14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has just announced the availability of the highly-anticipated bada 2.0.0 SDK, which seems to be released just in time for the new bada devices that are rumored to be launched at this year's IFA, in Berlin.
One of the most important features introduced by bada 2.0 SDK is multitasking, which will be available for all devices that run bada 2.0 and up.
The process of multitasking is simply described by Samsung as follows:
“When multiple bada applications are running simultaneously, only one bada application can run in the foreground. The rest must run in the background. The user can switch application perspectives and determine which application is running in the foreground at any given moment.”
However, it is important to note that the size of each active app has a certain impact on multitasking.
Obviously, a new user interface is now available that introduces three new navigation styles: Header, Footer, and TabBar.
According to Samsung, the Header can be used as a placeholder to display descriptive content at the top of the screen, while the Footer will be shown at the bottom of the screen and will be used to switch between different views or to host buttons for performing user actions.
Furthermore, the TabBar is a horizontal menu that can be placed anywhere within the body area of the screen and contains multiple items, as many as can fit into the screen simultaneously.
In addition, a new SearchBar has been introduced that provides an editable search field for entering keywords and an optional button that is displayed in the input mode.
The new bada 2.0 supports NFC (Near Field Communication), but only read/write mode, though the technology has three operating modes: card emulation mode, read/write mode and peer-to-peer.
Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech are also included with bada 2.0 SDK. It recognizes speech and converts it to text, so that a user's application can implement voice-driven features, such as dictating a note, controlling the app by voice, and voice chatting.
bada 2.0 SDK brings many other new features and enhancements that will make Samsung's bada devices among the most popular.
The bada 2.0 SDK is available for download for all registered developers. More details about the release can be found here.
