbled across this infographic while doing some research for an Android presentation.  Nothing quite brings back nostalgia quite like reliving the history of Android.  I remember the days of rocking the Android developer edition of the HTC Dream (G1).  Good times.

What are some of your favorite Android memories?

Image courtesy of Android Guys via Kinvey.com

Announcing: Voice++

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voiceicon

As promised, I’d like to share a project I’ve been working on recently with the Android community.  As you might have seen from some of my past posts, I am a huge Google Voice user.  One day while using the product it hit me; “Wouldn’t it be cool if my texts popped up on my screen and I could quickly reply without leaving whatever I happened to be doing at that point?”  Thus Voice++ was born.  Still in its early stages, V++ provides quick reply functionality to your existing Google Voice application.

Usage

To use Voice++, install from the .apk below (after reading the warnings and notes).  Log into your Google Voice account (it needs to be the same as the account you’re using for the standard Google Voice application).  Enjoy!

Screens

Login:

login

Successful Login!:

sucessfullogin

A typical message popup:

V++ in action

Notes

By downloading the link below and installing Voice Plus Plus on your device, you agree to the following:

Voice Plus Plus is provided with the understanding that the project is in its early (read: Pre-Alpha Stages).  Things are broken.  Voice Plus Plus comes with no warranty and is released on an AS-IS basis.  I am not responsible if this application breaks, causes you to miss that really important sext, fires ze missiles, or otherwise inconveniences you.  If something does go wrong, drop me a comment below, or a tweet @droidweb and I will assist you how I can.  Remember: This app is not replacing Google Voice (yet); its extending Google Voice.  Also by downloading you promise to leave some sort of CONSTRUCTIVE feedback.  That means more than ‘this sucks’ and more ‘I couldn’t access my texts in situation X’ or ‘I would like to see Y’.

Ok now that we got that out of the way, here are some other notes:

Known Issues

  • I haven’t fully gotten to text whether the text receiving works immediately after phone reboot.  So if you happen to get a text right as you restart your phone, you will either miss the first text, or the notification will appear late.  Not sure if this is an actual bug, or just a quirk in my tests so far.
  • When you receive a text initially, you will get both a notification from Google Voice, and the popup.  Disable Google Voice text notifications if this annoys you.

Questions

  • The icon sucks bro!: I know.  I am not an artist.  I will work on improving the icon sometime in the future.  If, in the meantime, someone wants to donate an icon for the project, I would be eternally grateful.
  • Erm… what does this app do? Right now it looks like the app doesn’t do much, but after logging in with the same Google Voice account you’re using on your device, Voice Plus Plus will intercept incoming text messages and place a convenient popup on your screen, allowing you to quickly respond.
  • Where’s the source?  I’m getting on that.  Expect a github link posting later this week.

Download

Enough talk already!  Here’s the download!
GoogleVoiceExtender.apk
GoogleVoiceExtender.apk

Android Snippet: Adding an External .jar to your Project

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Android snippets are a new section of Droidweb which detail a simple process in Android Development. However, in spite of their size, don’t dismiss these mini-tutorials! The methods they describe are pretty handy for any serious Android developer. Got an Android tip / trick you’d like to see here? Leave us note in the comments below or tweet @droidweb!

Occasionally you’re going to need to reference other people’s code (OPC) in your Android projects.  Usually this is done in one of two methods: either you import the other project as a library project (if you’ve ever used ActionBarSherlock, you’ve done this), or you include the project as a .jar file.  In today’s Android snippet we’re going to focus on the later.  The process is really simple (a drag n’ drop and a right click is all you need to do), but not doing this properly can lead to headaches at run time.

Things you’ll need:

  • .jar file of the library you intend to import.  Usually this is a downloadable from the site of whatever project you’re making use of

Steps

  1. Copy the jar to your Android project’s /libs folder
  2. Right click the jar and choose “Build Path > Add to Build Path’”
  3. You’re done.  Happy Coding!

Thanks to Vinayak.B over at stackoverflow for this quick tip.  See original post.

ActionBarSherlock Compatibility Library upgraded to v. 3.5.0

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Developers rejoice! One of my favorite Android libraries to date has recently been upgraded to becoming evenmore awesome than before. Jake Wharton’s ActionBarSherlock library has been updated!

ActionBarSherlock is an extension of the compatibility library designed to facilitate the use of the action bar design pattern across all versions of Android with a single API.  It allows the easy addition of the action bar Android UI paradigm to applications without having to worry about compatibility with older versions of Android.  I am a strong supporter of this paradigm and try to use it whenever possible!

 

From his Google Plus:

Major updates in this version:

  • Completely redone menu and action item support. This has been backported from the progress made on ABS 4.0 and provides a much more stable and logical layout of action items and management of the menu.
  • The compatibility library base has been updated to r6. I have also re-added the *Compat classes that were duplicated by this library and marked them as deprecated.

Download the new version from http://abs.io/. The samples on GitHub and the Android Market will be rolling out this evening as well.

Updating your projects making use of the old library is ridiculously easy.  Just download the new library and any desired .jar files, add the library as a project to your eclipse setup, and replace the references in your project to the old libraries with references to the new libraries.

Do you have any experiences using the ActionBarSherlock Library?  Would you like to see a guide for how to get up and running on ActionBarSherlock?  Drop us a comment below or tweet us @droidweb!

