Unlocking Android

Product Details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications (May 28, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1933988673
ISBN-13: 978-1933988672
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #150,260 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Android Deleted From Linux Kernel

Uhohs! It appears that the Google Android Code has been deleted from the Linux Kernel. The change is explained in depth at Kroah.com but the folks at RegHardware sum it up nicely:

“No one cared about the code, so it was removed,” writes Kroah-Hartman. “As I’ve stated before, code in the staging tree needs to be worked on to be merged to the main kernel tree, or it will be deleted.”

But the larger problem, he continues, is that Android uses a new lock type, new hooks for its “sometimes bizarre” security model, and a revamped framebuffer driver infrastructure. All this, he says, prevents “a large chunk” of Android drivers and platform code from merging into the main kernel tree.

Google, he ultimately argues, has forked its mobile OS.

Android Wireless Application Development (Developer's Library)

Product Details

Paperback: 525 pages
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (September 28, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0321627091
ISBN-13: 978-0321627094
Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,294,433 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Progressively loading ListViews

Again I received a mail from somebody who asked for lists with forward/backward paging option. These lists are not trivial to implement but I was more intrigued by the need why anyone would want such a clumsy UI construct. Then it turned out that the guy wanted to back the list with data from a web service. Obviously, he did not want to wait until the entire list is loaded through the network but wanted to present something to the user as soon as possible.

Such a list can be found in Android Market when the list of applications is progressively loaded from the network server. The problem is worth a simple test program to analyse because it clearly shows the power of the Android adapter concept.

Click here to download the test program.

Android 2.1 SDK is released