CHAPTER 1 ■ ENHANCING ANDROID APPS: USING NEW MEDIA ASSETS
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New Media Genres: Multimedia Pie Slices
There are a number of different types (or genres) of new media, and all of these are
supported in Java and JavaFX (which power Android, along with the Linux Kernel) as
well as in Android OS. These support adding what I like to call new media “assets” to the
Android application code. You’re familiar with most of them I imagine: digital images
like those on Pinterest or Instagram, or digital audio like that on Spotify or Pandora.
Digital video can be used to stream movies or your favorite television show. Less prolific
new media types include 2D vector or digital illustration media that looks like 2D
cartoons, and 3D vector, or interactive 3D media, like you see people using on popular
game consoles like Xbox to play sports or adventure games. All of these examples are
high-sensory user experiences, so adding new media assets or elements to your Android
application development process is how to take your app to the next level !
Separate Your App from the Crowd: New Media
The major advantage to incorporating new media assets into your Android application
development in Android Studio is the visual and aural “wow factor” that you can add to
an application. This sets it apart from other applications and generates a word-of-mouth
marketing effort on the behalf of your users, and that you will not have to pay for. This is
what I’d call a “windfall profit,” and it is what this book targets to bring to your Android
application development knowledge base and to your new media assets for Android
Studio content production. For example, where digital imagery is concerned, instead of
having a solid background color, use a subdued texture or a subtle color gradient, which is
actually digital illustration, as you’ll learn over the course (no pun intended) of this book.
Where digital audio is concerned, with custom audio user interface sounds for user
interaction feedback, users will feel like they’re more closely tied into, or are a part of,
your Android application. Digital audio can enhance the user experience more than you
are probably giving high-quality audio credit for!
Digital video and interactive 3D are more on the content production side of the
application enhancement spectrum, rather than on the user interface design side of
things; however, they are just as important. Digital video that is well optimized may play
back more smoothly via slower connections, and interactive 3D, or i3D, applications are
rare, other than popular 3D games.
Next let’s take a look at the new media file formats the Android operating system
includes. What I mean by “includes” is a decoder for the file format’s codec ( cod e-
dec ode) is actually a part of the Android OS, and already installed on the hardware!
Android Studio New Media Support: File Formats
The key to bridging your new media content production to your Android Studio development
environment is those new media file formats currently supported in Android 5 or later.
Most of them are supported in Android 4. Many of these are also supported in earlier
versions of Android, such as 1.6, 2.37, and 3.2. Devices running these versions of Android
are becoming hard to find; soon all you will have to worry about is 32-bit Android 4.4 and