How to Find Help With Android Development

We've all come across sticking points when developing our Android apps that just don't seem like they should be causing so much trouble. Surely someone has solved this problem before, right?
Chances are, your issue or something like it has been solved and re-solved by the Android developer community many times over.
There's no sense in re-inventing the wheel unless you're creating a brand new platform. Most of the time, you just want to finish a tasks, not change the world.
Help when you're stuck
Obviously, doing a Google search is a good place to find help and tutorials when you know what you're stuck on.
More often than not, you'll find a post from stackoverflow.com, one of the most complete question and answer sites for programming topics (including Android!). This immensely popular site should be at the top of your list to browse and search when you're having trouble. The moderation system helps make good answers more prominent.
If you have searched Stack Overflow (it's important to search so you don't post a duplicate question) and can't find a question that matches yours, consider asking the question yourself. Many other people are likely also going to come across your issue.
What about when you don't what you should be looking for?
Tutorials and blogs are a great way to follow in the footsteps of someone who has accomplished a specific task. This has the added benefit that the author can include additional related information that you may not have known was important.

Rather than implementing everything from scratch, it's often a good practice to see what others have done and build off of that to meet your needs. Not all tutorials are up to date, though, so be sure you see how old it is (or what Android version it is targeted at).
Aside from random Google searches, where do you look for tutorials? Android Developer Tutorial, as you might expect, catalogs tutorials for Android developers - from beginner tasks to more complicated things like licensing and in-app billing. There are even tutorials on releasing your app and marketing your app afterward.
Contributing
Beyond just asking questions and reading what others have done, consider sharing what you have learned with other Android developers.
Did you find a quicker way to fix something than the article you are reading suggests? Did you figure out a clever way to solve a common problem? Is one of the lower-rated answers on a Stack Overflow question the correct one for you?
The Android community is built on developers that value sharing information and helping each other. Your contributions would certainly be welcome.

Timothy Mackenzie is a software engineer that escaped the cubicle world at a large company to go solo with Android app development. He uses this freedom to teach others how to make money with Android apps. See the Android income blog for reviews of Android app stores as well as ad vendors to earn money from.
For a complete guide taking Android developers from starting out to making money, take a look at the Android Income Powerstart Guide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6652024

A Look At Some Battery Saving Apps For The HTC Sensation XE

If you have owned a smartphone in the past, I'm sure that you will notice that the battery life is generally limited if you use your phone often. This is hard to avoid given the advanced specifications of phones like the HTC Sensation XE combined with their relatively compact batteries. Luckily there are a number of solutions available in the Android Market to help you conserve battery power, and I will look at a couple of these in this article.
Advanced Task Killer
Many apps are required to run in the background in order to receive real time info and updates, such as Facebook and weather apps, so that they can gather information and provide alerts in real time. Although convenient, this can be a drain on the battery life of the handset. Advanced Task Killer will display any apps that are running in the background and you can select the ones which you want to disable. You can even set the app to do this takes for you automatically in intervals of 15 minutes and higher. As a bonus, any time you open one of these apps, it will automatically restart its connection so you can use it as normal. This is perfect if you want to occasionally check your social networking updates but don't need to be alerted of notifications in real time. Advanced Task Killer is available for free on the Android Market, and makes a real difference to the battery life of Android smartphones like the HTC Sensation XE.

Easy Battery Saver
This is an app which displays real time data about your phone's battery life. It will show you the percentage of the batteries charge still available, so you can see whether you need to charge your phone. Also, this can prove handy of you are running low on battery and you can then decide if you want to only use your phone for more essential tasks to conserve power. The app also allows you to customise the power settings by adjusting screen brightness, volume, data connections etc so you can optimise how the battery performs. Also, the app will display how much talk time, web surfing time, audio playback time and video playback time your battery is capable of performing based on its current battery percentage. Like Advanced Task Killer, this app is also free on the Android Market, so it is definitely worth a download.
Even if you are able to charge your phone regularly, it is still a good idea to install apps like these in case you find yourself in a situation where you are unable to charge your phone. Although these apps do not completely solve the problem of low battery, that are convenient and can mean the difference between running out of battery and getting a couple of extra hours to find a charger or make an important call. If you have high specification Android smartphone like the HTC Sensation XE, these apps are certainly worth a download, especially as they are available for free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6848724

The Benefits of Owning an Android Tablet PC

Google's android operating system has been a dominant player in the rise of the mobile phone operating systems. Now for the first time in history, this startlingly clean and easy to use operating system is now available for use on Tablet PCs. These android PCs come in a variety of models and have shown extremely promising results for the future, and more than that, for now. These Tablet PCs successfully bridged the gaping hole in between the high-powered laptops and smart phones of today combined in one very portable and accessible device. The capabilities of the android tablet range from listening to your favorite music, to browsing the web, to downloading files from the Internet, to watching YouTube and basically anything else he can do on a PC and as a bonus they come with a startling selection of Google android applications that are available either for free or for purchase.

These android tablet PCs are on the rise in a significant way, these fantastic, sleek and elegant redesign and pieces of equipment. One of the best things about these tablets is that they're relatively inexpensive compared to apples iPad, and in my opinion the qualitative differences isn't worth the price difference. For a student, these Tablet PCs are one of the most convenient ways to keep track of information such as school assignments and extracurricular activities along with the ability to write essays, complete homework or do really any school assignment anywhere without having to carry around heavy books or having to run to a computer in order to get your work done.
For the modern businessman, these are like a super-powered version of the BlackBerry, allowing you to keep track of important dates, client meetings or whatever else is in the agenda with ease. Along with that after the work is completed you can sit back and watch high quality high definition resolution streaming videos and listen to your favorite music. I would highly suggest an android tablet to anyone who is looking for a great tablet PC for low-cost.

Cody Phrenism thoroughly enjoys writing about technology, especially in the field of hand-held Tablet PCs such as the android tablet. He also prizes capitalism and competition in the marketplace and has thusly established an android tablet review so that everyone can find the tablet PC that is right for them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5555733