Google has announced the availability of the Android 1.6 SDK for developers.
Android 1.6, coloquially codenamed “Donut” will be the first Android release with full support for CDMA devices, with the Sprint HTC Hero being the first device that includes 1.6.
Changes to Android 1.6 include Quick Search Box for Android for users to search across multiple sources such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, and the web directly from the home screen with adaptive search that constantly learns which results are more relevant based on what is clicked.
Popular contacts or apps that have previously been picked will now bubble up to the top when a user types the first few letters of a relevant query as well as relevant content from their applications in the Quick Search Box Camera, Camcorder, and Gallery
An updated user interface provides an integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery experience. Users can quickly toggle between still and video capture modes. The gallery now enables users to select multiple photos for deletion and a much faster camera experience compared to the previous release, launching the camera is now 39% faster and there is a 28% improvement in the time from completing one shot to the next.
A new battery usage screen lets users see which apps and services are consuming battery power, if a particular service or application is using too much power, they can save battery power by adjusting settings, stopping the application, or uninstalling the application. At the homescreen, users will be able to choose among Apps, Games, and Downloads, users can explore titles that are Top paid, Top free, and Just in and for each title, users can now see screenshots submitted by developers in addition to reviews from other users.
Android 1.6 now features a multi-lingual speech synthesis engine called Pico that allows any Android application to “speak” a string of text with an accent that matches the language. The engine supports the following languages: English (American and British accents), French, Italian, German and Spanish, adds screen support that enables applications to be rendered properly on different display resolutions and densities while developers can also specify the types of screens supported by their application.
