During i was trying to search about the IceCream Sandwich, i got the below image which i think useful to the novice Android programmer for knowing about the Android version names.
Android Version Name
MAriano Salvetti !
viernes, 18 de noviembre de 2011
jueves, 17 de noviembre de 2011
Install Android SDK 4.0 for development (ADT + Eclipse)
3. Installation
Use the Eclipse update manager to install all available components for the Android Development Tools (ADT) from the URL https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ . If you are not familiar with the Eclipse update manager the usage is described in Eclipse update manager .
After the new Android development components are installed you will be prompted to install the Android SDK. You can do follow the following wizard or go to the next section to learn how to do it manually.
After the new Android development components are installed you will be prompted to install the Android SDK. You can do follow the following wizard or go to the next section to learn how to do it manually.
The previous step downloads the Android SDK automatically for you. You can also download the Android SDK manuallz from the Android homepage under Android SDK download . The download contains a zip file which you can extract to any place in your file system, e.g. I placed it under "c:\android-sdk-windows". Avoid using spaces in the path name otherwise you may experience problems later.
You also have to define the location of the Android SDK in the Eclipse Preferences. In Eclipse open the Preferences dialog via → . Select Android and enter the installation path of the Android SDK.
You also have to define the location of the Android SDK in the Eclipse Preferences. In Eclipse open the Preferences dialog via → . Select Android and enter the installation path of the Android SDK.
The Android SDK Manager allows you to install specific versions of Android. Select → from the Eclipse menu.
The dialog allows you to install new package and also allow you to delete them. Select "Available packages" and open the "Third Party Add-ons". Select the Google API 14 (Android 4.0) version of the SDK and press "Install".
Press the "Install" button and confirm the license for all package. After the installation restart Eclipse.
The dialog allows you to install new package and also allow you to delete them. Select "Available packages" and open the "Third Party Add-ons". Select the Google API 14 (Android 4.0) version of the SDK and press "Install".
Press the "Install" button and confirm the license for all package. After the installation restart Eclipse.
The following step is optional.
During Android development it is very useful to have the Android source code available as Android uses a lot of defaults.
Haris Peco maintains plugins which provides access to the Android Source code code. Use the Eclipse update manager to install the Android Source plugin from the following update site: "http://adt-addons.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/source/com.android.ide.eclipse.source.update".
More details can be found on the project website .
During Android development it is very useful to have the Android source code available as Android uses a lot of defaults.
Haris Peco maintains plugins which provides access to the Android Source code code. Use the Eclipse update manager to install the Android Source plugin from the following update site: "http://adt-addons.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/source/com.android.ide.eclipse.source.update".
More details can be found on the project website .
The Android tools include an emulator. This emulator behaves like a real Android device in most cases and allows you to test your application without having a real device. You can emulate one or several devices with different configurations. Each configuration is defined via an "Android Virtual Device" (AVD).
To define an AVD open the "AVD Manager" via → and press "New".
Enter the following.
We can also select the box "Enabled" for Snapshots. This will make the second start of the virtual device much faster.
At the end press the button "Create AVD".This will create the device and display it under the "Virtual devices". To test if your setup is correct, select your device and press "Start".
After (a long time) your device should be started.
To define an AVD open the "AVD Manager" via → and press "New".
Enter the following.
We can also select the box "Enabled" for Snapshots. This will make the second start of the virtual device much faster.
At the end press the button "Create AVD".This will create the device and display it under the "Virtual devices". To test if your setup is correct, select your device and press "Start".
After (a long time) your device should be started.
Obviously you can use the emulator via the keyboard on the right side of the emulator. But there are also some nice shortcuts which are useful.
Alt+Enter maximizes the emulator. Nice for demos.
Ctrl+F11 changes the orientation of the emulator.
F8 turns network on / off.
Alt+Enter maximizes the emulator. Nice for demos.
Ctrl+F11 changes the orientation of the emulator.
