1 page.title=Android 1.5 Platform Highlights 2 @jd:body 3 4 <p> 5 <em>April 2009</em> 6 </p> 7 8 9 <p>The Android 1.5 platform introduces many new features for users and developers. 10 The list below provides an overview of the changes. </p> 11 12 <ul> 13 <li><a href="#ui">User Interface Refinements</a> 14 <li><a href="#perf">Performance Improvements</a> 15 <li><a href="#features">New Features</a> 16 <li><a href="#apis">New APIs and Manifest Elements</a> 17 </ul> 18 19 <h2 id="ui">User Interface Refinements</h2> 20 <ul> 21 <li>System-wide: 22 <ul> 23 <li>Refinement of all core UI elements</li> 24 <li>Animated window transitions (off by default)</li> 25 <li>Accelerometer-based application rotations</li> 26 </ul> 27 </li> 28 <li>UI polish for: 29 <ul> 30 <li>In-call experience</li> 31 <li>Contacts, Call log, and Favorites</li> 32 <li>SMS & MMS</li> 33 <li>Browser</li> 34 <li>Gmail</li> 35 <li>Calendar</li> 36 <li>Email</li> 37 <li>Camera & Gallery</li> 38 <li>Application management</li> 39 </ul> 40 </li> 41 </ul> 42 43 <h2 id="perf">Performance Improvements</h2> 44 45 <ul> 46 <li>Faster Camera start-up and image capture</li> 47 <li>Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)</li> 48 <li>Smoother page scrolling in Browser</li> 49 <li>Speedier GMail conversation list scrolling</li> 50 </ul> 51 52 <h2 id="features">New Features</h2> 53 54 <ul> 55 <li>On-screen soft keyboard 56 <ul> 57 <li>Works in both portrait and landscape orientation</li> 58 <li>Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards</li> 59 <li>User dictionary for custom words</li> 60 </ul> 61 </li> 62 63 <li>Home screen 64 <ul> 65 <li>Widgets 66 <ul> 67 <li>Bundled home screen widgets include: analog clock, calendar, 68 music player, picture frame, and search</li> 69 </ul></li> 70 <li>Live folders</li> 71 </ul> 72 </li> 73 74 <li>Camera & Gallery 75 <ul> 76 <li>Video recording</li> 77 <li>Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats)</li> 78 </ul> 79 </li> 80 81 <li>Bluetooth 82 <ul> 83 <li>Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles)</li> 84 <li>Auto-pairing</li> 85 <li>Improved handsfree experience</li> 86 </ul> 87 </li> 88 89 <li>Browser 90 <ul> 91 <li>Updated with latest Webkit browser & Squirrelfish Javascript engines</li> 92 <li>Copy 'n paste in browser</li> 93 <li>Search within a page</li> 94 <li>User-selectable text-encoding</li> 95 <li>UI changes include: 96 <ul> 97 <li>Unified Go and Search box</li> 98 <li>Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen</li> 99 </ul> 100 </li> 101 </ul> 102 </li> 103 104 <li>Contacts 105 <ul> 106 <li>Shows user picture for Favorites</li> 107 <li>Specific date/time stamp for events in call log</li> 108 <li>One-touch access to a contact card from call log event</li> 109 </ul> 110 </li> 111 112 <li>System 113 <ul> 114 <li>New Linux kernel (version 2.6.27)</li> 115 <li>SD card filesystem auto-checking and repair</li> 116 <li>SIM Application Toolkit 1.0 </li> 117 </ul> 118 </li> 119 120 <li>Google applications (not available in the Android 1.5 System Image that is 121 included in the Android SDK) 122 <ul> 123 <li>View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and 124 Email applications</li> 125 <li>Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages</li> 126 <li>Upload videos to Youtube</li> 127 <li>Upload photos on Picasa</li> 128 </ul> 129 </li> 130 </ul> 131 132 <h2 id="apis">New APIs and Manifest Elements</h2> 133 134 <ul> 135 <li>UI framework 136 <ul> 137 <li>Framework for easier background/UI thread interaction</li> 138 <li>New {@link android.widget.SlidingDrawer SlidingDrawer} widget</li> 139 <li>New {@link android.widget.HorizontalScrollView HorizontalScrollview} widget</li> 140 </ul> 141 </li> 142 143 <li>AppWidget framework 144 <ul> 145 <li>APIs for creating secure home screen {@link android.appwidget 146 AppWidgets}. For information about how to use AppWidgets, see the Developer's 147 Guide <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html">AppWidgets</a> 148 documentation. Also see <a 149 href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/04/introducing-home-screen-widgets-and.html"> 150 Introducing home screen widgets and the AppWidget 151 framework</a> on the Android Developer's Blog.</li> 152 <li>APIs for populating {@link android.provider.LiveFolders Live Folders} 153 with custom content.</li> 154 </ul> 155 </li> 156 157 <li>Media framework 158 <ul> 159 <li>Raw audio recording and playback APIs</li> 160 <li>Interactive MIDI playback engine</li> 161 <li>{@link android.media.MediaRecorder Video Recording APIs} for developers (3GP format).</li> 162 <li>Video and photo sharing Intents</li> 163 <li>Media search Intent</li> 164 </ul> 165 </li> 166 167 <li>Input Method framework 168 <ul> 169 <li>{@link android.inputmethodservice.InputMethodService Input Method 170 Service} framework</li> 171 <li>Text-prediction engine</li> 172 <li>Ability to provide downloadable IMEs to users</li> 173 </ul> 174 </li> 175 176 <li>Application-defined hardware requirements 177 <p>Applications can now use a new element in their manifest files, <a 178 href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-configuration-element.html"><uses- 179 configuration></a> to indicate to the Android system what hardware features 180 they require in order to function properly. For example, an application might 181 use the element to specify that it requires a physical keyboard or a particular 182 navigation device, such as a trackball. Prior to installing the application, the 183 Android system checks the attributes defined for the 184 <code><uses-configuration></code> element and allows the installation to 185 continue only if the required hardware is present.</p> 186 </li> 187 188 <li>Speech recognition framework 189 <ul> 190 <li>Support for using speech recognition libraries via Intent. See {@link 191 android.speech.RecognizerIntent RecognizerIntent}.</li> 192 </ul> 193 </li> 194 195 <li>Miscellaneous API additions 196 <ul> 197 <li>LocationManager - Applications can get location change updates via 198 Intent</li> 199 <li>WebView - Touch start/end/move/cancel DOM event support</li> 200 <li>Redesigned {@link android.hardware.SensorManager Sensor Manager 201 APIs}</li> 202 <li>GLSurfaceView - convenience framework for creating OpenGL 203 applications</li> 204 <li>Broadcast Intent for app update install succeeded - for smoother app 205 upgrade experience</li> 206 </ul> 207 </li> 208 </ul> 209
