Android Thoughts - Opinions, News, Advice & Reviews on Android Devices

"Android: If you receive many text messages or calls at inopportune times, like when you're driving, Auto SMS might be very useful for you."

I'm a big fan of automation, and this seems like a great way to send timely messages and auto reply (i.e. to avoid the temptation to text while driving/flying/walking/etc...). Nice tool, and FREE!

Android has proven itself to be the fastest growing mobile platform. Unity gives you the power to painlessly develop applications for any of the 30 million-plus Android devices out there.

I am always a proponent of any tool set that enables cross-platform development, especially in the mobile device world. Unity is a game-development platform that already has received some attention for it's multi-platform support. Now (at least according to Unity's web site), Android becomes the latest targeted operating system, allowing for one tool and multiple application outputs. While not really a game developer by trade, I will be interested in seeing how quickly Android support brings existing Unity-based applications to the Android Market. You can check out all of the details and download the latest version of Unity at the Unity website.

Have you ever wondered what makes up the contents of an Android application package ("apk") file? Well, the folks over at Android Guys have some details -

The extension Google uses for Android applications (APK) may seem a bit complicated at first, but it really isn't. In fact, an .apk is nothing else than a .zip file disguised as an .apk. That's dumbing it down, but you get it. Essentially, if one wanted to see what's inside an app, they would just change the extension of applicationname.apk to applicationname.zip, unzip it. And there you have it: The contents of the .apk!

The article doesn't stop there, though, as it gives information on tools to reverse engineer the contents of extracted files. As a developer, I'm seriously torn by processes like this, mind you, as I believe in intellectual property rights and protections. Any application I have ever intended for developer community to extend and enhance has always been made completely available (source code and all). So if you decide to try this out - please do so with the proper respect to the developers out there.

So, you own a blog, do you? And you say that RSS isn't enough? But wait - you don't have the programming experience to build an Android application? Well, something trivial like programming experience need not stand in the way; at least that is what Feed.nu believes.

Feed.nu (currently in beta) provides you with the ability to a matter of a few taps and clicks. Once you're done, you can download the custom APK file or even upload the same file to the Android Market. It sounds like an interesting and painless way to help increase your website's readership.

Has anyone here given this a try? I'd love to hear the feedback.

"While at the APPNATION Conference last Monday and Tuesday, I had the opportunity to meet with several people talking about some cool things that are being released for Android. One that caught my eye right away with the new Yapper 2.0, an online app development tool for people who might not be as code savvy as they need to be.I think that there is a bit of desire in everyone who is involved in the Android community to be a developer of some sort. I heard time and time again about how people have a great idea for an application, but simply do not have the know how to actually code and create that app themselves. (I probably need to admit here that I am one of those people who secretly desires to be a wicked cool dev) So when I was able to interview Nicole Demeo from from Yapper, I was instantly interested as the folks there have created a HTML 5 powered web app to help those of us who are code challenged be app developers."

Over at the AndroidGuys web site, Ray Walters had an opportunity to take a look at a tool that is similar in nature to Google's own App Inventor for Android. The simple premise - provide an application development platform that does not require programming knowledge. As a software developer, I am always a bit wary of tools of this sort. They are definitely anything BUT new in concept; I recall seeing similar types of applications over 20 years ago. The usual issues with these types of solutions happen when the "developer" wants to step outside of the limitations of the tool and do something unsupported. Either it's difficult at best, or downright impossible at worst. However, if the application needs are focused and fall within the tool's capabilities, however, YAPPER may be worth a look.