You might consider this book: http://www.amazon.com/Android-Programming-Ranch-Guide-Guides... I've read some of their books before, and they have good understanding (and presentation) of architecture.

The additional code involved in Java/Obj-c is less annoying since they are well integrated in IDEs such Android Studio or Xcode which auto-generate most of the boilerplate. After you develop for a while you depend less on the IDEs.

I always build an app to learn the language/platform. The only way you can really learn it is by building something. Combined with that I usually buy a book.

For Android, I hardly had to invest any time learning Java, since I came from Ruby and it's pretty similar. Most programming languages are all the same under the surface. Especially among OO-heavy ones.

Best android book: http://www.amazon.com/Android-Programming-Ranch-Guide-Guides...

Best objective-c book: http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/d...

Both books assume you know the languages but I jumped in with limited knowledge and learned the language as I went.