Any Android developers here?

Krynj

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2006
2,816
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For the last year or so, I've been on the look out for an Android developer to team up with and make some Android widgets. I do 3D modeling, so I can make some pretty fancy stuff that could be turned into some slick widgets. However, I don't know anything about Android development, so it's nearly impossible for me to bring any of my ideas to fruition without a skilled coder.

The kind of stuff I have in mind could easily go on the Android market for at least 99 cents. I've been an avid Android user since the G1, and I'm a former writer for Android Central, so I've got a firm grasp on how much people love cool/nifty/unique widgets. I say 99 cents as a price point, but I'd even be willing to offer up some widgets for free, just to see how they do.

Anyway, if you're an Android developer with some widget writing skills, and some spare time on your hands -- let me know. I can provide fancy graphics, and you do the coding.

And of course, if this type of thread isn't allowed here, feel free to lock it up, mods.

update!

Well, how about that? This thread went better than could have possibly ever imagined. Few days after I posted this thread, fellow AnandTech member nsiderTalon dropped me a PM. We exchanged a few PMs through AnandTech, and then took it to emails.

Based on the conversations we had, nsiderTalon told me he's a programmer just getting started with Android. He felt confident in his ability to learn the platform, so we went ahead and started on a battery widget. A couple days into that, we started discussing a clock widget. I hunkered down and did some graphics work, and once the clock design came together, we ditched the battery widget and went ahead with the clock instead.

Over the next few weeks, he was cranking out beta build after beta build, while I came up with 9 skins and endlessly tweaked the design. Both our friends and coworkers were turned into beta testers. After exchanging close to 350 emails, countless test builds, and feedback from testers and friends, today we reached version 1.0, which is currently up in the Android market for $1.00.

I had no idea this thread would have worked out so well in the end. One app down, and plans for several more flying around my head.

aAq9x.png


Kinetic Clock for Android by Watchmaker Dev

Update 2!
So this is going much better than either of us anticipated. We pushed out an update on Friday which added 6 new skins, as well as some improvements to the current set. Saturday we were featured on Android Central, and it's been a wild ride since. I won't give any exact numbers, but when the market updates later tonight, our download chart should read "1,000 - 5,000 installs."

http://www.androidcentral.com/android-app-review-kinetic-clock

And I was just digging through the market earlier and came across this.
sH6Qf.png


And here I was back in July, debating on whether or not it'd be a waste of time to even make this thread.
 
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TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,699
60
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My two cents..

Until you find that developer, I would start looking how to create android apps. Not necessarily to learn all the technical details, but to familiarize yourself with the framework and some of the processes involved. It will make you more understanding of the developer's work, easier to communicate ideas, etc.
 

Krynj

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2006
2,816
8
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I've got a few e-books on the subject, but extremely technical stuff like programming is hard for me to absorb and comprehend when read from a book, especially when I have basically no fundamentals to go on. It's one of those things that would click right away if I took a class on it or something like that -- which I've thought about.
 

BigDH01

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2005
1,631
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Personally, if I were to get started with Android development, I'd start with this:

http://www.phonegap.com/

Doing this in HTML5 and javascript will make it more portable and allows you to reuse any experience you've had with those languages. Not sure how well it'd work for your 3D modeling, but it's definitely what I would do with your basic CRUD stuff.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
I don't think Techboy was suggesting you learn how to program from scratch. He was saying that you get familiar with how Android widgets work at a high level.

Android - Java based
Widget - App that is imbedded in another app
- Made up of 3 basic components
- ProviderInfo - Provider - Layout/View
etc.

This stuff is pretty easy reading even without programming knowledge. Think of everything as black box legos and just get an understanding how things fit to make a widget.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
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Now I need someone to lead me in how to take a MFC app and start it moving onto Android.
I have the source code available
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
Congrats, I will buy it once I get home from work!

Support your fellow anandtech developers!
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
Wow, you've got a lot of competition. Just for fun, I did a search on Clock Widgets and got over 62,000 hits. Most of them were free.

Some ideas for your next release

1. Ability to access alarm function through settings
2. Sounds and the ability to toggle them on and off (like ticking, or hourly, or stuff)
3. Link to calendar and highlight hours or days or events on the clock, etc.
4. Timer function. Something that has elapsed time, or also a countdown time.