It has been way too long since I have gone out and interviewed a shining star in the Android community, so what better way to bring this series back then by reaching out to Jake Klinker, developer for Sliding Messaging. If you are unfamiliar with Jake’s work, it has been my officially unofficial app of 2013 so far, and for darn good reason. It is a messaging app, based of Google’s own that comes on stock Android devices, but with a new look and a ton of awesome features.

I know plenty of our readers have taken a liking to it, so I reached out to Jake to see if he would like to do a quick ten question interview for DL. He is a very active guy, currently in school, but is somehow making the time to create apps, answer people’s questions, and be there for the community. But enough of all this, welcome back to The Tato Series. 

Droid Life is a site that was built on a passion for Android, especially its incarnation in the OG DROID. Back when I was still sporting the OG I remember coming across The Mobile Panda. Between blog posts and trolling podcasts, @black_man_x, as he’s known on Twitter, used to drop hints about future products and help out regular users. I’ve always appreciated his perspective on mobile, so I thought our lovely community of readers would enjoy the chance to read more about the Panda’s perspective on a variety of topics. 

Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have surely heard the name Android Open Kang Project (AOKP). It is undoubtedly one of the most, if not thee most commonly used custom ROM available for select devices. I have had the opportunity to have a quick session with lead developer Roman Birg of AOKP and ask him some questions to get inside the mind of one of today’s top developers.  

I was fortunate enough to snag some time with an upcoming developer who’s work can be found for many HTC Thunderbolt devices if they search hard enough through the forums. The neat thing about this developer is that they are an incredible multi-tasker just like the platform they work on. A mother, full-time worker, and part-time Android developer. Impressive. Her name is Misty and she goes by Liquidzgrl on the web, and she creates ROMs and themes for the Thunderbolt.

Down below you can read my conversation with her on starting to develop, being a mom and still having time for a hobby, and possibly being the only underground Android developer who just so happens to be a girl.

It’s been too long since we’ve done a developer interview here at Droid Life, and you won’t believe how many emails and tweets I get asking that we bring it back. When we ran a poll on which custom ROM users were using on their OG DROID, I saw that the majority of readers were using Project Elite, even more than CM7. I knew that I would soon be reaching out to the developer for an interview, and here it is.

Greg (“Actngrezy”) was a pleasure to chat with, and we’ll definitely be keeping good track of his future releases for all our readers. We’ve heard nothing but good coming from P.E. users, so be on the lookout for it if you haven’t already tried it.   

Sorry it has been so long everyone. Let me tell you, it isn’t like I’ve been sitting on my butt not doing anything. I’ve been working hard! That IRC isn’t gonna manage itself, you know! So I have told a few of you that this was coming, and there was a general excitement. I myself have been excited because it isn’t everyday that the ‘Average Joe’ such as myself gets to talk to the Big Wigs that basically created everything we in the nice ‘lil underground community love and abuse daily.

Koush is responsible for many things. The list seems endless. So instead of me trying to explain and talk about things that I hardly try to comprehend, (I leave it to the Devs) why don’t we just read what the man himself has to say…

Come on in and read.  

So, anyone who knows me should know two things about me:  I love Sapphire and I love me some good ol’ LauncherPro.  When it comes to launchers though there are lots of choices other than LP like ADW, Stock, Helix, and the list goes on. Well we took a poll a lil’ while ago to show what our readers were using then, (Time for an updated poll? I think so!) but there was one launcher missing from that list that lately has pretty much wiped the floor with the competition. That Launcher, is none other than LauncherPro.

Besides ADW, LauncherPro is the definitive Home replacement application. With a widely growing list of widgets and customizable  features…who could argue? I have been fortunate enough to score some time with the man behind the app, Mr. Federico Carnales. Please enjoy this as much as I did; he was a sincere pleasure to talk to!  

Exciting times around here seeing as how Kellex’s Droid X finally got some 2.2 love, but I wish all you DX users the best. (I was skeptical hehe.)

I got to have a very fun chat with JRummy the other day and can tell he is a very well spoken, smart individual. Throughout the Tato Series I have yet to converse with anyone that hasn’t come off as someone who isn’t extremely nice and knowledgeable in their respective fields including JRummy. Put all these guys in one room and North America might explode!

Task Killers, nicknames, future of LithiumMod, and even a possible interview with “The Great Tim-o-tato”? Ha! We’ll see about that!

Continue on….