The Android development platform, created by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, is a platform in its truest sense, encompassing hundreds of classes beyond the traditional Java classes and open source components that ship with the SDK. With Beginning Android 2, you’ll learn how to develop applications for Android 2.x mobile devices, using simple examples that are ready to run with your copy of the SDK. Author, Android columnist, writer, developer, and community advocate Mark L. Murphy will show you what you need to know to get started programming Android applications, including how to craft GUIs, use GPS, and access web services. What you’ll learnDiscover Android and how to use it to build Java-based mobile applications for Google phones.Create user interfaces using both the Android widget framework and the built-in WebKit-powered web browser components.Work with menu inflation, fonts, SDK tools, rotation events, TabActivity, MyLocationOverlay, and DDMS.Utilize the distinctive capabilities of the Android engine, including maps, Internet access, integrated search, and media playback.Use and create Android applications for services, content providers, mapping, and location-based services/events.Incorporate Android 1.5 to develop touch screen applications and more.Integrate the new Android 2.0, including integrated local and web search, handwriting gesture UI, Google Translate, and text-to-speech features.Who is this book for?This book is aimed at people new to mobile development, perhaps even to Java development itself.