Google’s Android Dev Site Opens up Android Training

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Making Android apps is easy. Making good Android apps is another story. Personally I’ve been trying to perfect the craft for almost four years now. Throughout the years I’ve made leaps and bounds towards making betters apps and I’ve tried to share what I’ve learned with you readers here at Droidweb, but, honestly, there are still things I want / have to learn in the finer points of app making.

Google knows this and is releasing a new repository of information for us developers: Android Training. Here they attempt to provide one of the things developers like me have been begging for for some time now: A place that lists ‘best practices’ for doing some very common things in Android, complete with source code and other annotations. Over the weekend I will be combing through this resource, picking up tips and tricks and reaffirming some of the things I already knew about Android development. If you’re a developer, I suggest you do the same.

Find any really helpful tips that you didn’t know before? Leave a reference to it in the comments below or tweet us @droidweb!

Get $50 off your next Tablet at Staples

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While monitoring the twitterverse, we stumbled across this limited time deal being advertised by the guys over at Talk Android and we just have to pass it along to you, our beloved readers.  Staples is offering $50 off “any tablet, laptop or desktop computer.”  Which means you should totally go check out their offering of Android tablets.  Don’t wait too long, deal ends 7/16.  You may find the coupon link [here].

 

From [talkandroid]

Droidweb is on Google+ (and is giving away invites!)

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Following our idols over at Android and Me, we had to jump aboard the Google+ bandwagon.  Check out our page here. Not much content there yet, but that will change over time, especially with help from you, our faithful readers!  We’d love to see all our fans on Google+.  If you’re in need of an invite, just leave us a message in the comments below or fire us a tweet via @droidweb.  Lets do our part in making Google+ a sucess!

Catch @droidweb and other tablet enthusiasts over at Transformerforums.com

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Since grabbing one of the few Asus Transformer’s in the wild a bit over a month ago, there have been a flurry of @droidweb posts about the device.  While I promise this will slowly cool down and focus on other devices (such as the Droid X2 I’ve got on the way in the mail XD), I want to do a quick shout out to a forum dedicated to one of my favorite devices.  Transformer Forums is a relatively new site catered to questions, answers, tips, and tidbits about the Asus Transformer, including news about Asus’ upcoming tablet releases.  If you’re a tablet enthusiast like myself, I’d go check it out.  Maybe we’ll even run into each other there?

Android Malware Alert: An example and how to keep yourself safe

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In the world of computing there are always going to be bad guys.  And by rule of thumb, the number of bad guys for any given platform are proportional to the number of people on said platform.  So its only natural that as Android has increased in popularity, that bad guys have come knocking.  As an end user,  you have to take steps to protect yourself in the digital world.  A large part of this is to remain informed and to exercise common sense.  In light of these two points, I’m going to discuss a newly found Android exploit (informing you) and discuss how this exploit should never have worked en mass (the common sense part).

Security experts Lookout have recently written a blog post about a new Android Trojan GGTracker. This trojan spoofs the Android market (damningly well, btw) and tricks users into manually installing their malware application.  Read Lookout’s blog post for full details on the exploit; here’s a summary of what this app is and how it works:

  1. User gets directed to a malicious website, usually by clicking on an advertisement link
  2. Website advertises an innocuous free application… say a wallpaper app, a ringtone changer, or a slideshow of sexy girl
  3. To install this application, the app instructs the user to download and install an .apk file.
  4. User installs app and gets nailed with spyware, SMS charges and all sorts of ugliness.
GGTracker

Android Market Trojan Spoof

Now that we’re informed, lets point out some common sense things about Android that will save you from malware every time. Google has done a pretty good job locking down the platform with reguards to security, while leaving it open and flexible enough to support a wide range of applications. Most (I daresay all) malware attacks occur from user error, a.k.a. an end user installed the malicious app on their device. Malicious apps take many forms. Remember those old ‘free smiley’ IM plugins that used to (and sometimes still do) be advertised everywhere? Most were really viruses with a nice face in front of them. In the same way, there have been apps on Android promising ‘free sexy wallpapers’, ‘free ringtones’, and in this case ‘free battery widgets’ which are really malware in disguise. Never manually download an app that you weren’t looking for first. This the same reasoning that drives the advice that you are to never give your account information to a ‘bank rep’ who calls you or otherwise initiates the contact.

In the same vein of be careful what you install, note that the Android Market and Browser Applications are two totally seperate programs. If you see a ‘market page’ with a URL at the top (like the screenshot above), STOP. You’re about to do something wrong. If your browser downloads an .apk file and instructs you to install it, Don’t do it unless you absolutely know what you’re installing. Frankly the only apps that are not going to be in at least one of the Android markets (Google, Amazon, GetJar), are going to be application betas or specialty apps that you’ll seek out (like the custom Google Voice .apk for tablets we featured a few weeks ago).

Even when going through legitamate means (a Market), still be wary about some apps, especially if you haven’t heard of it before. Usually you’ll find reviews for most legit apps on your favorite Android site(s) [including yours truly Droidweb of course!]. A quick google search will save you a lot of headache. As always, check out the permissions needed for that app. A unit conversion app shouldn’t require access to text messaging services. If something seems suspicious, don’t download that app; do some research before you proceed. One of the benefits of having such a tight knit community of fellow Android enthusiasts behind you is that you can ask around and expect to get a response about just about anything, including “has someone downloaded this app before? Is it legit?”

As always in the digital world, be sure to excercise caution. However, don’t be afraid to experiment and explore the capabilities of your device as long as you know what you’re doing and you’ve got some information on hand to help. To all our readers: Be safe and Happy Androiding!