F8 turns network on / off.
Try to use a smaller resolution for your emulator as for example HVGA. The emulator gets slower the more pixels its needs to render as it is using software rendering.
Also if you have sufficient memory on your computer, add at least 1 GB of memory to your emulator. This is the value "Device ram size" during the creation of the AVD.
Also set the flag "Enabled" for Snapshots. This will save the state of the emulator and let it start much faster.
Also if you have sufficient memory on your computer, add at least 1 GB of memory to your emulator. This is the value "Device ram size" during the creation of the AVD.
Also set the flag "Enabled" for Snapshots. This will save the state of the emulator and let it start much faster.
Things are not always working as they should. This section gives an overview over typical problems and how to solve them.
Several users report that get the following errors:
To solve any of these errors, go to the project menu and select Project -> Clean.
- Project ... is missing required source folder: 'gen'
- The project could not be built until build path errors are resolved.
- Unable to open class file R.java.
To solve any of these errors, go to the project menu and select Project -> Clean.
The LogCat view shows you the log message of your Android device and help you analyzing problems. For example Java exceptions in your program would be shown here. To open this view, select "Window -> Show View -> Other -> Android -> LogCat" from the menu.
If your emulator does not start, make sure that the androd-sdk version is in a path without any spaces in the path name.
The @override annotation was introduced in Java 1.6. If you receive an error message for @override change the Java compiler level to Java 1.6 via right-mouse click on the project -> Properties -> Java Compiler -> Compiler compliance level and set it to "1.6".
Java requires that the classes which are not part of the standard Java Language are either fully qualified or declared via imports. In your editor use the click mouse click, select "Source-> Organize Imports" if you see error message with "XX cannot be resolved to a variable".
miércoles, 16 de noviembre de 2011
What is Android? and Android Application Architecture
1. What is Android?
Android is an operating system based on Linux with a Java programming interface. It provides tools, e.g. a compiler, debugger and a device emulator as well as its own Java Virtual machine (Dalvik Virtual Machine - DVM).
Android is officially guided by the Open Handset Alliance but in reality Google leads the project.
Android supports 2-D and 3-D graphics using the OpenGL libraries and supports data storage in a SQLite database.
Every Android applications runs in its own process and under its own user id which is generated automatically by the Android system during deployment. Therefore the application is isolated from other running applications and a misbehaving application cannot easily harm other Android applications.
Android is officially guided by the Open Handset Alliance but in reality Google leads the project.
Android supports 2-D and 3-D graphics using the OpenGL libraries and supports data storage in a SQLite database.
Every Android applications runs in its own process and under its own user id which is generated automatically by the Android system during deployment. Therefore the application is isolated from other running applications and a misbehaving application cannot easily harm other Android applications.
An Android application consists out of the following parts:
Other Android components are Live Folders and Android Live Wallpapers. Live Folders display data on the homescreen without launching the corresponding application.
Activity- represents the presentation layer of an Android application, e.g. a screen which the user sees. An Android application can have several activities and it can be switched between them during runtime of the application.Views- the User interface of an Activities is built with widget classes which inherent fromandroid.view.View. The layout of the views is managed byandroid.view.ViewGroups. Views often have attributes which can be used to change their appearance and behavior.Services- perform background tasks without providing an UI. They can notify the user via the notification framework in Android.ContentProvider- provides data to applications, via a content provider your application can share data with other applications. Android contains a SQLite DB which can serve as data providerIntents- are asynchronous messages which allow the application to request functionality from other services or activities. An application can call directly a service or activity (explicit intent) or ask the Android system for registered services and applications for an intent (implicit intents). For example the application could ask via an intent for a contact application. Applications register themselves to an intent via an IntentFilter. Intents are a powerful concept as they allow the creation of loosely coupled applications.BroadcastReceiver- receives system messages and implicit intents, can be used to react to changed conditions in the system. An application can register as aBroadcastReceiverfor certain events and can be started if such an event occurs.Widgets- interactive components primary used on the Android homescreen to display certain data and to allow the user to have quick access the the information
Other Android components are Live Folders and Android Live Wallpapers. Live Folders display data on the homescreen without launching the corresponding application.
