If you haven't done so yet, read an overview of these posts here.
In this post I will introduce you to the tools I use to build Android Apps. All of the software I use is free to download and use. I recommend using this setup because it works for me, and it is a rather standard one.
1. Computer
There is no getting around this. You need a computer to develop apps. I use a laptop, the dv2000 HP laptop. I think I bought it in 2007 or 2008, so it's getting a bit dated.
If I had one recommendation, you should use a computer with a decent amount of RAM. When I began developing Android Apps, I found that my computer was ridiculously laggy whenever I tried to do any Android development. I decided to update my RAM from 1GB to 2GB of RAM
, and it made a huge positive difference. Here is a link to the same RAM I bought and installed. 2. Ubuntu operating system
There really isn't too much special about using this operating system over another with regards to Android development. I think you could work just as easily on any other operating system. With that said, I do have the ability to boot into Windows, and yet I prefer Ubuntu for these reasons: Ubuntu boots up faster, it seems to use less resources when it is on, and I like using the bash shell.
3. Eclipse IDE (integrated development environment)
There are other IDE's but Eclipse is pretty much the standard for Java development. Also, Eclipse has a number of plugins for Android development that are really useful. Most importantly, using the essential Android development toolkit is pretty seamless with Eclipse. Here are some posts on my experience of using Eclipse and Git.
4. Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android Smartphone
This is the phone I use in day-to-day life. While having an Android phone is not essential to developing Android Apps, it makes things much easier. First, you can directly install apps that you are building and that makes testing easier. Also, if you have a slow computer like me, using the phone as a second test apparatus will reduce the strain on your computer.
5. Asus Google Nexus 7 32GB Tablet
For Christmas this year, my wife bought me the Nexus 7 tablet. It arrived very early, so I got to play with it yesterday. In terms of building Android Apps, it will serve the same purpose as my smart phone. Basically, it will allow me to test on one more device much more easily. I can then ensure that my app looks good on small and large screens now.
Please leave a comment if you'd like some more info about my set up. If you'd like a full post about setting up your Android development, please let me know.
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