I have mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, I love the small size (less than 200 pages, including two appendices and an index). I’m tired of massive reference tomes that are so large and lengthy they are practically useless. Furthermore, this book focuses only on the Android USB framework, relating members of the class hierarchy to each other to explain device management. It doesn’t try to describe Android development in general or to document every type of USB device. It’s a guidebook that focuses on a very specific niche and cuts through the fog of ponderous reference materials.

However, there is another hand, and in it are some problems. The book is not well written. There are errors in grammar and punctuation. Words are missing, and sentence constructions are used that cloud meanings. The numerous errors kept tripping me up, disrupting my train of thought and causing me to back up and reread sections. Also, the typesetting is disappointing. The book looks as though it were laid out in Microsoft Word on an old laptop. Everything just looks flat, plain, and boring. It’s below the level of quality I used to find in Apress books.

Despite the disappointing quality, the book is still valuable to a programmer specifically developing or debugging Android USB code. The author lays claim to a much wider audience (“any developer working on the Android platform”), but I’m dubious. In addition to overview chapters, specific chapter topics are: “USB Storage,” “USB Tethering,” “USB Accessory,” “USB Audio,” and “Android Debug Bridge.” There are also two appendices, “Battery Charging in USB” and “Using libusb in Android.” If those topics interest you, then pick up a copy. You’ll get past the quality problems.

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