Google has officially released the next version of the Android operating system. Dubbed "Cupcake", Android version 1.5 offers a host of new features which make it markedly better than the older version of Android. With Android 2.0 expected to roll in by 2010, the Android 1.5 release should work as a stop gap measure to ensure it stays in the game with the Apple iPhone and the soon-to-be released Palm Pre.
Here's a list of improvements present in Android 1.5:
The underlying Linux kernel has been upgraded to version 2.6.27 in Android 1.5. It also includes features like SD filesystem auto checking and repair. It is bundled with the SIM Application Toolkit 1.0 now. The User interface has been polished and is more refined now. All the core UI elements are now consistent throughout the interface. It also sports new animated window transitions and auto rotation of application windows, by use of the accelerometer. The UI of the internal components has also been given a upgrade.
Android 1.5 brings the much needed performance upgrades to the Android platform. The camera has been rehashed and now starts up much faster and also has a lower image capture time. The GPS is snappier and zeroes in on a location quite faster, even from a cold start. The browser has been given a major upgrade and now loads pages faster than before. It can also support heavier pages now without consuming many resources.
One of the most important upgrades is the inclusion of the on-screen virtual keyboard. It works in both the portrait and landscape modes and supports a customizable dictionary. The home screen has also been bundled with more widgets and live folders. The 3.2 MP camera now supports video recording. Coming to Bluetooth, Android 1.5 includes stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVRCP profiles) with auto pairing. The built in Webkit browser has been upgraded to the latest version and is now powered by the latest Squirrelfish Javascript engine. This results in much faster page loading and it can also handle heavy pages loaded with Javascript. Copy - Paste is now available in the browser and in page search has also been thrown in.
The contacts now display a user picture for your favorite contacts. The call log events are stamped with a specific data/time stamp. You can also directly access contacts from the call log. Besides these improvements, the API also has has many new features and framework upgrades. Besides these upgrades, the developer API has also been improved and many frameworks have been upgraded to make application development easier.
