More Countries, More sellers, More buyers

[This post is by Eric Chu, Android Developer Ecosystem. — Tim Bray]Since we launched Android and Android Market, we have seen the population of Android users and devices expand into many countries. This widespread adoption has brought with it growing interest in Android Market’s support for the buying and selling of paid applications in these additional countries.We have been hard at work on this...

Reflections on G-Kenya

[This post is by Reto Meier AKA @retomeier, who wrote the book on Android App development. — Tim Bray]Recently I visited Kenya for the three-day G-Kenya event. I was there for two reasons:To talk about Android and the emerging mobile opportunities for African developers.To ask questions and find out more about the reality of mobiles and writing code from the people there.Of the countries I’ve visited...

Proguard, Android, and the Licensing Server

[This post is by Dan Galpin, an Android Developer Advocate specializing in games and comics. — Tim Bray]The Securing Android LVL Applications blog post makes it clear that an Android developer should use an obfuscation tool such as Proguard in order to help safeguard their applications when using License Server. Of course, this does present another question. How should one integrate such a tool...

Supporting the new music Voice Action

[This post is by Mike LeBeau, the Tech Lead and architect behind Voice Actions. — Tim Bray]We recently launched Voice Actions in the new Google Voice Search for Android — an awesome new way to search, control, and communicate on your phone faster than ever before, by using your voice.One of these new Voice Actions lets users find and automatically play music. By speaking something like “listen...

Screen Geometry Fun

The recent announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Tab should be a wake-up call for Android developers. What’s scary is that we’ve never seen a screen like this on an Android device before. What’s reassuring is that most apps Just Work (in fact, a lot of the ones I’ve tried so far have looked terrific) and the potential problems are easy to avoid. Here’s what you need to do to take advantage of not just...

One Screen Turn Deserves Another

[This post is by Dan Morrill, Open Source & Compatibility Program Manager. — Tim Bray]Android has an API for accessing a variety of sensor types, such as an accelerometer or light sensor. Two of the most commonly-used sensors are accelerometers and magnetometers (that is, compasses.) Applications and devices frequently use these as forms of user input, and to determine which way to orient the...

Brace for the Future

[This post is by Dan Morrill, Open Source & Compatibility Program Manager. — Tim Bray]Way back in November 2007 when Google announced Android, Andy Rubin said “We hope thousands of different phones will be powered by Android.” But now, Android’s growing beyond phones to new kinds of devices. (For instance, you might have read about the new 7” Galaxy Tab that our partners at Samsung just announced.)...

Securing Android LVL Applications

[This post is by Trevor Johns, who's a Developer Programs Engineer working on Android. — Tim Bray]The Android Market licensing service is a powerful tool for protecting your applications against unauthorized use. The License Verification Library (LVL) is a key component. A determined attacker who’s willing to disassemble and reassemble code can eventually hack around the service; but application developers...