What are some app topics that would be suitable for the personal Android project?
The variety of potential topics for the personal Android project is virtually limitless. Here, we’ve listed several possibilities, with the intent that though this is the tip of the iceberg, it will at least give a sense of the typical project’s magnitude of effort, feature set size, and conceptual complexity.
Some (but not all) of the listed example topics have been used for class or personal Android projects in the past; that fact should not deter you from pursuing any suitable topic that interests you. In other words, your app can be completely original, or you can start with any of the topics below. You can even take your inspiration from an existing app, if you think you would find it interesting to learn how to build something like it (of course, subject to the requirements and prohibitions listed on the Elements page).
Attempt, through a series of guesses, to discover a secret sequence of characters or symbols generated by the computer. After each guess, use the reported number of matching symbols in the correct locations and number of matching symbols in incorrect locations to formulate the next guess. Time and number of guesses required to guessing the secret code correctly are recorded in the database for display in a score summary screen.
Play a high-speed variation on the classic counting game (and programming interview task): Fling randomly generated numbers to one of the 4 sides of the screen, depending on whether each number is a “fizz” (divisible by 3), “buzz” (divisible by 5), “fizz-buzz” (divisible by 3 and 5), or “other” (divisible by neither 3 nor 5). Play for a pre-configured length of time, with other configuration settings controlling maximum length of time each value is displayed and upper bound of generated values.
Tilt the device to maneuver a marble through a randomly generated maze. The time required to get the marble to the exit is stored in a database for later display in a score summary screen. More difficult levels have larger mazes.
Generate, overlay, and save interesting visual patterns formed by roulettes—i.e. curves traced out when one shape (e.g. a circle or ellipse) rolls, without slipping, along another shape (e.g. line, circle, ellipse).1 Use tap and drag gestures to place shapes for drawing and to scroll sections of drawing surface into view. Select pen color from a palette. Capture drawing on one or more transparent layers; re-order or remove layers to modify a generated drawing. Export drawings to Android image gallery.
Play the classic game of returning an initially scrambled arrangement of 8, 15, 24, or 35 tiles to its correct order, by sliding 1 tile at a time. Use configuration settings to control game size, display of image fragments and/or numbers on tiles, and selection of images to use in the solved arrangements. The time and number of moves required to solve are recorded for later display in a screen of top scores.
Construct tile sets from artwork images retrieved by querying one of several publicly accessible art-oriented repositories by keyword. Generate random tile arrangements from a selected tile set. In each turn, flip a pair of tiles: if the tiles match, the tiles are removed from the playing surface and the score increases; otherwise, the tiles are flipped face-down again. The time and the number of pair selections required to clear all tiles are recorded for display in a score summary screen.
Start a game with a stake of chips. Bet one or more chips at the start of each hand, played against the computer dealer. Double-down or split, when permitted. Buy insurance to protect a natural blackjack against a possible dealer blackjack.
Start a game with a stake of chips. Bet one or more chips at the start of each hand of 5-card draw. Win or lose chips based on a standard payoff table. Spend chips for hints based on expected payoff values of alternative discard selections.
Record audio clips (e.g. notes or lectures) with attached tags, summaries, and time-based markers. Filter, sort, and browse clips by tag, marker text, summary text, recording length, etc.
Search an online database of cocktails by name or ingredient. Tag and save favorites (with thumbnails) for offline browsing by tag, ingredient, and name.
Search an online database by a plant or animal’s common name or scientific name. Select from the resulting list to display details, including an image (if available). Access a history of searches for shortcut access to previously searched species.
Form ad hoc teams or assign tasks to participants/students by generating random samples—with and without replacement, weighted and unweighted—from a roster. Display random selections in list or graphical form. Import rosters and export assignments.
Take photos and attach tags, notes, and (automatically) GPS-based location. Automatically put photo locations on map. Filter, sort, and browse photos and notes by tag, location, date/time range, etc.
Search/browse media from repositories made available by NASA (e.g. Astronomy Picture of the Day, Image and Video Library, Mars Rover Photos, New Earth Object Web Service). Download images or video for local viewing. Send images, links to images, or links to videos by SMS or email.
This is a general form of the type of curve drawn when using a Spirograph™ drawing device. ↩