What’s New in Android 1.6?

Posted on 16 September 2009, at 12:34 pm, by Thomas R. Hall

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Google announced an updated version of the developer SDK used for programming for the Android mobile platform yesterday. The SDK is now at version 1.6 (codenamed: Donut) and brings new hardware and software support. While the SDK is aimed at developers making changes for the platform, the upcoming user features are detailed.

The Android Market has a redesigned interface, allowing users to see the top paid, top free, and recently added applications. Screenshots for the application are now also shown.
Faster Camera, Camcorder, and Gallery applications. The user interface has been updated to allow faster switching between still and video capture, as well as decreasing launch time by 39% and reducing the time between taking photos by 28%.
Quick Search Box is now more global in the system and includes web browser bookmarks, web history, and contacts in addition to web results. Developers can also expose their own content via the Quick Search Box.
VPN access for a variety of VPN types, including L2TP/IPSEC (pre-shared key and certificate-based), L2TP only, and PPTP only.
Accessibility services including the ability to enable vibration for feedback, spoken feedback, and more.
Battery usage indicator for running applications to show what is taking up the most power so you can close apps down if needed.
Enhanced Hardware Support including CDMA device support, ability to handle an even greater variety of screen resolutions
Gestures, text-to-speech, and more.

More information, including a video of the new features is available at the Android Developers Blog. Full platform highlights for the SDK are also available.

Via the Android Developers Blog

How you would like to subscribe to Gear Diary? We offer: