Android App Inventor – Develop Android App Without Coding

[Update: Google phased out App Inventor, but made it open source. It is now hosted by MIT at http://appinventoredu.mit.edu/welcome-to-app-inventor-edu“] We have previously shown how to setup your environment to develop Android application using Eclipse. However, if you are not into Java programming and learning Android API but still want to develop (simple) Android applications, that’s still possible thanks to App Inventor. App Inventor will allow you to create the application UI in your web browser (The Designer), configure how your application behaves via a Java JNLP (Java Network Launching Protocol) applet (The Block Editor) and run your application in your Android phone/tablet or if you don’t have hardware in an emulator (The emulator). For Windows XP + Emulator, all you’ll have to do is to follow the instructions in http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/learn/setup/setupwindows.html and then you’ll be able to create some “Hello Kitty” application. First download the installer. Run appinventor_setup_installer_v_1_1.exe to install the […]

Installing Android SDK on Windows XP – Hello World Application

You’ll find the full details for installing Android SDK at http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html. The purpose of this blog entry is to summarize what I had to do to install Android development environment (Android 2.3 SDK (Gingerbread)) on Windows XP. Before installing the Android SDK per se, you’ll need to install some set of tools used by the SDK. Here are the steps to setup your Windows XP computer for Android development: 1. Install Java Developer Kit (JDK) You need to go to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html, select your OS (e.g. Linux, Windows, MAC…) and the file you want to download. I selected Java Platform (JDK), then downloaded Java SE Development Kit 6u23. I got the jdk-6u23-windows-i586.exe which I installed in the default directory, i.e. C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23). 2. Install Eclipse Classic Then you’ll need to install Eclipse, and open source IDE. Several versions are available at http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/, but since Google recommends Eclipse Classic, I just download […]

Near Field Communication (NFC) Introduction and Software Development

Android 2.3 features near field communication (NFC) in order to allow payment through your phone as it is already implemented in Japan with FeliCa (Felicity Card), a contactless RFID smart card system from Sony, direct communication between NFC devices, RFID reader, etc… NFC is already supported in Samsung / Google Nexus S. In this blog post, we’ll see what near field communication is, which hardware is needed and what needs to be done at the software level (driver and NFC stack). What is Near Field Communication ? Extract from Wikipedia: Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches) distance. The technology is a simple extension of the ISO/IEC 14443 proximity-card standard (proximity card, RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. An NFC […]

CES 2011 Main Attractions

CES 2011 will be held in Las Vegas 6-9 January 2011 featuring 2700 exhibitors, including manufacturers and service providers for the audio, digital imaging, home theater, wireless, content and gaming markets. Here are what may be the main attractions to look for at the event: Lots of Tablets: Motorola is expected to demo Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) with a 10″ tablet based on NVidia Tegra 2 and announcement about Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (probably using the Tegra 2 as well) . Here’s a list of companies that will exhibit their tablets at CES 2011: Acer – 7″/10″ Tablets running Android and Windows 7 Archos – Archos Gen 8 Devices: Archos 28/32/43/70/101 running Android Asus – Eee Pad running Windows 7 and Android (March 2011 release) Creative – ZiiO Pure Wireless Entertainment Tablets running Android. Dell – 7″ Dell Streak running Android. Entourage – Dual screen tablet (similar to the Kno) called […]

Android Remote Control App for Google TV

Google has just released a new app in Android Marketplace to be able to control your Google TV compatible set-top box or TV with your Android Smartphone. It just looks like a normal remote control, but you’ll also be able to use voice recognition to select your channel and videos, select a video on your phone to be played on the TV, etc… I wonder if this will engender family or friend’s wars since several Android phones can be used with one TV. Oh.. and also Google is offering 100 46″ Sony Google TV to the best videos. Deadline for submissions 22-12-2010, so it will end later today. Anyway, have a look at Google TV Remote App video below: Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time […]

Resources for NVidia Tegra 2

NVidia Tegra 2 is currently one of the most powerful processor used in smartphones and tablets such as the upcoming LG Optimus 2X smartphone or the new version of Samsung Galaxy Tab. NVidia describes the processor as follows: NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 is the world’s most advanced mobile processor, featuring the world’s first mobile dual-core CPU for up to 2x faster Web browsing; the world’s only ultra-low power (ULP) NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU for up to 5x faster gaming; and the world’s first mobile 1080p HD video processor for flawless HD video conferencing and playback. Get never-before-seen experiences on a mobile device with NVIDIA Tegra. NVidia Tegra 2 is based on a dual core Cortex A9 running up to 1GHz, supports 32-bit DDR2 RAM and features NVidia Geforce GPU with OpenGL ES 2.0 support. Contrary to many other companies finding the development kit, documentations and tools is straightforward. Once you get to […]

LG Optimus 2X Teaser Video – LG SU660 – LG P990

As you probably know LG announced their Optimus 2X smartphone based on Nvidia Tegra 2 earlier this week. I’ve just come across a Korean website showing LG teaser video/advertisement. Watch it below. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

LG Optimus 2X – First Dual Core NVidia Tegra 2 Smartphone

LG has just introduced the Optimus 2X (codenamed the LG Star), the first smartphone to run a dual-core processor namely Nvidia Tegra 2 @ 1GHz. The device will be initially available in Korea (Model: LG-SU660) in January 2011, and later in the year in Europe, then the rest of Asia (Model: LG-P990). LG Optimus 2X will be shipped with Android 2.2 upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). The phone features a 4-inch WVGA screen, 8GB of internal memory, microSD support (up to 32GB), HDMI output, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), DLNA support, an accelerometer, a gyro sensor,  1080p MPEG-4/H.264 playback and recording and finally 2 cameras: an 8 megapixel back camera plus a 1.3 megapixel front camera for video calls. Please see the video below where the Optimus 2X is compared to the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S. The LG Star is really the clear winner in terms of performance. […]

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