Android uses a special virtual machine, e.g. the Dalvik Virtual Machine. Dalvik uses special bytecode. Therefore you cannot run standard Java bytecode on Android. Android provides a tool
dx which allows to convert Java Class files into dex (Dalvik Executable) files. Android applications are packed into an .apk (Android Package) file by the program aapt (Android Asset Packaging Tool) To simplify development Google provides the Android Development Tools (ADT) for Eclipse. The ADT performs automatically the conversion from class to dex files and creates the apk during deployment.
Android defines certain permissions for certain tasks. For example if the application wants to access the Internet it must define in its configuration file that it would like to use the related permission. During the installation of an Android application the user receives a screen in which he needs to confirm the required permissions of the application.
An Android application is described in the file
The
"activity" defines an activity in this example pointing to the class "de.vogella.android.temperature.Convert". An intent filter is registered for this class which defines that this activity is started once the application starts (action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"). The category definition (category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" ) defines that this application is added to the application directory on the Android device. The @ values refer to resource files which contain the actual values. This makes it easy to provide different resources, e.g. strings, colors, icons, for different devices and makes it easy to translate applications.
The "uses-sdk" part of the "AndroidManifest.xml" defines the minimal SDK version your application is valid for. This will prevent your application being installed on devices with older SDK versions.
AndroidManifest.xml. This file must declare all activities, services, broadcast receivers and content provider of the application. It must also contain the required permissions for the application. For example if the application requires network access it must be specified here. AndroidManifest.xml can be thought as the deployment descriptor for an Android application.<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="de.vogella.android.temperature" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0"> <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name"> <activity android:name=".Convert" android:label="@string/app_name"> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /> </intent-filter> </activity> </application> <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="9" /> </manifest>
The
package attribute defines the base package for the following Java elements. It also must be unique as the Android Marketplace only allows application for a specfic package once. Therefore a good habit is to use your reverse domain name as a package to avoid collisions with other developers.android:versionNameand android:versionCode specify the version of your application. versionName is what the user sees and can be any string. versionCode must be an integer and the Android Market uses this to determine if you provided a newer version to trigger the update on devices which have your application installed. You typically start with "1" and increase this value by one if you roll-out a new version of your application."activity" defines an activity in this example pointing to the class "de.vogella.android.temperature.Convert". An intent filter is registered for this class which defines that this activity is started once the application starts (action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"). The category definition (category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" ) defines that this application is added to the application directory on the Android device. The @ values refer to resource files which contain the actual values. This makes it easy to provide different resources, e.g. strings, colors, icons, for different devices and makes it easy to translate applications.
The "uses-sdk" part of the "AndroidManifest.xml" defines the minimal SDK version your application is valid for. This will prevent your application being installed on devices with older SDK versions.
The directory "gen" in an Android project contains generated values. "R.java" is a generated class which contains references to resources of the "res" folder in the project. These resources are defined in the "res" directory and can be values, menus, layouts, icons or pictures or animations. For example a resource can be an image or an XML file which defines strings.
If you create a new resource, the corresponding reference is automatically created in "R.java". The references are static int values, the Android system provides methods to access the corresponding resource. For example to access a String with the reference id "R.string.yourString" use the method getString(R.string.yourString)); Please do not try to modify "R.java" manually.
While the directory"res" contains structured values which are known to the Android platform the directory "assets" can be used to store any kind of data. In Java you can access this data via the AssetsManager and the method getAssets().
If you create a new resource, the corresponding reference is automatically created in "R.java". The references are static int values, the Android system provides methods to access the corresponding resource. For example to access a String with the reference id "R.string.yourString" use the method getString(R.string.yourString)); Please do not try to modify "R.java" manually.
