1 page.title=Android 1.5 Platform Highlights 2 excludeFromSuggestions=true 3 @jd:body 4 5 <p> 6 <em>April 2009</em> 7 </p> 8 9 10 <p>The Android 1.5 platform introduces many new features for users and developers. 11 The list below provides an overview of the changes. </p> 12 13 <ul> 14 <li><a href="#ui">User Interface Refinements</a> 15 <li><a href="#perf">Performance Improvements</a> 16 <li><a href="#features">New Features</a> 17 <li><a href="#apis">New APIs and Manifest Elements</a> 18 </ul> 19 20 <h2 id="ui">User Interface Refinements</h2> 21 <ul> 22 <li>System-wide: 23 <ul> 24 <li>Refinement of all core UI elements</li> 25 <li>Animated window transitions (off by default)</li> 26 <li>Accelerometer-based application rotations</li> 27 </ul> 28 </li> 29 <li>UI polish for: 30 <ul> 31 <li>In-call experience</li> 32 <li>Contacts, Call log, and Favorites</li> 33 <li>SMS & MMS</li> 34 <li>Browser</li> 35 <li>Gmail</li> 36 <li>Calendar</li> 37 <li>Email</li> 38 <li>Camera & Gallery</li> 39 <li>Application management</li> 40 </ul> 41 </li> 42 </ul> 43 44 <h2 id="perf">Performance Improvements</h2> 45 46 <ul> 47 <li>Faster Camera start-up and image capture</li> 48 <li>Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)</li> 49 <li>Smoother page scrolling in Browser</li> 50 <li>Speedier GMail conversation list scrolling</li> 51 </ul> 52 53 <h2 id="features">New Features</h2> 54 55 <ul> 56 <li>On-screen soft keyboard 57 <ul> 58 <li>Works in both portrait and landscape orientation</li> 59 <li>Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards</li> 60 <li>User dictionary for custom words</li> 61 </ul> 62 </li> 63 64 <li>Home screen 65 <ul> 66 <li>Widgets 67 <ul> 68 <li>Bundled home screen widgets include: analog clock, calendar, 69 music player, picture frame, and search</li> 70 </ul></li> 71 <li>Live folders</li> 72 </ul> 73 </li> 74 75 <li>Camera & Gallery 76 <ul> 77 <li>Video recording</li> 78 <li>Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats)</li> 79 </ul> 80 </li> 81 82 <li>Bluetooth 83 <ul> 84 <li>Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles)</li> 85 <li>Auto-pairing</li> 86 <li>Improved handsfree experience</li> 87 </ul> 88 </li> 89 90 <li>Browser 91 <ul> 92 <li>Updated with latest Webkit browser & Squirrelfish Javascript engines</li> 93 <li>Copy 'n paste in browser</li> 94 <li>Search within a page</li> 95 <li>User-selectable text-encoding</li> 96 <li>UI changes include: 97 <ul> 98 <li>Unified Go and Search box</li> 99 <li>Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen</li> 100 </ul> 101 </li> 102 </ul> 103 </li> 104 105 <li>Contacts 106 <ul> 107 <li>Shows user picture for Favorites</li> 108 <li>Specific date/time stamp for events in call log</li> 109 <li>One-touch access to a contact card from call log event</li> 110 </ul> 111 </li> 112 113 <li>System 114 <ul> 115 <li>New Linux kernel (version 2.6.27)</li> 116 <li>SD card filesystem auto-checking and repair</li> 117 <li>SIM Application Toolkit 1.0 </li> 118 </ul> 119 </li> 120 121 <li>Google applications (not available in the Android 1.5 System Image that is 122 included in the Android SDK) 123 <ul> 124 <li>View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and 125 Email applications</li> 126 <li>Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages</li> 127 <li>Upload videos to Youtube</li> 128 <li>Upload photos on Picasa</li> 129 </ul> 130 </li> 131 </ul> 132 133 <h2 id="apis">New APIs and Manifest Elements</h2> 134 135 <ul> 136 <li>UI framework 137 <ul> 138 <li>Framework for easier background/UI thread interaction</li> 139 <li>New {@link android.widget.SlidingDrawer SlidingDrawer} widget</li> 140 <li>New {@link android.widget.HorizontalScrollView HorizontalScrollview} widget</li> 141 </ul> 142 </li> 143 144 <li>AppWidget framework 145 <ul> 146 <li>APIs for creating secure home screen {@link android.appwidget 147 AppWidgets}. For information about how to use AppWidgets, see the Developer's 148 Guide <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html">AppWidgets</a> 149 documentation. Also see <a 150 href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/04/introducing-home-screen-widgets-and.html"> 151 Introducing home screen widgets and the AppWidget 152 framework</a> on the Android Developer's Blog.</li> 153 <li>APIs for populating {@link android.provider.LiveFolders Live Folders} 154 with custom content.</li> 155 </ul> 156 </li> 157 158 <li>Media framework 159 <ul> 160 <li>Raw audio recording and playback APIs</li> 161 <li>Interactive MIDI playback engine</li> 162 <li>{@link android.media.MediaRecorder Video Recording APIs} for developers (3GP format).</li> 163 <li>Video and photo sharing Intents</li> 164 <li>Media search Intent</li> 165 </ul> 166 </li> 167 168 <li>Input Method framework 169 <ul> 170 <li>{@link android.inputmethodservice.InputMethodService Input Method 171 Service} framework</li> 172 <li>Text-prediction engine</li> 173 <li>Ability to provide downloadable IMEs to users</li> 174 </ul> 175 </li> 176 177 <li>Application-defined hardware requirements 178 <p>Applications can now use a new element in their manifest files, <a 179 href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-configuration-element.html"><uses- 180 configuration></a> to indicate to the Android system what hardware features 181 they require in order to function properly. For example, an application might 182 use the element to specify that it requires a physical keyboard or a particular 183 navigation device, such as a trackball. Prior to installing the application, the 184 Android system checks the attributes defined for the 185 <code><uses-configuration></code> element and allows the installation to 186 continue only if the required hardware is present.</p> 187 </li> 188 189 <li>Speech recognition framework 190 <ul> 191 <li>Support for using speech recognition libraries via Intent. See {@link 192 android.speech.RecognizerIntent RecognizerIntent}.</li> 193 </ul> 194 </li> 195 196 <li>Miscellaneous API additions 197 <ul> 198 <li>LocationManager - Applications can get location change updates via 199 Intent</li> 200 <li>WebView - Touch start/end/move/cancel DOM event support</li> 201 <li>Redesigned {@link android.hardware.SensorManager Sensor Manager 202 APIs}</li> 203 <li>GLSurfaceView - convenience framework for creating OpenGL 204 applications</li> 205 <li>Broadcast Intent for app update install succeeded - for smoother app 206 upgrade experience</li> 207 </ul> 208 </li> 209 </ul> 210
