1page.title=Android 1.5 Platform Highlights
2excludeFromSuggestions=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.
11The 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 &amp; MMS</li>
34        <li>Browser</li>
35        <li>Gmail</li>
36        <li>Calendar</li>
37        <li>Email</li>
38        <li>Camera &amp; 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 &amp; Gallery
76  <ul>
77  <li>Video recording</li>
78  <li>Video playback (MPEG-4 &amp; 3GP formats)</li>
79  </ul>
80</li>
81
82<li>Bluetooth&nbsp;
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 &amp; 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
122included 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
147AppWidgets}. For information about how to use AppWidgets, see the Developer's
148Guide <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html">AppWidgets</a>
149documentation. Also see <a
150href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/04/introducing-home-screen-widgets-and.html">
151Introducing home screen widgets and the AppWidget
152framework</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
179href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-configuration-element.html">&lt;uses-
180configuration&gt;</a> to indicate to the Android system what hardware features
181they require in order to function properly. For example, an application might
182use the element to specify that it requires a physical keyboard or a particular
183navigation device, such as a trackball. Prior to installing the application, the
184Android system checks the attributes defined for the
185<code>&lt;uses-configuration&gt;</code> element and allows the installation to
186continue 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
192android.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