14 DAY TRIAL // Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
is now official and should bring along a great new features to users starting with November onwards, but it seems that application developers can already enjoy the benefits of the new platform flavor courtesy of a new Android SDK that was made available for download.
Application developers will benefit from a unified UI framework in the new Ice Cream Sandwich release, so that they can come up with great new software for smartphones and tablet PCs.
The framework sports “all of the familiar Android 3.x interface elements and APIs - fragments, content loaders, Action Bar, rich notifications, resizable home screen widgets, and more - as well as new elements and APIs.”
When it comes to developers, the unified UI framework means new UI tools, complemented by consistent design practices, along with simpler code and resources. Not to mention that the new platform release brings streamlined development across all device types.
“Android 4.0 extends social and sharing features to any application on the device. Applications can integrate contacts, profile data, and calendar events from any of the user’s activities or social networks,” Google explains.
In ICS, developers will find Social APIs to take advantage of when building their applications. It will offer a unified store for contacts, profile data, status updates, and photos.
Based on user's permissions, social networking sites and applications can contribute with data that is available to other applications as well. Moreover, apps will be able to read profile data from the provider.
Developers also benefit from a shared Calendar content provider and framework API, aimed at easing the manner in which they can add calendar services to their applications.
“With user permission, any application can add events to the shared database and manage dates, attendees, alerts, and reminders. Applications can also read entries from the database, including events contributed by other applications, and handle the display of event alerts and reminders,” Google explains.
Android 4.0 also brings along a new Visual Voicemail API, along with Android Beam, an NFC-based feature through which users can instantly send info on the applications they are using. Through it, developers will have access to triggering almost any type of proximity-based interaction.
Developers will also find a new modular sharing widget available for them with the new OS flavor, as well as new camera capabilities, secure management of credentials, OpenGL ES texture views, stylus input, button support, hover events, and much more.
Download the new Android SDK for Windows Download the new Android SDK for Mac Download the new Android SDK for Linux