While the directory"res" contains structured values which are known to the Android platform the directory "assets" can be used to store any kind of data. In Java you can access this data via the AssetsManager and the method getAssets().
In your XML files, e.g. your layout files you can refer to other resources via the @ sign. For example if you want to refer to a color you defined as resources you can refer to it via @color/your_id or if you have defined a "hello" string as resource you can access it via @string/hello.
The user interface for Activities is defined via layouts. At runtime, layouts are instances of "android.view.ViewGroups". The layout defines the UI elements, their properties and their arrangement.
UI elements are based on the class "android.view.View". ViewGroup is a subclass of the class "View" and a layout can contain UI components (Views) or other layouts (ViewGroups). You should not nestle ViewGroups too deeply as this has a negativ impact on performance.
A layout can be defined via Java code or via XML. You typically uses Java code to generate the layout if you don't know the content until runtime; for example if your layout depends on content which you read from the internet.
XML based layouts are defined via a resource file in the folder "/res/layout". This file specifies the view groups, views, their relationship and their attributes for a specific layout. If a UI element needs to be accessed via Java code you have to give the UI element an unique id via the "android:id" attribute. To assign a new id to an UI element use "@+id/yourvalue". By conversion this will create and assign a new id "yourvalue" to the corresponding UI element. In your Java code you can later access these UI elements via the method findViewById(R.id.yourvalue).
Defining layouts via XML is usually the preferred way as this separates the programming logic from the layout definition. It also allows the definition of different layouts for different devices. You can also mix both approaches.
UI elements are based on the class "android.view.View". ViewGroup is a subclass of the class "View" and a layout can contain UI components (Views) or other layouts (ViewGroups). You should not nestle ViewGroups too deeply as this has a negativ impact on performance.
A layout can be defined via Java code or via XML. You typically uses Java code to generate the layout if you don't know the content until runtime; for example if your layout depends on content which you read from the internet.
XML based layouts are defined via a resource file in the folder "/res/layout". This file specifies the view groups, views, their relationship and their attributes for a specific layout. If a UI element needs to be accessed via Java code you have to give the UI element an unique id via the "android:id" attribute. To assign a new id to an UI element use "@+id/yourvalue". By conversion this will create and assign a new id "yourvalue" to the corresponding UI element. In your Java code you can later access these UI elements via the method findViewById(R.id.yourvalue).
Defining layouts via XML is usually the preferred way as this separates the programming logic from the layout definition. It also allows the definition of different layouts for different devices. You can also mix both approaches.
The operating system controls the life cycle of your application. At any time the Android system may stop or destroy your application, e.g. because of an incoming call. The Android system defines a life cycle for activities via pre-defined methods. The most important methods are:
The activity will also be restarted if a so called "configuration change" happens. A configuration change for example happens if the user changes the orientation of the device (vertical or horizontal). The activity is in this case restarted to enable the Android platform to load different resources for these configuration, e.g. layouts for vertical or horizontal mode. In the emulator you can simulate the change of the orientation via CNTR+F11.
You can avoid a restart of your application for certain configuration changes via the configChanges attribute on your activity definition in your AndroidManifest.xml. The following activity will not be restarted in case of orientation changes or position of the physical keyboard (hidden / visible).
- onSaveInstanceState() - called if the activity is stopped. Used to save data so that the activity can restore its states if re-started
- onPause() - always called if the Activity ends, can be used to release ressource or save data
- onResume() - called if the Activity is re-started, can be used to initiaze fields
The activity will also be restarted if a so called "configuration change" happens. A configuration change for example happens if the user changes the orientation of the device (vertical or horizontal). The activity is in this case restarted to enable the Android platform to load different resources for these configuration, e.g. layouts for vertical or horizontal mode. In the emulator you can simulate the change of the orientation via CNTR+F11.
