Mastering Android Wear Application Development

Master the future of mobile devices in wearable technology

Mastering Android Wear Application Development

About This Book

• Mastering Android Wear Development is a complete guide to wearable technology for experienced Android developers
• Notifications, voice input, coping with round screens – all the key challenges of wearable technology are covered
• This book describes not just how to write code for wearables, but also how to think about wearable technology and design apps that work well with the physical limitations of wearable devices

Who This Book Is For
This book is for application developers (the web, mobile, and desktop) who are interested in building new wearable apps, and mobile developers who already have apps on iTunes or Google Play Store and are looking to provide Android Wear support for their existing Android or iOS apps.

What You Will Learn

• Understand the Wearable computing technology
• Set up a development environment to build Android Wear apps using Android Studio
• Master the Android Wear SDK and APIs
• Understand the UI patterns and UX principles to build Android Wear apps
• Work with the different form factors of wearable devices (round and square)
• Take advantage of the sensors available on Android Wear devices
• Develop Android Wear sample apps
• Communicate between Android mobile and Android Wear apps
• Get to know the steps involved in publishing Android Wear apps to the Play store

In Detail
Wearable technology is the future of mobile devices. It looks set to be a breakthrough technology, just like the iPad was before it. With the Apple Watch being widely regarded as a success, all eyes are now on Google to provide a similar device for its users. Keep your skills ahead of the competition and be one of the first to fully understand this powerful new trend. This book will give you a very solid understanding of the philosophy, thought process, development details, and methodologies involved in building well-designed, robust Android Wear applications.

We cover the advantages and disadvantages of the wearable computing paradigm and provide a good foundational knowledge for you to build practical, real-world wearable apps. You will learn about the various tools, platforms, libraries, SDKs, and technology needed to build Android Wear apps. By the end of the book, you will be an expert in building Android wearable apps.

Style and approach
This one-stop professional tutorial will teach you everything you need to know to begin designing and developing applications for this exciting new technology. Every step from development through testing to deployment is explained in depth.

Hello World and create AVD for Android Wear

This video show how to create AVD for Android Wear, create Hello World and run on Android Wear Emulator.

Step-by-step Android Wear Application Development

Step-by-step tutorials that leads you through the essential concepts, tools, and techniques for developing applications for smart watches using the Android Wear SDK. 

Step-by-step Android Wear Application Development
Have you ever thought to yourself: “I wish I had learned to develop iPhone apps when the iPhone first came out”? Very few people had the foresight to act on the fact that computing platforms are continuously getting smaller, cheaper, faster, and more intimate. Computers have evolved from fixed room-sized machines to desktops, laptops, and handheld devices. The same disruptive transition is about to take place again. Only this time, instead of taking your smartphone out of your pocket, the computer has become wearable.

This is a great time to start learning Android Wearable development. Consumers will come to embrace smartwatches because they will be relatively unobtrusive and will allow them to do things that smartphones can’t.

Topics Covered

• Create native wearable apps using the Android SDK
• Build consistent UI layouts using Cards and CardFragments
• Learn all about the Wearable UI Library to build exciting and engaging apps
• Master the notification framework. Build notifications for handhelds apps that are automatically extended to Android Wear and learn how to build custom notifications on wearables to better support your brand
• Working with wearable sensors
• Use the Wearable Data Layer API to create native apps that can communicate securely with a paired smartphone
• Includes three exciting projects: 1) Build a car catalog app to browse through vehicles, take notes on them, and schedule test drives all within arms reach, 2) Build a fitness app to start, pause or stop a workout session and 3) Build an animated dice game using the handheld device as a remote control or the wearable’s accelerometer sensor to detect shake gestures in order to roll a die. You will learn how to animate shapes, establish a data connection between the mobile and Wear devices, and display a history of dice roll outcomes on the handheld device.

“Alex has written a masterful collection of tutorials, patterns, tips & tricks, and helpful insider hints that developers at any level will appreciate. The example apps are easy yet challenging, fun yet practical, and put together using best practices. You’ll really come away with a strong sense of how to build effective experiences for Google wearables.” 
- Jason Salas, Co-author, Designing & Developing for Google Glass

Who is this book for?

This book is for intermediate developers who know the basics of Android application development and want to quickly get up to speed and start developing apps for Android Wear. If you are a complete beginner to Android, don’t worry. The step-by-step tutorials are easy to follow and each exercise is followed by an in-depth source code explanation. This book is the best way to get a head start now developing apps for Android Wear.

Create AVD for Android Wear

The video show how to create AVD (Android Virtual Device) for Android Wear: