Connection to backend and database in android application

Question

I was wondering about how I should set up my backend for my android application. I was thinking of maybe creating a Webservice which exposes the data from my database, is this a good idea or is there some other way that is more common with mobile applications?

Cheers.

Answer 1

Yes this is a good idea. Just look at the services, big players like Google, Facebook or Dropbox provide. As data format I prefer JSON over XML as it's easier to create/parse on both sides (especially with Gson).