You can avoid a restart of your application for certain configuration changes via the configChanges attribute on your activity definition in your AndroidManifest.xml. The following activity will not be restarted in case of orientation changes or position of the physical keyboard (hidden / visible).
<activity android:name=".ProgressTestActivity" android:label="@string/app_name" android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard"> </activity>
The class android.content.Context provides the connections to the Android system. It is the interface to global information about the application environment. Context also provides access to Android services, e.g. the Location Service . As Activities and Services extend the class "Context" you can directly access the context via "this".
domingo, 13 de noviembre de 2011
How Android was born? ... and Today, what?
The 5 of November of 2007, Android was presented to the people powered by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, but...it´s only that? Even though a company named Android was stared in 2003 by three well known personalities ( Andy Rubin :co-founder of Danger; Rich Miner-co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc; Nick Sears - VP at T-Mobile) , the company operated secretly, revealing only that the company is working on a new mobile operating system.
In 2005 Google acquired Android Inc and the road map of the company was reset according the the interests of Google. Google basically wanted their powerful searching technologies to be on mobile devices and working hard towards achieving that objective through Android acquisition. In 2007, they applied to obtain several telephone technology related patents apparently proving this speculation.
In 2007, again several well known companies got together and formed an alliance known as " Open Handset Alliance" and the idea behind was to develop "open stand" for mobile devices. The companies that were involved were, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments .
As a result of all these efforts, first product , Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6 was introduced.
Android application developers now deal with multiple versions of the operating system, geared for either phones or tablets but not both. They also have had to cope with customized interfaces, making it tough to build applications to run across the variety of Android units on the market. "I'm anticipating [the operating system upgrade] hotly," said Brian Hardy, a software engineer and instructor at mobile software developer Big Nerd Ranch. "It's always nice to see what's new, but it will be refreshing to be able to develop on one platform at some point in the future."
Currently, developers can use the Android 2.x platform for smartphones and 3.x platform for tablets. Google has released a compatibility library for sharing some functionality between 2.x and 3.x systems, but does not solve all problems, Hardy said. As an example, he cited that the action bar functionality is not available in the library.
In 2005 Google acquired Android Inc and the road map of the company was reset according the the interests of Google. Google basically wanted their powerful searching technologies to be on mobile devices and working hard towards achieving that objective through Android acquisition. In 2007, they applied to obtain several telephone technology related patents apparently proving this speculation.
In 2007, again several well known companies got together and formed an alliance known as " Open Handset Alliance" and the idea behind was to develop "open stand" for mobile devices. The companies that were involved were, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments .
As a result of all these efforts, first product , Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6 was introduced.
Android application developers now deal with multiple versions of the operating system, geared for either phones or tablets but not both. They also have had to cope with customized interfaces, making it tough to build applications to run across the variety of Android units on the market. "I'm anticipating [the operating system upgrade] hotly," said Brian Hardy, a software engineer and instructor at mobile software developer Big Nerd Ranch. "It's always nice to see what's new, but it will be refreshing to be able to develop on one platform at some point in the future."
Currently, developers can use the Android 2.x platform for smartphones and 3.x platform for tablets. Google has released a compatibility library for sharing some functionality between 2.x and 3.x systems, but does not solve all problems, Hardy said. As an example, he cited that the action bar functionality is not available in the library.
Fragmentation has even affected Android's WebKit browser engine, said Mike Burns, a developer at Thoughtbot. "This is part of the fragmentation problem. They fix bugs in one version and introduce bugs in another version," he noted.
Android 4's arrival is anticipated as part of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone debut in Hong Kong scheduled for this evening in U.S. time zones. Google has emphasized the unity the operating system upgrade is supposed to bring to the fragmented Android landscape. "Our goal with Ice Cream Sandwich is to deliver one operating system that works everywhere, regardless of device. Ice Cream Sandwich will bring everything you love about [the Honeycomb release of Android] on your tablet to your phone, including the holographic user interface, more multitasking, the new launcher, and richer widgets," wrote Hugo Barra, Google's product management director for Android, in a May blog post.
