android 4.0 sdk what's newandroid new view

 

Google has just announced the release of SDK for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available straight from the Android Developers site, which you can find by clicking here.

Android 4.0 is a major platform release that adds a variety of new features for users and app developers. Besides all the new features and APIs discussed below, Android 4.0 is an important platform release because it brings the extensive set of APIs and Holographic themes from Android 3.x to smaller screens. As an app developer, you now have a single platform and unified API framework that enables you to develop and publish your application with a single APK that provides an optimized user experience for handsets, tablets, and more, when running the same version of Android—Android 4.0 (API level 14) or greater.
What’s new in Andorid 4.0 and Android-SDK 4.0?
1. Large photos : We can now have larger photos for contacts. Now, when we save a photo into a contact record, the system processes it into both a 96×96 thumbnail (as was the case previously) and a 256×256 “display photo” that’s stored in a new file-based photo store.
2. Contact Usage Feedback : There’s new ContactsContract.DataUsageFeedback APIs here which allow us to help track how often the user uses particular methods of contacting people, such as how often the user uses each phone number or e-mail address, this information than can be used to rank contacts for future suggestions.
3. User Profile : Android now includes a personal profile that represents the device owner, as defined by the ContactsContract.Profile table.
4. Invite Intent : The INVITE_CONTACT intent action allows an app to invoke an action that indicates the user wants to add a contact to a social network. The app receiving the app uses it to invite the specified contact to that social network. Most apps will be on the receiving-end of this operation.

5. Event intent : If all we want to do is add an event to the user’s calendar, we can now use an ACTION_INSERT intent with a “vnd.android.cursor.item/event” MIME type to start an activity in the Calendar app that creates new events. No permissions required.

6. Camera : The Camera class now includes APIs for detecting faces and controlling focus and metering areas which we missed a lot in previous SDKs. Also there’s continuous auto focusing (CAF) for both pictures and videos.

7. Wi-Fi Direct : Android now supports Wi-Fi Direct – WI-FI P2P APIs for peer-to-peer (P2P) connections between Android-powered devices and other device types without a hotspot or Internet connection.

8. Two new emulator skins :
WXGA720 (1280×720, extra-high density, normal screen)
WSVGA (1024×600, medium density, large screen)
9. User Interface and Views : Android 4.0 introduces a variety of new views and other UI components.
     a.) Grid layout
     b.) Texture View
     c.) Switch Widget (to toggle an option between two states)
10. Social API : A shared social provider and API provide a new unified store for contacts, profile data, status updates, and photos. Any app or social network with user permission can contribute raw contacts and make them accessible to other apps and networks. Building on the social API, we can add powerful new interactions that span multiple social networks and contacts sources.
11. Enhancements for Enterprise : For enterprise applications there’s new VPN client API and a new policy for device policy management. We can now remotely disable the camera on a managed device for users working in sensitive environments.
and much more… Read: Android 4.0 Platform Highlights
WHAT IT MEANS?

It is a significant update. Android SDK 4.0 provides a unified platform so it’s much easier now for developers to design quality apps for all form factors – Phones, Tablets and net-books. Of course the apps will be more user friendly to users as well.

I am currently downloading the new SDK on my slow 144kbps connection. Just can’t wait to start development on the updated platform. What about you?