15 April 2009 | Author: Yasmin Sulaiman

Google teases developers with Android Cupcake

Google Android fans were all in a tizzy yesterday, as Google announced that developers could now take an early look at the SDK for Android 1.5 - codename Cupcake. The announcement comes two months after Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the mobile industry's biggest trade exhibition, where several new Android handset releases for 2009 were announced.

New APIs that will be included on the Linux-based Android 1.5 include:

• Soft keyboards to allow on-screen typing in a similar fashion to the Apple iPhone (the G1 phone is a touchscreen model but has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard);
• More home screen widgets, including a picture frame and music player, to accompany the established search and clock features;
• Web browser with up-to-date WebKit technology, including Squirellfish to facilitate faster JavaScript;
• Improved user interface for Gmail, calendar, messaging and other applications;
• Video recording and playback, with the ability to upload videos directly to YouTube;
• Applications can now rotate when a handset's accelerometer detects a change in orientation;
• Speech recognition;
• Improved Bluetooth headset support;
• Faster location acquisition through GPS.

Developers will also be able to take advantage of the new Android Virtual Devices (AVDs), which helps test applications for compatibility with multiple devices running the Android platform.

Over the weeks to come, the Android Developers blog is expected to feature a series of articles on the new APIs, with one already being posted on UI framework changes. However, Xavier Ducrohet warned developers that the Android 1.5 APIs were not yet completely finalised in a post on the blog. He said:

"The majority of the APIs are settled, but there may be some changes before the final release. As a result, it's very important that you don't release applications based on this early-look SDK, since they may not work on real devices."

The finalised Android 1.5 SDK release is expected to be available at the end of April.

The improvements to Android are likely to come as a comfort to several movers and shakers in the mobile world, including Vodafone, Samsung and LG - all of whom announced upcoming Android handset releases at MWC in February. For starters, it's been around six months since T-Mobile and HTC launched the G1 handset and, despite its reported popularity, the model doesn't yet seem to be shaking off the iPhone's dominance.

What's more, it appears that good applications are becoming ever more important to the success of smartphones. Last week, Apple announced that it expects the one billionth iPhone application to be downloaded very soon and is even running a countdown on its site. With the improvements made to application development and deployment through Android 1.5, as well as the slew of new G-phones expected this year, it looks as though Google could be in a better position to compete with Apple's smartphone king come Christmas.

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