The latest issue of the german Android360 magazine is featuring an article by our Android experts about fragmentation on the platform.

Fragmentation on the Android platform comes in several flavors.
Mobile devices in the wild can differ on their installed Android version, their screen size/resolution and their supported hardware features.
With the advent of Android tablets the platform added a new class of supported hardware to its portfolio.
The article summarizes the main does and don’t to tackle fragmentation successfully.

If you are experiencing fragmentation problems in your Android project or want to avoid them upfront, talk to us. Our share-a-canooie service might be just the right thing for you.

Remember: think Android, think Canoo

Canoo is helping organize three different Android workshops in the next month, so now is a great time to get started if you’ve been wanting to take a shot at Android development.

The first event is starting today (14 September) at ch/open in Zürich. If you hurry you can still get down there in time. It is a German language session called Umgang mit Fragmentierung auf der Android Plattform” presented by Andreas Hölzl and Andrei Socaciu. It’s a full day session, so feel free to drop in. Better late than never.

The second event is Wednesday 28 September in Basel. Hackergarten, the monthly user group, is hosting Andreas who will lead us in an Android development night. We plan to develop and publish a full Android app during the evening. This is a free event and Canoo provides food and drinks. You can read the mailing list thread for more information. The group is in English and German, and it’s generally a lot of fun.

The third event is in Geneva/Genf. The SoftShake conference is the 3rd and 4th of October. Andreas and Andrei are presenting Tackling fragmentation on the Android platform”, another full day workshop but this time in English. (By the way, I’ll be presenting there on Code Generation and Java Boilerplate Busting).

Do none of these fit your schedule? Would you rather have them presented on-site? Canooies are always available to come to your worksplace and present on topics, whether it is Java, Groovy, Andriod, iOS, or whatever. It’s actually more fun to speak at a customer-site than at a conference. Just email info@canoo.com for more info or to set something up.

Canoo is delighted to announce that it will be attending the official launch of Sun Microsystem’s JavaFX Mobile technology at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 16-19 February 2009.

JavaFX Mobile aims to make it easier for developers to provide a Rich Internet Application (RIA) experience on state-of-the-art mobile devices, whilst leveraging the ubiquity and capability of Java. Sun’s choice of the MWC as launch event is indicative of the importance it places on the mobile platform for Java’s future.

Canoo is one of a handful of so-called “Java application showcase project” partners. These partners were specifically chosen by Sun because of their leading roles in the booming Rich Internet Application (RIA) market place.

Canoo senior software engineers Mike Mannion and Alberto Mijares will be talking about Canoo’s experience with JavaFX Mobile technology, and will be on hand to demonstrate a brand new version of Music Pinboard entitled Music Pinboard Mobile. The application will be running on a number of the latest hardware devices at the Sun stand.

Here’s a screenshot of Music Pinboard Mobile:

Canoo and Java User Group Switzerland are organizing an event on Rich Internet Applications for mobile devices on 29th May at the Technopark in Zurich.

Canoo’s Dierk Koenig will present a talk on “Going Mobile with JavaFX Script, Groovy and Google Android“:

Since the 2007 JavaOne conference, the JavaFX Script technology-based application MusicPinboard has been justifiably cited by many (including Sun) as a significant demonstration of the power of JavaFX Script technology as well as a radical improvement over Java technology in terms of developer productivity.

One year on, Dierk König shares his thoughts about what kind of audience JavaFX Script technology is likely appeal to, today and in the future. In addition, he offers objective comparisons with some rising competitors in what he calls the RIA/mobile space:

• Groovy, which has in recent months encroached on the JavaFX Script technology space by including a data binding mechanism as part of its Swing GUI Builder
• Google’s prototype Android platform, which the global giant hopes to position as the platform of choice for providers of high-end mobile device and business applications alike

Dierk contends that each of the solutions described embodies a different vision of how the mobile experience will evolve in the near future and that the time frame may be shorter than we think when it comes to seeing which technology gains the upper hand.

Dierk recently presented this talk at JavaOne 2008 together with Mike Mannion. If you’re based in Switzerland, this is your chance to hear the talk.

The second talk will focus on Google Android. Markus Pilz and Peter Wlodarczak of Greenliff will provide an overview of the Android GUI framework and show a short sample how to write and configure phone GUIs with it.

Android provides a nearly complete JDK 1.5 class library. However, AWT is only partial supported, and Swing is not supported at all. Instead, Android introduces its own GUI framework with Screens, Views and its own widget set, which nicely integrates with the Android application live cycle which is based on Activities, Intents, Providers and Services. Mobile application development is made easy through very simple reuse of existing Activities, Providers and Services. Full XML-based GUI layout allows dealing with different screens sizes and color depths without development know-how. Contrary to other mobile platforms like the iPhone, Android has been designed as an open platform for software development and doesn’t have many of the limitations i. e. JME has.

Event details

Program:

17:00 – 17:50: Talk: Going Mobile with JavaFX Script, Groovy and Google Android incl. Q/A
17:50 – 18:00: Break
18:00 – 18:50: Talk: The Android GUI Framework incl. Q/A

At: Technopark, Technopark 1, Zurich, Switzerland

How to get there: PDF or .html