Researching Android Calendar

I’m itching to buy a HTC Hero. However I want to test it out before committing myself to buying one. One feature in particular I want to test is the Calendar application. A good Calendar application is a must for me.

I got the idea that I could run android on an Emulator to testout the calendar application, to get a look and feel.

I downloaded the SDK for Android, installed it to my dev folder and within minutes I had an emulator running on my desktop. One thing I can mention straight away is that the emulator feels fast, much faster than the Windows Mobile emulator which I’m used to.

However with the basic setup there is no calendar application running in the Android phone. The suggestion on forums is to download the Android source, compile it and then you get the Calendar.apk files which you can install on the phone. However, you cannot compile the source on Windows Machines. Which means I have to figure out some other way of getting my hands on the calendar application.

While researching this I had the chance to look at the development guide for Android, and I must say that I am impressed. The best practice section is great, and I really like the details given in the UI guidelines.