An approach to developing, testing, and running an android app on a budget of $200 dollars.
By: Francisco
You know what $200 dollars can get you? A way to move forward.
Okay, truth be told, as a developer, we want the latest and greatest machine. We want our cake and eat it too, as the saying goes. But sometimes when you’re just starting, you need to fulfill just the basic needs. Sometimes, you need something that’s portable because you’re crashing and travelling trying to find jobs and interview all over the place. Thus a desktop is out of the question. What’s the cheapest option you can get that’s something that can help you keep your coding skills sharp? A chromebook would be the best first bet. Here’s an example (the link is clickable up in the bio):
Intel Check
4GB RAM good enough
32GB good enough
14 inch screen good enough
MicroSD card reader
Google ChromeOS Support until 2026 good enough
So what can you do with a chromebook like this? Well, what if I told you that you can do the following steps and make your first Android app.
1) Install NPM
2) Install Ionic
3) Develop and test Ionic app through the browser
4) Recompile to an APK and install and run it locally using ChromeOS android compatibility
Done.
Or you can do the following
1) Enable ChromeOS Developer Mode
2) install Linux to another partition or on an MicroSD card
3) Then install Ionic normally and develop accordingly
Done.
There are a plethora of sites and blog posts that can help you with all of these steps, so you don’t need a desktop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, top of the line android phone or any of that. Truthfully, you could get started with just a chromebook and some patience. Now don’t expect the quickest performance, but you’ll get some good battery life. it’s enough to develop the basics of development. The only other thing you would need is an internet connection, and with services like pythonanywhere.com, the back-end structure is there and available.
My own machine is an Asus Chromebook 11 Rugged edition. I can throw this computer around and I’m not worried about it getting destroyed by my dogs. It’ll survive life. I have it lying around the house, and if I need to check something quick, I just grab it and get started.
Have you considered a chromebook for development or study?