Android 3.0 Platform Preview and SDK Is Here

mikejuk writes "Google has released the Android 3.0 SDK, to allow developers time to create the apps that will run on the flood of tablet devices that should be availalble later in the year. The preview includes improved 2D and 3D graphics, new user interface controls, support for multicore processors, DRM and enterprise security features. It is complete with a 3.0 emulator that you can use to try applications on, but you can't add them to the app market just yet."

Comments

Better Link

[DoomHamster]

http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-3.0-highlights.html

This is where Nokia missed the boat

[c.r.o.c.o]

I used to be the biggest supporter of Nokia's Maemo/MeeGo OS. Except for the N770, I owned every single Maemo device they released (N800, N810, N900) and I loved them. They were true pocket computers running full, unlocked versions of Debian.

I still own the N900, which at the time it came out, was miles ahead of anything else available on the market in terms of features, customization, and hardware. It was amazing to have full desktop (not mobile) skype connectivity built into the phone. Just connect to wifi or 3G and make calls to any other Skype computer or N900. Full (not web) browsing enabled by default. Flash 9 preinstalled. But it is almost a year and a half later, and in the meantime Nokia has not released any new Maemo/MeeGo hardware, and only 1 major update to the N900 firmware. Even that update only fixed minor bugs and added the QT libraries.

In the meantime, Android went through at least 3 major revisions, and there are a multitude of devices to fit any need and budget. And now it matches pretty much all the features that made the N900 special. The worst part? Nokia hasn't even announced ANY MeeGo devices, let alone released them. They may still do it, but I think it's too little too late.

Re:This is where Nokia missed the boat

[exomondo]

But it is almost a year and a half later, and in the meantime Nokia has not released any new Maemo/MeeGo hardware, and only 1 major update to the N900 firmware. Even that update only fixed minor bugs and added the QT libraries.

I think they tried to get the community to shoulder too much responsibility for the OS - it's great that it's open source, but there isn't much open source that succeeds without corporate backing and for a predominantly consumer device that corporate backing has to come from the manufacturer. It would be nice to see meego flourish, and it certainly could given Nokia's market share, but consumers have been consistently disappointed by Nokia's high-end offerings, sure the N95 and N900 are great but the N93, N96 and N97 were all pretty awful IMO. Hopefully Intel and Nokia devote their full attention to Meego, if they don't then i see it ending up like Maemo.

Re:This is where Nokia missed the boat

[Richard_J_N]

Actually, it wasn't open-source enough. Many of the nasty bugs in the platform related to closed-source components. For example, I wanted to be able to simultaneously run a VoIP call and use the camera. But the camera "helpfully" wouldn't run during a call, because it needed the sound card to make the "click" noise. I tried to fix it, but was told that the camera app was closed source. There was an open-source camera library component...but only if I didn't want auto-focus! Another N900 killer was video-calling. Almost there, but pulse-audio was hogging 30% CPU doing (un-needed) sample-rate conversion - and we couldn't remove it.

Re:Any chance we'll get rid of Java?

[flight666]

Android has it's own VM system, and it's called Dalvik. It has language independence built in so Java source files can be used... they compile to DEX, the Dalvik bytecode format. It does JIT.

Please tell me that the above was (well-disguised) sarcasm.

Death ray at Google!

[Dayofswords]

From the video
at 0:19

Attila Bodis 12/21/2010
CONFIDENTIAL: Death ray hardware rev 2.0
- Hi Mike, Please don't share; this is just a [cut off]

Re:Available to the privileged few.

[linuxguy]

Before Google "open" mobile platforms were a bad joke. I wanted them to succeed. But no hardware manufacturer or carrier took them seriously. Some companies like Motorola did build very bad phones based on Linux but they were very closed devices. Google comes along and gives you a platform that is completely open, gives it away for free. Do whatever the hell you want to do with it. Many vendors like Motorola take the bits and build phones around it. Most of these phones are locked. But you can hardly fault Google for it.

If somebody builds a device with Linux that you do not like, do you blame Linus Torvalds for it?

When I was in the market for a new phone a a month or so ago, I narrowed down my choices to:

iphone/iOS
Blackberry
Windows Phone 7
Android

Tell me, which one is the most open platform of them all? For me, I decided to go with Samsung Epic and have not regretted that decision for a minute. It is easy to root the phone and install whatever the hell I want on it, including my own damn Linux kernel.

I am thankful that Google is here. I have a crop of very capable devices running Linux to choose from. Without Google, these options would not be available to us. Give credit where credit is due.