Introduction

Xamarin.Android allows us to create native Android applications using the same UI controls we would use in Java, with the flexibility of C#, the power of the .NET Base Class Library, and two first-class IDEs.

Android development with Xamarin can be done on either Mac OS X or Windows, using either Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio. This variety provides us with our choice of how we want to work to create awesome apps.

This book will enable us, as developers, to create amazing, professional apps for the Android ecosystem. This knowledge can be used on so many platforms, from TVs and smartphones to watches, wearables, and many other Android-powered devices.

This chapter covers some of the most common tasks and steps to getting our app ready for development. We will learn how to create a new app, add support for the old versions of Android, and get started with the user interface used in all Android apps. We will also look at just how powerful the Xamarin.Android platform is by looking how we can share code with many other platforms, including Windows Phone, iOS, Windows, and Mac.