Android example that saves a preference for silent keypress mode in a calculator.

public class Calc extends Activity {
    public static final String PREFS_NAME = "MyPrefsFile";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle state){
       super.onCreate(state);
       . . .

       // Restore preferences
       SharedPreferences settings = getSharedPreferences(PREFS_NAME, 0);
       boolean silent = settings.getBoolean("silentMode", false);
       setSilent(silent);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop(){
       super.onStop();

      // We need an Editor object to make preference changes.
      // All objects are from android.context.Context
      SharedPreferences settings = getSharedPreferences(PREFS_NAME, 0);
      SharedPreferences.Editor editor = settings.edit();
      editor.putBoolean("silentMode", mSilentMode);

      // Commit the edits!
      editor.commit();
    }
}