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Back to Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 by University of Maryland, College Park

4.6
stars
676 ratings

About the Course

This course introduces you to the design and implementation of Android applications for mobile devices. You will develop an app from scratch, assuming a basic knowledge of Java, and learn how to set up Android Studio, work with various Activities and create simple user interfaces to make your apps run smoothly....

Top reviews

NS

Jun 26, 2018

Very well explained, though content could've been updated (considering code versions to keep up with new versions of Android where Permissions are required to be accepted during running the app).

DS

Sep 4, 2016

A great course to take because the useful and simple explanations made by prof. Porter. The course gives us the first steps to be android developers in a fun an simple way. Excellent Course.

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1 - 25 of 186 Reviews for Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1

By Peter C

•

Jan 26, 2019

Paid for this course a couple of years ago and finished it with no real problems but didn't use what I'd learned nor did I continue with the next course. I decided to retake this class to brush up so I could take Part 2. However, the course material hasn't been updated to keep pace with the changes to Android and Android Studio. Assignment projects don't import properly and deprecated classes are being used instead of their replacements. I managed to update my original final project (ModernArtUI) to current standards and have decided that I'm better off (and will learn more) by continuing by myself.

By Deleted A

•

Oct 30, 2020

Update of the course is largely overdue: It's not acceptable to have course materials , especially the labs, that are soooooo outdated. We are in 2020 and the technology is moving faster than ever, hence having materials dated 2016 shouldn't be tolerated by Coursera for a paid course.

It makes the onboarding very difficult for people not familiar with Android. I lost hours (if not days) in getting sample code / lab material upgraded to the current version of Android studio. So many clicks to get away from "unsupported library" type of errors.

It's a shame as otherwise the course is well structured, and a little "upgrade" of the course materials which shouldn't be so difficult for the "pro" lecturers would simply bring it to 5 stars. It's called "solution maintenance" which is part of software lifecycle ... ;-)

By James

•

May 26, 2020

looks like the course was nicely organized at time of creation

however the content is awfully dated

i would not squawk as much if this course was about some fundamental knowledge . but it's not

please pick another course for your own good

:(

By Theis N

•

Jun 13, 2018

poorly maintained exercises which require hours of fixing in order to submit and pass tests

By Craig B

•

Feb 9, 2020

The course material is very old and some is hopelessly outdated. In week three there's a lab for permissions, but it requires using permissions that are no longer available (not since Android v5.1). Questions have been asked about this for years, but have been ignored. It appears the only people on the forums are people taking the course, most of whom probably don't already how to beat Android Studio and Gradle into submission so that old versions of Android can be targeted.

If you're after a lot of frustration, this is probably a good course. If you're looking to learn to write apps for Android, look elsewhere.

By Matthew W

•

Jul 25, 2017

Excellent introduction to the basics of Android programming with educational, supplementary programming projects. After completing this course, I have proceeded to take Part 2.

By Gouri B

•

Jan 7, 2019

Very well presented, very hands on course. Only problem I faced was due to the examples being a bit dated, needed to tweak these to work in the latest Android Studio setup. (Did I miss out on downloading the latest examples?)

By Yousef O K

•

Nov 4, 2019

A bit outdated

but it's okay.

By Anas Z

•

Jan 21, 2018

I think this is the most helpful course that I have taken until now. I am not that perfect at Java but this course makes me understanding both Java and Android.

Thanks a lot.

By Ramon S

•

Nov 15, 2020

Although this helped my understanding of the Android system, once it got to the Android Studio, the lesson was about a completely outdated (pre 3.0) version and this required translating instructions to the new version (4.1.1) of the Android Studio. For example, the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server is deprecated, replaced by the Android Profiler.

By Deleted A

•

May 21, 2017

I don't think this course is helpful. I've end up reading a lot of documentation trying to guess what I should "copy and paste" in the code in order for it to work. In my opinion programming is about knowing why things work, not about having to learn that line of code 1 should come before line of code 2.

