The Best of the Week (May 9): Mobile Zone

Make sure you didn't miss anything with this list of the Best of the Week in the Mobile Zone (May 9 to May 15). Here they are, in order of popularity:

1. Ion: An Android Library for Asynchronous Networking and Image Loading

You already have to get all your Android networking and downloading off the UI thread, so from Koushik Dutta comes a library to make it a bit easier: Ion.

2. A Collection of Resources for Android Development

Android developers can always use more and better tools, so if you're looking for some fresh ideas, check out Dallas Gutauckis' collection of the best Android resources.

3. Android Studio 0.5.8 Released

On Thursday, Android Studio 0.5.8 was released. New features include Gradle upgrades, "hover" and "show in included" support for the layout editor, new warnings and checks to clarify issues, and more.

4. Know Your Audience: A Look at Android User Data

It's always important to know your audience, and with that in mind, Android developers are in luck: Google has released its latest data from the Android Platform Dashboards, so you can tell what version of Android users are using, what screen sizes and densities, and their Open GL version.

5. How to Consume APIs in Android Applications

If you're working with web APIs in Android apps (and want to do it the most efficient way), you may be interested in this talk on Consuming Web APIs in Android Applications, along with its corresponding blog post.