Plenty of New Features in Google Android 1.5
Google, the software developer responsible for coming up with the open-source Android operating system (the one that powers the G1 smartphone and will presumably power HP netbooks), has released and Android 1.5 SDK preview to developers. This is good news for software developers, but it is good news for end users as well because they get to see what new features will be included in the upcoming Android 1.5 OS.
“The next release of the Android platform will be Android 1.5 and we are pleased to announce the availability of an early look SDK to give you a head-start on developing applications for it. The Android 1.5 platform will include many improvements and new features for users and developers. Additionally, the SDK itself introduces several new capabilities that enable you to develop applications more efficiently for multiple platform versions and locales,” explained Google in the Android 1.5 SDK announcement.
Android 1.5 will feature a long, long list of improvements (including UI enhancements, performance improvements, new APIs and developer tools - details available here), but we will focus on the new features the operating system brings to the table:
- On-screen soft keyboard with: portrait and landscape support, 3rd party keyboards support, user dictionary (for custom words).
- Home screen with: Widgets (analog clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and search) and Live folders.
- Camera & Gallery to include video recording and video playback for supported formats.
- Bluetooth to support for stereo Bluetooth, auto-pairing, and an enhanced handsfree experience.
- Browser will feature: copy and paste, search, user-selectable text-encoding, UI changes (tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen and unified Go and Search box).
- Contacts with: user picture for Favorites, events in call log display specific date and time stamp, access contacts from a call event log with a single touch.
- Linux kernel 2.6.27
- SIM Application Toolkit 1.0
- Google apps with: upload support for YouTube and Picasa, batch actions for Gmail messages (archive, delete, and label), and the option to view Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications.
- Accelerometer-based application rotations.
“The next release of the Android platform will be Android 1.5 and we are pleased to announce the availability of an early look SDK to give you a head-start on developing applications for it. The Android 1.5 platform will include many improvements and new features for users and developers. Additionally, the SDK itself introduces several new capabilities that enable you to develop applications more efficiently for multiple platform versions and locales,” explained Google in the Android 1.5 SDK announcement.
Android 1.5 will feature a long, long list of improvements (including UI enhancements, performance improvements, new APIs and developer tools - details available here), but we will focus on the new features the operating system brings to the table:
- On-screen soft keyboard with: portrait and landscape support, 3rd party keyboards support, user dictionary (for custom words).
- Home screen with: Widgets (analog clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and search) and Live folders.
- Camera & Gallery to include video recording and video playback for supported formats.
- Bluetooth to support for stereo Bluetooth, auto-pairing, and an enhanced handsfree experience.
- Browser will feature: copy and paste, search, user-selectable text-encoding, UI changes (tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen and unified Go and Search box).
- Contacts with: user picture for Favorites, events in call log display specific date and time stamp, access contacts from a call event log with a single touch.
- Linux kernel 2.6.27
- SIM Application Toolkit 1.0
- Google apps with: upload support for YouTube and Picasa, batch actions for Gmail messages (archive, delete, and label), and the option to view Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications.
- Accelerometer-based application rotations.
