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We have been hearing for quite a long time about the Android; an open and free mobile platform that is the brainchild of Google and under development with collaboration of more than 30 technology and mobile companies. What is needs are developers to initiate the making of application that make it stand out as a giant amongst other platforms in the mobile race.
In order to get developers kicking, the beta version of Android’s Software Development Kit (SDK) is off for download. It had previously been tested in November and the purpose of this was to give developers an idea of what exactly is Android and the motives of the Open Handset Alliance; to build a device that is there for all and not just for a limited number of tech junkies in the development centers of some mobile software making house. We have seen it with Apple, how it has used the creativity of developers outside Apple’s creative unit to build applications and reap massive profits, hence it shouldn’t come off as a surprise if Android takes on the same boots.
The devices running Android are set to make way in the markets by fourth quarter and chances are that applications build upon the previously released SDK may not be compatible with the new release (SDK V1.0), but the present version offers much more stable API’s and hopefully wont have many changes to make a developer feel a need for some guide.
The pace of work in bringing about 1.0 has been fast and to help assist the developers community there is a roadmap available to brief out any and every new shaping within the Android over the next few months until it’s out. The details for the SDK are accessible in the Release Notes, Change Overview and the API Delta Report; a brief overview of these is given below:
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First and most obviously, the new Home screen is included, along with a ton of UI changes for 1.0.
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Some new applications are included: an Alarm Clock, Calculator, Camera, Music player, Picture viewer, and Messaging (for SMS/MMS conversations.)
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Several new development tools were added, such as a graphical preview for XML layouts for users of Eclipse, and a tool for constructing 9-patch images.
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Since we’ve got a new Home screen application now, we thought the now-obsolete version from the M5 early-look SDK might be helpful to developers, so its source is included as a sample.
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A number of new APIs are fleshed out and improved, and others are now close to their final forms for 1.0.
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Tons of bugs were fixed, of course. (If you had problems with the MediaPlayer, try it now!).
