14 DAY TRIAL // The Android Developers made the Android 1.5 SDK available for download, providing developers with a wide range of brand new features that will offer them the necessary tools to create new applications for compliant Android-powered devices. In addition, some of the existing tools have been updated, and the same applies to the Android system. What the SDK actually contains is Development tools, Android Platforms (both the 1.1 and the 1.5 versions), SDK Add-Ons, Sample Code and Applications, as well as Documentation.
The new SDK comes with a series of changes compared to previous versions, such as the inclusion of multiple versions of the Android platform, while the tools allow developers to create applications for any of the platforms, this way offering forward compatibility, as well as backward compatibility, if applicable.
One of the new features included in the Android 1.5 SDK is the Android Virtual Devices, a set of configurations that model actual devices in the emulator. The work with multiple emulators that are running at the same time has been simplified, as each AVD gets its own dedicated storage area. In addition, the included support for SDK add-ons provides access to external Android libraries, as well as to a customized system image that can run in the emulator.
One more thing that has been added to the SDK is the new Eclipse ADT plugin (version 0.9.0) which is meant to offer developers the possibility to create projects targeted for specific Android configurations, as well as to generate XML resources or alternate layouts, while also allowing them to export and sign their application for publishing.
The Android 1.5 SDK highlight list continues with Improved JUnit support in ADT, Easier profiling of performance, Easier management of localized applications (offering developers the possibility to include or exclude locale resources while building an APK from a single Android project), as well as with the fact that the activitycreator script has been replaced with a new tool called “android.”
Those who would like to download the Android 1.5 SDK, Release 1, can find it on Softpedia too, for Windows PCs, Mac OS X (Intel) devices and for Linux (i386). More information on what the SDK contains as well as full release notes can be found here.