Hi everyone,
Im very excited about Android, though I still cant really see what's really possible and whats not. For instance, I can see that Android can give me the GPS position, so are we assuming that every phone with Android has a GPS device installed ? My real question is : is it reasonnable to start building an app that requires that the phone is always under a GPS radar and an internet connection ? Cheers

Hi Lex,

what you can do with Android is probably everything (ok you could do that with other Frameworks too, but as Android provides awesome interfaces (for ...... everything - from Calling or Mapping to 3D) it should be your choice )

We cannot be sure, that every Mobile Device will be capable of using GPS or a broadband-internet-connection, but as the seller would restrict the coolest features to the user I assume that most (except very low cost ones) have at least GPS. As a mobile internet-connection is relatively expensive nowadays, I would think twice (better trice) before creating an application that cannot work without.

Regards,
plusminus

Allright its getting clearer now. When do you think Android based phones are gonna hit a critical mass users ? Because if its in a year or 2, we can bet wifi hotspots will be *allmost* everywhere...can't we ?

It depends hard, on how many phone-companies will join the project.

As AT&T, T-Mobile, Motorola and other Huge Names did, the impact will probably go faster than we think...
As I'm pretty bad at guessing there will be no forecast

Regards,
plusminus

Ok thank you. What about disk limitations ? What do u think should be the max size of an app ? 1Mo ? 10Mo ? 100Mo ? Im not necessarely talking about code but about the pictures or the sounds..

Hey lex,

hm..., as Flash-Memory is getting cheaper and cheaper (nowadays an average 1GB SD-Card is only 10$ or less ) I would not break my mind on that. I do think that Apps can be started from removable devices, as it is not more/less than another harddrive.
As you said, you wont break any limit just with code, pictures/music are the big ones...(having a small screen-resolution and using efficient image-formats will probably not push your over 10MB, what is already very much in my view.)

Think of what filesize you would start thinking twice

[Edit] The FileSize depends heavily on the type of your app. I wouldn't load a TextViewer that is 10MB, but probably a nice game.

Regards,
plusminus

OKay I've got another question about Android possibility.
Is it possible to determine the cellphone orientation ? I mean is it possible to know if the user is pointing toward north or south or whatever ?

Hello Lex,

if the Hardware-Platform provides an Compass, then it is definitely possible, as there is already an interface in the Android-Platform.

http://code.google.com/android/referenc ... nsors.html

Code would be sth. like this:


With every line I write I get remembered, how damn nice Android is .

Regards,
plusminus

Awesome. Any other cool hidden feature like that ?

Lex wrote:Awesome. Any other cool hidden feature like that ?

Hey Lex,

I was thinking of an Dice-Shaking App, using an ACCELEROMETER of which an interface is also already built in.

The dices would be in kinda box or cylinder and shaking the phone would make them shake to, like having a real dice-cup in your hand. That would be awesome.

Regards,
plusminus

Cool ! And is it possible to know, for instance, how fast a user is running with his phone ? (I don't see the point yet but I have to know whats possible before building an app )

Hello Lex,

the easiest way to do that, would be using GPS, remember that every car-gps can show you your (approximate) current speed.

Unfortunately GPS is not that accurate, so fusing it with the sensor-values from an accelerometer would provide even better results.

Regards,
plusminus