The Other Android Conference

It's not Google I/O. But you can actually get tickets! And it's four days of technical classes and workshops all about one thing: Android Development.

Last week I attended AnDevCon III. I did not attend AnDevCon I or AnDevCon II so I wasn't sure what to expect. Granted, there was a lot of fluff (20+ sponsored sessions) but anytime you get an opportunity to dig into code with heavy hitters like Chet Haase, Romain Guy, Mark Murphy, Manfred Moser, Jake Wharton, and Chiu-Ki Chan, that is a party I want to be at.

However the conference app needs some love. Why does EventBoard have to reload data from the server for every single BZ Media event this year each time I open the app before I can use it? And where were my push notifications when a session was cancelled? (There were several.)

It's amazing that you have so many great Android developers in one place and yet the app we are all using to navigate the event is barely functional. That is why I proposed that next year the event app be a contest. Best app gets free attendance! Or just open source it.

Below are some slides I put together for an event recap I gave at the Android Alliance Philadelphia meeting on May 23rd. Included are some of my personal highlights. If you want to see more, most of the slides from the conference can be downloaded on the presentations page. Slides only, no video.

Except for Chiu-Ki Chan! She posted her slides and video on her blog. She gave an amazing talk on implementing reusable custom UI components and gave cookies to the audience if you asked or answered a question!

Overall for me the fantastic lineup of speakers and quality of other attendees (professionals and leaders in the industry) made this a great event. I hope to be at AnDevCon IV this December.

Warning: The following slides may not be suitable for all audiences. Fellow Philadelphians may be disgusted/outraged/horrified at the discovery of something being served in a San Francisco restaurant called a Philly Cheese Steak Crepe. This is enough to make Ben Franklin cry big boy tears.