Tips: developing for Android

Here I want to post a list of some interesting facts about developing applications for Android. Although, my experience with it isn't huge, I believe this information will be useful for starters who want to create an Android application.

Lets get started.

  1. To publish your application to Android market you'll need to register and pay registration fee - $25. It's paid only once and is not returned.
  2. Name your application simple. If you application isn't part of your brand (like Facebook, Gmail or Twitter), it's the best to title application with some description of it. For example, Send Links and Phone 2 Chrome are good names, but SyncTab is not. At least, call it like 'SyncTab - send links easily'. The name should help user to understand what's your application for.
  3. Don't hard code values. Move them to appropriate files like strings.xml, integers.xml, arrays.xml, colors.xml etc. This will save your time to localize application and hone application for different devices.
  4. Use styles and themes.
  5. Prefer to use Content Providers to work with database.
  6. Use different forums to find first users and beta testers.
  7. Release often. This will help to get new users faster. Each time you release a new version of application, it's added to the Just Released feed. Prefer to make such releases before or on weekends.
  8. Make a nice but simple icon. Follow Android's style guide.
  9. Remember that you'll need a promotional and feature graphics.
  10. Use different techniques to cleanup the code. Like Android annotations, intent helpers etc.
  11. Optimize!
  12. Investigate Android applications of other developers, like iosched application from Google.
  13. You can use Google Analytics to track not only usage of application, but also errors
  14. Save resources: memory, cpu, network traffic.

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