But "Ice Cream Sandwich" will not solve all problems with the platform, said David Cao, organizer of the Silicon Valley Android Developer Group and vice president of mobile at BeyondSoft. He is not a developer himself, but said Android still has problems in which Google controls the release of code and some device vendors get the code before others, he said: "Android is somewhat open, but it's not completely open."
Android 4.0 is with us, now we can use this new version and I still waiting for the stable version Android 5.0.
Best Regards,see you, Mariano Salvetti!
viernes, 4 de noviembre de 2011
BootCamp Android Rosario 2011
People, this is going to be here in Rosario, are all invited! is tomorrow, Saturday November 5!
| Want to program in Android? On Saturday November 5 at NJambre (France Av 889) we'll be kicking off so you can create the application you want plus a few other useful tricks to teach more advanced. Only you have to register yourself, you come with your computer and you get your first program going! To view the contents and more information you can visit our website http://rosario.gtugs.org/eventos_futuros/android-bootcamp-2011 We are waiting! G o o g l e Technology Users Group Rosario |
viernes, 21 de octubre de 2011
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: everything you need to know
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now official.
Here's what you need to know about the latest version of Google's mobile OS which combines the best of the Android 2.x phone interface with the Android 3.x Honeycomb tablet interface.
Ice Cream Sandwich is designed for use with both phones and tablets.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich features
Android ICS offers a massive array of improvements over its predecessors bringing the best of both Gingerbread and Honeycomb while providing a raft of new innovations.
The company says 4.0 is a complete rethink of Android's image and is part of a push to make the OS "Enchant me, Simplify My Life, and Make Me Awesome."
"Android 4.0 builds on the things people love most about Android," says Google in a post on the Android Developers Blog. "Easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing."
Minor improvements include better copy and paste, data logging and warnings and, at last, the opportunity to easily grab screenshots by holding down the power and the volume buttons.
The keyboard and dictionaries have also been revamped, says Google. "Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three words at a time."
"To fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, users can choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the dictionary."
The new OS is designed to bring common actions to the fore, with better animations and an entirely new typeface - more on that shortly.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Galaxy Nexus
Google kicked off its launch event by announcing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will be the first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich and will be launched in November. Check out Samsung Galaxy Nexus: what you need to know.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update
Google has confirmed it is working on an Android 4.0 update for the Samsung Nexus S and other Android devices.
Director of Android operating system User Experience Matias Duarte told Engadget that Google is. "Currently in the process for releasing Ice Cream Sandwich for Nexus S. Theoretically it should work for any 2.3 device."
Motorola confirmed to TechRadar that the Motorola Razr will launch in the UK with Android 2.3, but that there will be an update to 4.0in 2012.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Roboto
Among the first new features championed by Google at the Hong Kong media event was a brand new typeface for Android in the shape of the easy-to-read "Roboto."
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich System Bar and Action Bar
At the launch event, Google showcased a host of virtual buttons that appear at the bottom of the screen in some apps and allow users access to areas of the device like phone and contacts.
These are located in the System Bar - present in all apps - and enables you to navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. Virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing.
You can also access the contextual options for each app in the Action Bar at the top of the screen.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich voice control
Android 4.0 introduces new voice input engine, You can dictate the text you want, for as long as you want. After dictating, you can tap the underlined words to replace them from a list of suggestions.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich multitasking
Multi-tasking has also been given a boost and with ICS it's easier to see which apps you've been using recently. If you decide you're done with using one, you can easily flick it away to close.
Google says it has made multitasking "even easier and more visual" on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Face Unlock
Perhaps the most 'Star Trek' of all the new Android 4.0 features is a new piece of functionality called Face Unlock which, as the name suggests, unlocks your handset based on facial recognition tech.
