The goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to develop Android based applications using the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and the Android 4.4 Software Development Kit (SDK).

Beginning with the basics, this book provides an outline of the steps necessary to set up an Android development and testing environment. An introduction to the architecture of Android is followed by an in-depth look at the design of Android applications and user interfaces. More advanced topics such as database management, content providers and intents are also covered, as are touch screen handling, gesture recognition, camera access and the playback and recording of both video and audio. This edition of the book also covers features introduced with Android 4.4 including printing, transitions and cloud-based file storage.

In addition to covering general Android development techniques, the book also includes Google Play specific topics such as implementing maps using the Google Maps Android API and submitting apps to the Google Play Developer Console.

Assuming you already have Java programming experience, are ready to download Eclipse and the Android SDK, have access to a Windows, Mac or Linux system and ideas for some apps to develop, you are ready to get started.