Android 3.0 to bring apps supporting multi-tasking

BANGALORE, INDIA: As the Android platform is emerging to be the biggest there is no doubt it will create a lot of interest among developers and students to upgrade their skills in developing applications for the top platform. The Android mobile application development session at Spark IT 2011 by Rohit Bharadwaj's, Principal Software Engineer, Kronos Inc. was a testimony to the interest in the Android.

CIOL's Sharath Kumar caught-up with the renowned engineer to dig into the trends with Android application development. Excerpts:

CIOL: How fast can one build applications for Android phones today? What is the initial investment?

Rohit Bharadwaj: The momentum is in favor of Android development. Android has outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010. Carriers are pushing for Android powered phones as a viable option than iPhone.

Also read:  Android team to open source Honeycomb's source code

Developers can easily and rapidly build extremely rich applications with innovative ideas. There are many services, which can be utilized to provide rich experience to users. Consider integrating a restaurant application where it keeps track of regular restaurant customers and their friends. Anytime the customer goes near the restaurant chain, they can send notifications for special coupons. This can be possible by GPS location information, Google Maps and notifications

to the users.

Developers familiar with Java language can pickup Android development easily as it uses similar libraries and model for developing applications. Thus, it is easy to get started with developing applications. There is no initial investment to start building applications. There is a one-time registration fee of $25 to the Android Market.

Also read: 55 pc developers prefer to develop Android-based apps

CIOL: What makes an application successful on Android platform today?

RB: Every company gets the competitive edge when building applications in mobile technologies. A successful Android application must follow the principles for development. Firstly, application must perform well when the user is interacting. Secondly, users should be given option to kill application. Thirdly, applications must be tested in different android devices. Finally, the user interface needs to be simple to navigate between different user actions.

CIOL: Android is coming out with honeycomb operating system for tablets. What new opportunities will this bring for the developers?

RB: Android 3.0 honeycomb operating system is an awesome addition, which brings rich experience to tablets. Developers can now write applications supporting multitasking. Hardware acceleration will help existing Android apps. 3D graphics are not easy to create with Renderscript. Another cool feature is video chat support. Now Android applications can interact with different users to produce rich web experience.

{#PageBreak#} 

CIOL: Can we expect Android-based tablets, 'talk' to Apple's iPad in future?

RB: The main question is if the services work seamlessly between different applications using i-Pad and Android tablets. In future, companies are expected to support both tablet versions. One way to do this is to write common business objects in backend using Restful web services. Now it’s a matter of calling using Android or iPad client. There is no direct integration between these two platforms.

CIOL: There are many security issues with Android applications today. Can you share your views on this?

RB: The main issue in Android marketplace is malicious apps. These apps can get user data, location and communicate with the back-end to transmit this sensitive data in wrong hands. Sounds scary, as the user data integrity is compromised.

The users are not able to recover data in Android apps. To avoid this the user must use auto-backup feature to restore the lost data. Older versions of Android do not support hardware data encryption, which is the main requirement for any secure app in corporate world. Android 3.0 API provides hardware encryption.

Google recently removed malicious applications from Android Marketplace, suspended developer accounts and also contacted law enforcement agencies to take actions against these accounts.