You can also do more without unlocking. As in iOS 5 you can jump straight to the camera. You can also pull down the notifications window.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Home Screen folders
Like iOS before it, Android is now getting home screen folders too. You can group apps or shortcuts together and, as with iOS, you can do this just by dragging icons on top of one another.From the All Apps launcher, you can now drag an app to get information about it or uninstall it should you wish.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich notifications
Notifications have also been improved. On larger devices - tablets - the updates appear in the System Bar, while on phones the notifications roll down from the top of the screen as before.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich favorites tray
On phones and other "smaller screen devices" (that's Google speak), there's now a customisable favorites tray. You can put anything you want here - apps, folders, shortcuts - whatever you want - check out this screen:
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich widgets
As in Honeycomb, you can now resize widgets on phones too. As in that OS, the widgets in 4.0 are designed to be far more interactive, enabling you to flick through appointments, play music and more.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich data
Android 4.0 includes new graphical displays so you can see how much data you're using and how much you've used over Wi-Fi or cellular. You can also see the amount of data used by each running application.
Warning levels can also be specified, as well as determining how much background data apps can use.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich camera
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich also brings some much-needed improvements to Google's camera UI, which the company says it has been working on with Samsung.
ICS devices, and the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus in particular, will have 1080p video, zero shutter lag, a new picture-stitching panorama mode, easier sharing and Instagram-esque filters.
In the panorama mode, you can start taking the picture and then move the camera. The phone assembles the full range of continuous imagery into a single panoramic photo.
"When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images," says Google. "Stabilized image zoom lets users compose photos and video in the way they want, including while video is recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, users can now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record."
There's also built-in face detection as well as tap to focus.
There are also various editing tools included, too, while there's sharing via Google+, message, Bluetooth, email or Picasa upload.
There's also an improved gallery widget, as well as new album layout with larger thumbnails.
Thankfully you can also now take screenshots - this is going to make our job a whole lot easier!
For video, there's also Live Effects you can apply to distort faces or alter backgrounds.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich apps
The People app does what many manufacturers have been doing on Android for ages - bringing together various social networking feeds into one place,
This offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.
The Calendar app has also been updated to bring together different calendars, while the email app can now autocomplete responses and is able to store oft-used replies.
Android 4.0 now also supports visual voicemail.
The web browser is also improved - especially in terms of speed - and now allows up to 16 windows. You can now sync it with Google Chrome and the browser supports offline browsing - it can save versions of web pages you choose.
There's also a new NFC-based app called Android Bump, which allows two phones to exchange a wealth of information, just by holding them together.
It can be used to share websites, maps and start games.
Here's a video of the Android 4.0 launch event if you have the time - it's an hour long!
miércoles, 11 de mayo de 2011
Google announced Android 3.1 for tablets with many news!
As part of the Google I / O 2011, announced the arrival of a new version of Android for tablets, which brings several interesting developments.
With little time on the track, Honeycomb and receive your first update coming to version 3.1 with several new features that will be useful to users. Within the new in this version we can highlight:
- User interface: it has been improved as regards the possibilities of interaction is much more agile and have also added features that enhance accessibility.
- Support for new hardware via USB: Added support for more devices perisféricos that can be connected via USB, including keyboard, mouse, gamepad or joystick, and others.
- Widgets: you can work in a more comfortable around them, resizing them and adapted to suit the user.
- Wi-Fi improved: the wireless connection is very important in the tablets, which is why special attention has been placed on this property, expanding its capabilities and improve the detection capability.
- Browser: its features have been updated to better support for CSS3 and HTML5. Also has plugin support which can take advantage of better hardware acceleration.
- And more: the gallery, calendar, contact management and mail options set up correctly also offer new in this version. As if this were not enough, users of Google TV will also enjoy this revamped version of Android.
Android 3.1 will be available primarily for Motorla Xoom and then extend his arrival Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
To follow the event, can log onto http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/index-live.html.
See you,
Lic. Mariano Salvetti
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