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Basic4Android Review – The Easiest Way to Build Android Apps
I have now been involved with two very successful apps on the Android app store. One of those apps landed me a deal with two Indian phone manufacturers, and both have been roller-coaster rides in their own ways. Not to mention they offered me a pretty nice financial boost…
And I can honestly say that I owe all of it to Basic4Android. That’s pretty much all you need to know, but in case you’d like a more in-depth review of the program and what it can do read on.
Note: Down the bottom is a link where you can get 30% off of Basic4Android. I am getting commission for this, but I wrote a version of this review on an old blog long before I started selling the program. That is to say that yes I have a conflict of interests, but I genuinely believe in the product. I am the developer of Multiscreen Multitasking and the code monkey who helped on Voxis. You can see the sales of those apps yourself on the Play Store – this software changed my life. Click here to read my post on how Multiscreen Multitasking made me £15,000…
What is Basic4Android?
Basic4Android is a coding environment and language that lets you code Android apps using BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). For non-programmers out there this means it’s a full programming language (not an ‘app builder’). For those who are a little familiar with programming just think of Visual Basic and you’re pretty close to what it’s like.
It looks like this:
Normally Android programming requires Java, which is a bit of a heavy and not-fun language to say the least – especially when you throw in the restrictions/requirements of coding for Android. Coding in BASIC makes the process approximately a billion times easier and quicker, but more that that you also get a much quicker work flow when you use Basic4Android that makes everything much quicker. For instance, you can wirelessly install apps on your Android devices to test your programs work. Likewise you can debug the programs ‘live’.
Basic4Android for Pros vs Beginners
So even if you’re a pro with Java (I’m not that bad myself) I promise you that Basic4Android makes the development process much simpler and quicker. Honestly if you know what you’re doing you’ll be able to pump out apps in no time at all. And if you’re stuck, then the community over on the forums are super helpful and always sharing great libraries.
It’s also worth noting that there are no limitations to using this environment. People build computer games with it, I’ve built a launcher, and if you want to you can add your own libraries in Java. So literally there’s nothing you can do in Eclipse with Java that you can’t do with Basic4Android. It’s just quicker.
And for beginners? You have three options. Option one is to pay someone to build you an app (which is super expensive, or not very reliable). Option two is to use an ‘app builder’ which is super limiting – only really useful if you want to build an app that’s a static page of text. Lastly, option three, is to learn to program. Trust me when I say that you will give up on day three if you try to use Java with no prior experience. Basic4Android is the perfect jumping on point however – it’s quick, light and easy but it’s an introduction to real programming with everything that entails. There’s also a designer to make it easy to create the UIs for your apps, and a super helpful community as mentioned earlier.
How to Get Started
If you like the sounds of Basic4Android and are interested in setting up an app, then visit this link. If you go there and type in the code ‘NQR’, then Bioneers get 30% off. And if you would like a guide for learning the language, you can get one here.
Happy programming, and I hope it brings you the success I’ve enjoyed!
Oh, and keep your eyes open because word has it that Basic4iOS is on the way. I shall be first in line…
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Great review,
I just wanted to ask how much you would recommend this program to someone with no programming experience at ALL.
And also if there is something better out there for the same price.
How long would it take to learn the basics and how to create a game using this program?
Lastly can you create 3d games using this?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Haseeb, thanks a lot, glad it was useful!
I would definitely recommend this to someone with no programming experience as a good way to *learn* programming. That is to say, you do need to be adept at coding to make apps with Basic4Android, but because BASIC is a relatively easy language it’s a great place to start. There are ways to build apps that don’t require any coding skills, but they are so limited as to be almost pointless (essentially they can make apps with the functionality of a website). I highly recommend learning to program, and this is a great place to start!
Yup, you can make 3D games using some libraries that have been built by other developers. That gets a little complicated though and is probably not an ideal ‘first project’. Making a 2D game on the other hand is a bit simpler, starting from no experience I’d say it’s doable within 6 months assuming you dedicate some serious time to it.
If it’s (relatively) easy 3D game making you’re interested in I would probably actually recommend Unity over B4A as the best place to start. Again that requires a little coding skill, but only a small amount compared to created a 3D game any other way!
Hope that helps, good luck whatever you decide to do! Feel free to post again if you have any further questions 😀
Thanks for the reply!,
Is there any performance difference in games/apps made with this program as compared to with other programs(eclipse/java)?
b4a is 50% off right now , so I might buy it 🙂
No problem 😀
Nope no difference! The code has to be compiled from B4A, so I imagine it is very *slightly* less optimized, but I’ve never noticed any difference in performance even for very intensive programs. From the end-users’ perspective the finished product would be exactly the same as any app created with Eclipse and Java. And in fact you can even use Java within your Basic4Android code if you want to, so there are no limitations 🙂
Personally I would highly recommend B4A and buying it was one of the best decisions I made! If you haven’t already, try reading my article on ‘How I made $15,000 from an Android app’ (use the search tool at the top right). For me it was more than worth the initial investment!
Best of luck!
Yes I’ll definitely read the article,
I wanted to get some advice .
So I have published an arcade game on google play (made using appinventor) , not the best but it is something. It has 10 current installs (of which about 7 are of my aquaintances who downloaded it on my will) and 20 total installs. This means that most of the people uninstalled it. Should I remove it from the playstore to prevent my image as a developer getting ruined?
That’s a tough question and something I’ve struggled with myself in the past as my skills have improved. I guess the question you should as is do you think it’s good, and is the amount of money it’s bringing in worth the potential damage to your rep?
Remember that there are thousands upon thousands of users on the Play Store, so it’s unlikely a small app will do much to affect your reputation either way. Another point to bear in mind is that a lot of people do uninstall apps even if they like them – if you think about how many apps you use yourself on a daily basis it’s actually relatively small. So just because you’ve had uninstalls, that doesn’t mean the app is unpopular.
For now I’d leave it up personally (unless you think it’s terrible) as it might bring in some money (if you’ve monetised it) and it will allow you to get feedback from users. You could even use it to experiment with different marketing strategies etc.
I personally have multiple different developer accounts on Google Play, which let’s me test new ideas and release more unusual apps that aren’t in my niche without affecting my reputation!
I like your views , thanks again.