I am working on a project which requires the use of Google Maps and is aimed for tablet PCs running the Android OS. We have purchased an Archos 101 Internet Tablet to test our implementation, but what I have quickly noticed is that any application that I install which uses Google Maps immediately crashes on startup (throwing a ClassNotFoundException on the class which extends MapActivity). I then learned that Archos is not a "Google-certified" device and apparently does not support the Google Maps API.
I understand that we may need to acquire a Tablet which is confirmed to work with Google APIs for Android.
I wanted to know if anyone has ever tried to develop a Google Maps application on one of these tablets?
As a follow up, what tablet would you suggest for developing a Google Maps application?
EDIT: I have tested the same implementation successfully on both the Android Emulator and a Nexus One phone. I want to stress that the issue seems to be the lack of support for Google Maps on the Archos 101 tablet. Also, this is just a prototype, and we are not developing anything for the market quite yet, so the workaround is acceptable in this case.
I wanted to know if anyone has ever tried to develop a Google Maps application on one of these tablets?
ARCHOS tablets do not have Google Maps, and so you cannot develop apps that use the Google Maps add-on using those tablets. You can, however, display classic Web-based Google Maps in a WebView or something.
As a follow up, what tablet would you suggest for developing a Google Maps application?
Any tablet that legitimately has Google Maps and the Android Market. If you have an Android Market developer account, if the device shows up in the filter-out-these-devices list, then it legitimately has the Android Market.
I'd seriously consider a Honeycomb tablet, as that will be the OS flavor that most tablet devices will be running in the future.
Despite all the research I had been doing pointing to the conclusion that this was impossible, my peers persisted, and I did end up finding a workaround that I thought I should share.
I found a package which installs the necessary components onto the Archos for it to support Google Apps functionality. The version I used can be downloaded here.
After installing the apk using adb install, I ran the app and clicked "Install only core apps". After rebooting, I tried to run my Google Maps program again, and it worked.
EDIT: This "workaround" may no longer be valid as the link to the package has been taken down. Try searching Google Apps Installer for Android (version number).
Related
I've created an app which uses Google Billing for in app purchases. I've tested the functionality on a number of real devices, as well as on emulators in Android Studio and it appears to be working fine.
I don't have any real devices that are running lower than android API 24, and although I can create a virtual device in Android Studio, it doesn't look like I can create one with Google play store functionality.
If I pick a device with Play store functionality...
...I'm only shown recommended system images down to API 24 (the same is true regardless of which device I pick)...
I can see plenty of other images under the 'X86 images' and 'Other images' sections, but none with Play store functionality.
Having tested on other API's, I'm pretty sure this will work, but it would be nice to be sure. Is there any way I can be sure without purchasing a physical device?
Official answer: No, there is no way if you want a "trustful" test environment.
Google has never released (and probably never will) emulator images with Google Play below API 24.
If you want test your app with API below that level your only option is buying an old phone with Google Play installed.
Unofficial answer: Online you can find some guide/tutorial which teach you how to install Play service and Play store on emulator images, like this one but I did not try them and don't know if they really works.
I was testing the implementation of Google Maps from Google Play Service V2 and following carefully this suggestion and from developer.android.com. Setting virtual device Android 3.1 (API level 12) and running it, the maps weren't shown, instead this message is shown on the screen "this app won't run without Google Play services, which are missing from this tablet" and LogCat says 04-26 21:47:39.449: W/GooglePlayServicesUtil(395): Google Play Store is missing" in orange text. After that, reading somewhere at internet, apparently it must be tested in a real device, is that true?. Let me do another question, can I run that application in my Tablet w/Android 2.2.1 anyway?, if not, what modifications must I do in the project?. I'm using Eclipse indigo in Ubuntu. Thanks in advance.
After that, reading somewhere at internet, apparently it must be tested in a real device, is that true?
No emulator ships with support for the Play Store. You will find various people advocating software piracy as a workaround.
can I run that application in my Tablet w/Android 2.2.1 anyway?
If that tablet has OpenGL 2.0 and the Play Services Framework, yes.
I googled around and tried to find out something about the new Samsung App Store. I built an App for Google Play and I wonder if I can deploy it to the Samsung App Store.
The Android SDK isn't specially built for Google Play I guess. But looking at the Samsung SDK docs it seems quite different from the standard SDK.
Does anybody has any experience with Samsung or knows a link where I can find more info?
Thanks!
Google Play is a non exclusive app store. You are free to distribute your app via other channels, such as Amazon App Store, Samsung App Store, emailing apks and even direct downloads from your own site.
Any app that has been written with the Android SDK should work on any device running the supported versions Android (assuming the OEM has a bug free and AOSP based ROM).
Keep in mind though that some devices that have the Samsung App Store may not have Google Play and may not be able to use Google Services like In App billing and licensing.
Be warned with Samsung Apps, they take huge fees, there are many intermediaries (agents, commissionaires). While in Google Play you get 70% of the sales, in Samsung Apps you barely get 30-35%... And you are paid 6 months later.
I need a kind of map explorer in my android app.
To use android MapActivity, I need to build with Google API, and not with standard Android API.
What does exactly mean ? Will my application only work on Google phone and not on others (Samsung) ?
I think it's safe to assume that the Google API is included on almost every single Android device on the market today, Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson ect. So don't be afraid of using it. :)
I have heard that the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet doesn't have the Google APIs SDK, but rather the plain vanilla Android 1.6 OS build. Is this true? And does anyone know of any other devices like this currently on the market or in the works?
I'm particularly interested in phones, but would like to know about any such devices. My company adds maps to our apps but they are often optional, so I'd like to know if I need to be worried that these apps won't be available to non-maps devices.
There are a bunch of Android-based tablets out there (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices). The link doesn't have information as to whether or not they have Google apps installed, but if you do some research, you can find more info. The 1&1 Smartpad for example doesn't seem to have proprietary Google apps (I don't see any on the screenshots: http://www.slashgear.com/11-smartpad-android-tablet-drops-in-germany-3092321/).
Now the thing to keep in mind is that if a device doesn't have Google Maps, it probably doesn't have Market either. (To go back to the 1&1 example, I see a "1&1 Market" app on the screenshots).
Your best bet may be to provide your app on all known major app sites (http://www.andappstore.com, etc) and even your company's website in addition to the Google Market to maximize exposure. Al Sutton's andappstore in particular is a popular site for people with Android-based devices that don't have the market.