So [DateUtils.getRelativeTimeSpanString()][1] in the Android SDK works great for showing relative times that are in the past.
i.e: 5 days ago, or 5 minutes ago.>
DateUtils.getRelativeTimeSpanString(endDate.getTime(), startDate.getTime(), DateUtils.FORMAT_ABBREV_RELATIVE);
With the following caveat:
Gives tomorrow instead of in 1 day.