Android 2.3 Platform and Updated SDK Tools

Today we’re announcing a new version of the Android platform — Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). It includes many new platform technologies and APIs to help developers create great apps. Some of the highlights include:

Enhancements for game development: To improve overall responsiveness, we’ve added a new concurrent garbage collector and optimized the platform’s overall event handling. We’ve also given developers native access to more parts of the system by exposing a broad set of native APIs. From native code, applications can now access input and sensor events, EGL/OpenGL ES, OpenSL ES, and assets, as well a new framework for managing lifecycle and windows. For precise motion processing, developers can use several new sensor types, including gyroscope.

Rich multimedia: To provide a great multimedia environment for games and other applications, we’ve added support for the new video formats VP8 and WebM, as well as support for AAC and AMR-wideband encoding. The platform also provides new audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost.

New forms of communication: The platform now includes support for front-facing camera, SIP/VOIP, and Near Field Communications (NFC), to let developers include new capabilities in their applications.

For a complete overview of what’s new in the platform, see the Android 2.3 Platform Highlights.

Alongside the new platform, we are releasing updates to the SDK Tools (r8), NDK, and ADT Plugin for Eclipse (8.0.0). New features include:

Simplified debug builds: Developers can easily generate debug packages without having to manually configure the application’s manifest, making workflow more efficient.

Integrated ProGuard support: ProGuard is now packaged with the SDK Tools. Developers can now obfuscate their code as an integrated part of a release build.

HierarchyViewer improvements: The HierarchyViewer tool includes an updated UI and is now accessible directly from the ADT Plugin.

Preview of new UI Builder: An early release of a new visual layout editor lets developers create layouts in ADT by dragging and dropping UI elements from contextual menus. It’s a work in progress and we intend to iterate quickly on it.

To get started developing or testing applications on Android 2.3, visit the Android Developers site for information about the Android 2.3 platform, the SDK Tools, the ADT Plugin and the new NDK.

Check out the video below to learn more about the new developer features in Android 2.3.

Изтекоха снимки на Nexus S с Android 2.3

Както знаете, в Деня на благодарността, американците казват за какво са благодарни и показват уважението си към хората в живота им. От XDA Developers решиха да се отблагодарят на Android обществото, като пуснат няколко снимки, показващи все още неанонсираната ОС Android 2.3, работеща на устройството Samsung Nexus S.

Както супертелефонът, така и новата мобилна операционна система, се очакват в близките седмици, като слуховете около тях стават все повече. От снимките, които ще откриете по-долу, ще видите малка част от новия интерфейс на Android, който изглежда по-изчистен и не толкова детски. Освен това, ще забележите, че доста неща са скрити на снимките, което предполага, че явно публикувалият снимките все още няма право да сподели всичко със света.

От XDA съобщиха следните хардуерни спецификации за устройството:

• ArmV7 процесор – може да бъде двуядрен;
• Поддръжка на Open GL ES;
• 512 или 328MB оперативна памет (не се знае на 100%);
• 1GB и 2GB вътрешна памет (не се знае на 100%);
• Резолюция на екрана – 800

Add a touch of style to your maps

Google Maps are instantly familiar to millions of Internet users worldwide. The user interface and the look and feel of our maps combine to ensure that when a user sees a Google map on any web site, they instantly know how to interact with that map, and find their way around.

There is however an unavoidable consequence of this consistency. No matter which Maps API site you are on, every map looks the same. If you want your map to stand out from the crowd, your options are limited to customizing the markers and controls, and if your brand has a particular colour scheme that is reflected on your site, Google Maps may not sit well with it.

From today, this all changes. You are now free to unleash your creativity on the base Google map itself, as we are delighted to launch Styled Maps in the Google Maps API v3.

Styled Maps offers you control over both the types of features shown on your maps, and the color scheme used to represent them. The possibilities are endless, as the examples below show:

For information on how to define a Map Style, check out the Maps API v3 documentation. Alternatively, you can use our Styled Map wizard to experiment with different styles, and generate the Styled Map definitions to use in your Maps API application.

We can’t wait to to see the creative ways in which our developers use Styled Maps, and the proliferation of new and interesting maps that will be created. For example, our friends over at NBC Local Media have created The Mood of our Cities Now, which surfaces the most emotional stories of the day. The map displays the location of the story with the color correlating to how the majority of users felt about that story. It’s a great way to see stories from across the nation and how they have been received by their individual communities.

We hope that this is the first of many equally compelling and innovative examples of the use of Styled Maps, and that you love this new feature of the Maps API as much as we do. May a thousand map styles bloom!

Posted by Thor Mitchell, Maps API Product Manager