Before you release you’ll need to sign your .apk file. The guide from Google implies that you should make a single key for your identity, and sign all your apps with that key. I recommend against that. You should make a key per app. The reason I suggest that is because one day you might… Read More »
Last time we looked at creating accounts for our own custom purposes on an Android device. Now we’ve got an account, we’d like to do something with it. This series of articles will cover using an account to regularly synchronise some state on an upstream server with state held on the Android device. Implementing synchronisation… Read More »
Last time we saw how to make Android support our own custom account type. This time we’ll see how to make use of that account type in our own application. How does our app call getAuthToken()? Get an account name of the appropriate type (i.e. our custom type) If there are no accounts: start an asynchronous… Read More »
I found a blog that gave an example of how to make a custom authenticator for Android. I didn’t find it very clear, so this article covers my understanding that I’ve pulled this together from the example given by that blog author, and from the Android documentation, and then building something that works. To make… Read More »
For some insane reason, Google seem to think that the market app should get constantly larger and larger with every update. In essence, it’s a customised web browser — it’s making requests to a server and displaying the appropriate page. Why on earth it’s twice the size of an actual browser, I do not know.… Read More »
I mentioned a while ago that I was becoming unhappy with Google’s attitude to openness with Android phones. I felt that I would end up rooting and installing a more open ROM at some point. That point has arrived; triggered by Google automatically upgrading Google Market on my phone, using up the tiny bit of… Read More »
Best Android Apps Review aren’t doing their job as reviewers properly. I’ve complained before about not calling Android developers out for requiring invasive permissions without due cause for their apps. When I spot them I’m going to start naming and shaming both the app and the review that didn’t note it. Top Android Game: Slice… Read More »
Price I paid for an off-contract Android-based HTC Desire: £389.99. Consumer electronics arguably unnecessary with a smartphone in your pocket: GPS receiver: approx £100 Wireless VoIP phone: approx £60 Archos multimedia tablet: approx £150 Kindle: approx £100 iPod: approx £100 Netbook: approx £300 Nintendo DS: approx £110 Therefore, my phone was free. (I realise that… Read More »
Paypal released an Android app. “Greatâ€, thinks I, “I’ll install thatâ€. Here is the list of permissions that the paypal app “requiresâ€: Your location, coarse and fine Full internet access Add or modify calendar events, send email to guests, read calendar events Read contact data Send Linux signals to applications Read phone state and identity… Read More »
I keep seeing these “top 50 Android apps†lists; and am often disappointed. While they usually do have a couple of the good ones on them, they seem to think it’s okay to put seven note taking applications, two location-aware apps and some just plain broken apps on the list. This then is a practical… Read More »