Tag Archives: tutorial

One of the unique features you’ll find with recent Xperia™ smartphones is a “blinds” effect that’s part of the lockscreen display – touch your finger anywhere on the screen, and the window shreds into horizontal blind slats. The BlindsView feature is also available on Xperia™ smartphones running the Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 update (at the moment, Xperia™ TL). You can easily incorporate this graphical UI effect to your own standalone apps using our BlindsView tutorial from Johan Henricson, software project manager at Sony. You’ll also be able to download a separate BlindsView code example kit as part of this tutorial.

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On recent Xperia™ devices, you may have noticed our new and eye-catching Lockscreen which transforms into horizontal blinds when your finger touches the screen. Now we’ll show you how you could add a similar graphical effect to your own app using a custom Android™ ViewGroup. The BlindsView Tutorial will provide you with powerful tools for creating some very eye-catching graphical effects and transitions. Read on for the full BlindsView tutorial by Johan Henricson, software project manager at Sony.

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When you develop an app, there are a few things you can do to make it use network and power resources as efficiently as possible. And by doing so, you will also provide a clearly enhanced user experience. Håkan Jonson, a research engineer at Sony Mobile’s Technology office, created a tutorial a while back that will help you develop energy and network efficient apps. In his tutorial, you will find useful and hands-on tips, as well as code examples that will help you improve your app.

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If you’re currently working on an app where image scaling is needed, such as when you’re developing a SmartWatch extension for your application, don’t forget that we have a handy tutorial to explain how to get images scaled correctly. Andreas Agvard, a Senior Software Engineer at Sony, has created an image scaling code example that you can download, compile, and run. Read more after the jump.

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App developers, do you want to enhance the user experience, and reduce the power consumption & improve the network efficiency of your app?  We are happy to share our knowledge in the area, and one way to do this is by continuously contributing to initiatives like the guide called Smarter Apps for Smarter Phones. Published by the GSM Association (GSMA) earlier this year, this is the perfect guide for app developers interested in increasing the efficiency of their apps while enhancing the user experience.

In this tutorial, Håkan Jonsson from our Technology office has picked out some of the areas from the guide that he thinks are most important for increasing power efficiency and network usage in mobile devices. You will find useful and hands-on tips, as well as some brand new code examples that will help you improve your app. Read more after the jump!

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We just announced the Sony Xperia™ go, which comes with equipped with a pressure sensor, which enables you as a developer to create barometric, altitude or speed-related apps by accessing it through the Android sensor API. In this article, we’re highlighting information on how you can develop apps that work with the pressure sensor in Xperia™ go, as well as Xperia™ active as the sensor is accessed through the same API.

Read on to get a code example and instructions on how to create a simple app that can read data from the pressure sensor.

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***Update: This Sony specific API will be deprecated. Please use the hidden Android intent “android.intent.action.HDMI_PLUGGED” instead. This is supported on smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jellybean. Stay tuned to Developer World for more information going forward.*** 

Are you working on an Android™ app that you’d like users to experience on an external device like a TV or monitor? If your Xperia™ smartphone (or other Android™ device) has an HDMI port, then your app should detect when it’s plugged into a powered high-definition screen to ensure the display is rendered properly on the larger screen. This quick tutorial includes some code that shows you how. Read more after the jump.

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