Pro Android Wearables: Building Apps for Smartwatches

Pro Android Wearables details how to design and build Android Wear apps for new and unique Android wearable device types, such as Google Android smartwatches, which use the new WatchFaces API, as well as health-monitoring features and other cool features such as altimeters and compasses. It’s time to take your Android 5 Wear application development skills and experience to the next level and get exposure to a whole new world of hardware.

As smartwatches continue to grab major IoT headlines, there is a growing interest in building Android apps that run on these wearables, which are now being offered by dozens of major manufacturers. This means more revenue earning opportunity for today’s indie app developers. Additionally, this book provides new media design concepts which relate to using media assets, as well as how to optimize Wear applications for low-power, single-core, dual-core or quad-core CPUs, and how to use the IntelliJ Android Studio IDE, and the Android device emulators for popular new wearable devices.

What you’ll learn

• How to build apps beyond those that just run on Android smartphones and tablets
• How to master the fundamentals of wearable app design
• How to build apps for wearables like smartwatches

Who this book is for

This book is for Android app developers new to Android apps development for embeddable appliances, wearables, and related hardware. This book takes your Android app development beyond the smartphone and tablet.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction to Android Wearables
Chapter 2. Setting Up an Android 5 Wearables Application Development Workstation
Chapter 3. A Foundation for Android Wearables
Chapter 4. Exploring Android Studio
Chapter 5. Android Virtual Devices
Chapter 6. Introduction to Android Watch Faces Design
Chapter 7. Program Watch Faces for Wear
Chapter 8. A Watch Faces Timing Engine
Chapter 9. Implement a WatchFaces Engine
Chapter 10. WatchFaces Vector Design
Chapter 11. WatchFaces Bitmap Design
Chapter 12. WatchFaces Digital Imaging
Chapter 13. Watch Face Configuration Companion Activity
Chapter 14. Watch Face Configuration Companion Activity Utility and Wearable API
Chapter 15. Wearables Application Testing
Chapter 16. Wear API Deprecation
Chapter 17. The Future of Android IoT APIs