The Kindle Fire is a tablet computer version of Amazon.com's Kindle
e-book reader. Announced on 28 September 2011, the Kindle Fire has a color
7" multi-touch display with IPS technology and runs a forked version of
Google's Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. The device — which
includes access to the Amazon Appstore, streaming movies and TV shows, and Kindle's
e-books — was released on November 15, 2011.
Amazon initially planned to build 3.5
million Kindle Fire devices in the first production run. Due to customer demand
this was later increased first to 4 million and subsequently 5 million devices.
Clearly there is going to be a large market waiting for any applications
developed for the Kindle Fire.
Setting
Kindle Development Environment with Eclipse
System
Requirements
Kindle Fire application development
may be performed on any of the following system types:
Windows
XP (32-bit)
Windows
Vista (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows
7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Mac
OS X 10.5.8 or later (Intel based systems only)
Linux
systems with version 2.7 or later of GNU C Library (glibc)
Installing
the Java Development Kit (JDK)
Kindle Fire development requires the
installation of the Java
Platform, Standard Edition Development Kit version 5 or later. Java is
provided in both development (JDK) and runtime (JRE) packages. For the purposes
of Kindle Fire development the JDK installation must be installed.
Download
Eclipse IDE
You can download the eclipse IDE from here.
Installing
Android Setup on Eclipse
1. Download the Android SDK, unzip it and
place it at some location on your system.
Creating
a Kindle Fire Android Virtual Device (AVD)
An Android application for the Kindle
Fire may be tested by installing and running it on either a physical device or
in an Android Virtual Device (AVD) emulator environment. Before an AVD can be
used it must first be created and configured to match the specification of the Kindle
Fire.
Kindle
Fire AVD Specifications
In order to provide accurate emulation
of a Kindle Fire an AVD will need to be created with the following properties:
Target
- Android 2.3.3 (API Level 10)
Resolution
- 600 x 1024
Device
RAM Size - 512Mb
Abstracted
LCD density - 169
Begin the AVD creation process by
clicking on the New… button in order to invoke the Create a New Android Virtual
Device (AVD) dialog. Within the dialog, perform the following steps to create a
Kindle Fire compatible emulator:
1.
Enter a descriptive name (for example KindleFire) into the name field. Note
that spaces and other special characters are not permitted in the name.
2.
Use the Target menu to select the Android 2.3.3 – API Level 10 SDK option.
3.
In the Skin section select the Resolution option and enter 600 x 1024.
4.
Click on the current Abstracted LCD Density value located in the Hardware
section and change it to 169.
5.
Click on the Device ram size value and change it to 512.
Creating
Sample Application
1. To create the new project, select
the File -> New -> Project… menu option. In the resulting Select a Wizard
dialog unfold the Android category and select Android Project from the list
2. With the Android Project option
selected click on the Next > button to proceed with the creation process. In
the Create Android Project window name the project KindleSampleApp and leave
the remaining options set to the default settings before clicking Next > to
move to the Select Build Target screen
3. The screen will display a list of
SDKs currently installed on the system. For the purposes of this example,
select the Android 2.3.3 SDK and deselect any other SDKs which may currently be
selected.
4. With the correct SDK target
selected, click on Next > to proceed to the Application Info screen. Here
you need to add various details for the app.
Application
Name: KindleSampleApp
Package
Name: inder.kindle.sample.app
Activity:
HelloWord
MinSDKVersion:
10
5.
To run the application, application name in the Project Explorer and select Run
As -> Android Application from the resulting menu.