Google announces Android 2.0 support in the SDK

UPDATED · News · 27 Oct 2009 · MTW Editorial Team

Well the jump from 1.6 to 2.0 was rather quick! Today Google is proudly announcing that the Android SDK now supports Android 2.0 (also known as Eclair). The first Android 2.0 device will be the Motorola Droid which is set to be unvieled by Verizon tomorrow.

Android 2.0 brings new developer APIs for sync, Bluetooth, and a few other areas. Using the new sync, account manager and contacts APIs, you can write applications to enable users to sync their devices to various contact sources. You can also give users a faster way to communicate with others by embedding Quick Contact within your application. With the new Bluetooth API, you can now easily add peer-to-peer connectivity or gaming to your applications. To get a more complete list of the new capabilities you can add to your applications, please go to the Android 2.0 highlights page.

Current developers can use the SDK Manager to add Android 2.0 support to their SDK as well as update their SDK Tools to revision 3. New developers can download the Android SDK from the download site. After the download, Android platforms must be added using the SDK Manager

Make sure that your apps work when using the WVGA (800×480) & FWVGA (854×480) emulator skins. We expect devices with these types of screen, running Android 2.0 to be launched soon.

No shi…Droid maybe?

The new Android 2.0 platform highlights can be found here

Contacts and accounts

•Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
•Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
•Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact’s information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

Email

•Exchange support.
•Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

•Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
•Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

•Built-in flash support
•Digital zoom
•Scene mode
•White balance
•Color effect
•Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

•An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
•The framework’s multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren’t missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
•A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

Browser

•Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
•Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
•Support for double-tap zoom.
•Support for HTML5:

-Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.
-Application cache support, for offline applications.
-Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.
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Calendar

•Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
•Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
•Invite new guests to events.
New Platform TechnologiesMedia Framework
Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration.

Bluetooth
•Bluetooth 2.1
•New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)

Source: Android Dev Blog