By Juan C H

•

Nov 7, 2021

Very outdated course

By Bill B

•

Jan 25, 2018

I took this course as a quick bootstrap into Android development. Dr. Adam Porter provides clear, informative, step-by-step videos, which I was able to comfortably enjoy at 1.5 times speed. (He speaks clear and slow for people who may not have English as a first language.) I chose this course over others because I already know iOS development and have been using Java for years. I wanted a course that focused primarily on the structure of beginner Android apps and not on Java or general topics in mobile development or CS. The assignments were just what I needed to exercise my new skills and really learn Android application flow and construction. In addition, I became familiar with the Android IDE. The only small negative is that the examples are getting old since the course uses API level 18. However, using level 18 did not impact what I was able to learn. All the examples and labs imported with only minor issues and ran fine. Reading the detailed lab assignments provided good instructions. I'm ready to start my first Android app now, but I still have more to learn.

By Nikola S

•

Jun 27, 2018

Very well explained, though content could've been updated (considering code versions to keep up with new versions of Android where Permissions are required to be accepted during running the app).

By David A S S

•

Sep 5, 2016

A great course to take because the useful and simple explanations made by prof. Porter. The course gives us the first steps to be android developers in a fun an simple way. Excellent Course.

By Tran P H H L

•

Dec 6, 2021

the course and it content is very good,the instructor accent very clear and easy to understand for me,but the assignment is out of date,the last update of the github repo since 7 years ago,can't import and make it run nowaday,how to complete the assignment if it doesn't run anymore or may be you have to build a new one from 0

By Volker K

•

May 6, 2022

The courses lab material (Android Studio files) is years out of date. Cannot be compiled with recent Android Studio.

Just making it work needs much more time than actually completing the quite simple assignments.

The course is ok but if you plan to do the labs, you'd better be qute experiences in Android Studio and Maven

(which probably means this course is too basic for you).

Tried a few thing like older versions of android studio and converting the files using android studio but in the end resorted to creating new project files and manually setting them up based on the course material.

This got me very frustrated so I gave up at about 80%.

With up to date material, I would have given the the course four stars.

By Stephan G

•

Mar 7, 2017

Outdated and unsupported !

The code for the exercises was made for Eclipse ADT and Google dropped support for Eclipse a while ago. The official IDE for Android development is Android Studio now.

I could import the project for Lab1 but I'm unable to compile the tests and the program with Android Studio, I get a ton of errors. My post in the forums about this is unanswered for 3 days now.

By Farah E

•

Feb 18, 2021

very old

By Mostafa M K

•

Apr 9, 2016

One of the most valuable an interesting courses I have ever joined.

The contents are precise and accurate.

It forces students to practice what they learned in an effective way.

It's very clear from the beginning to whom this course if for. In other words, it does not claim that it target all users just to gain popularity.

Objectives are very clear and honest.

In conclusion, for those who meet the course requirements and search for what this course is teaching, this course is AWESOME.

By Kaanu J

•

Sep 10, 2017

This is one of the best hands-on courses on Android. Dr. Porter explains theory with examples. Lab assignments encouraged me to research the web to formulate the solutions. Project at the end of the course makes use of all concepts taught during lectures and then some more.

I will be subscribing to Part 2 of this course for sure. Many thanks to Dr. Porter and team.

By Shekhar P

•

Apr 13, 2016

I joined this course and after two weeks I fell behind because of my final college exam and again I re join this course. This course is superb course. After join this you will no need to go any institution for android course. Thanks University of Maryland and Professor.

By Abumere E

•

May 1, 2017

I have moved from zero to building my first App for operations in my office just after week one. I advice that you go through the labs. It will cement your understanding and bring all to practical and implementation terms. Good luck.

By Alex Z

•

Jul 5, 2017

Excelente curso. Legenda muito compreensível, excelente recomendações de materiais complementares. Ótimos vídeos com um vasto conteúdo apresentado. Além de várias tarefas complementares para aprofundar ainda mais o conhecimento.

By Chuck M

•

Jul 29, 2016

I found this course to be very helpful. As someone who has used graphical frameworks in the past, I found the course's pace to be just right. Ideas were explained thoroughly, from the ground up, without getting bogged down.