If you are an experienced Android developer, here are 5 must watch videos to improve your Android skills. These videos cover not only advanced Android programming techniques but also stuff such as best practices in development, use of various frameworks, handling user expectation when you app becomes a Play Store success, etc. What makes these videos special is that these are from hardcore developers who have worked on the platform for a number of years building successful applications for Android.

Following videos are from well known Android developers such as Jake Wharton, Donn Felker and Michael Bailey. These videos also gives us a glimpse on how Android development is done in companies such as Twitter and Dropbox.

1. Android From Trenches by Donn Felker (Myfitnesspal, Groupon)

Donn Felker is one of the key developers behind Myfitnesspal app and Groupon app. This video is a collection of lessons learned from having these two apps in the top 100 on Google Play for 3 years. This video is packed with practical advice on developing Android apps, managing them on the Google Play Store and handling user expectations. Some of the key Android topics covered in this video are,

• How to handle users when your app becomes a success on the Google Play Store?
• Importance of unit testing and automation (Roboelectric, Expresso etc.)
• Defensive coding
• Use of frameworks such as Dagger, EventBus, Otto and Hugo
• Analytics and A/B testing

The slides for Android From Trenches are available here.

 

2. Streamlining Android Apps: Eliminating Code Overhead by Jake Wharton (Square)

Jake Wharton is one of the superheroes in the world of Android developers. Jake starts off the video with a number of well known optimization techniques in Android to minimize memory, CPU and I/O usage. He calls these optimizations as “macro” optimizations and then points out that there are a number of micro optimizations that can have large impact on application performance and battery usage. Check out the video for these micro optimizations that you can apply while programming Android applications.

Slides for eliminating code overhead presentation are here.

 

3. How the Main Thread Works by Michael Bailey (American Express)

In Android, the user interface operations run on a single thread known as the main thread. This thread uses queuing to schedule multiple UI events. It is very critical to keep this main thread responsive. Hence in Android, every large operation must be executed on a separate thread. 

In this video, Michael Bailey gives an under the hood look at the Android main thread queuing system. A solid understanding of how main thread works is important for Android programmers.

 

4. Android At Dropbox by Aakash Kambuj (Dropbox)

This talk starts with the history of Dropbox and then Aakash proceeds to give a overview of Android development at Dropbox. The talk contains high level view of Dropbox architecture, specifically the photo loading process and onboarding flow in Dropbox app. The most interesting bit is the details of the product development process and how development teams are structured at Dropbox.

 

5. Android Programming - Pushing the Limits, Eric Hellmann (Spotify)

Eric Hellmann is the author of the book, Android Programming – Pushing the Limits and this talk explains the Android development tips contained in the book. Eric takes us through the efficient memory management and multi-threading techniques and correct use of Android components.

The slides for Android Programming – Pushing the Limits is available here.