Android OS Overview Android 1.5 (Cupcake)

Android 1.5

Date : May 2009

Android 1.5 corresponded to the "Cupcake" milestone branch, and has an API level of 3. Android 1.5 is a major platform release deploy able to Android-powered handsets starting in May 2009. The release includes new features for users and developers, as well as changes in the Android framework API.

User Interface Refinements

·         

          System-wide:

o    Refinement of all core UI elements

o    Animated window
transitions (off by default)

o    Accelerometer-based application rotations

·         UI polish for:

o    In-call experience

o    Contacts, Call log, and Favorites

o    SMS & MMS

o    Browser

o    Gmail

o    Calendar

o    Email

o    Camera & Gallery

o    Application management

Performance Improvements

•    Faster Camera start-up and image capture
•    Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)
•    Smoother page scrolling in Browser
•    Speedier GMail conversation list scrolling

New Features

·         On-screen soft keyboard

o    Works in both portrait and landscape orientation

o    Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards

o    User dictionary for custom words

·         Home screen

o    Widgets

§  Bundled home screen widgets include: analog clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and search

o    Live folders

·         Camera & Gallery

o    Video recording

o    Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats)

·         Bluetooth 

o    Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles)

o    Auto-pairing

o    Improved handsfree experience

·         Browser

o    Updated with latest Webkit browser & Squirrelfish Javascript engines

o    Copy 'n paste in browser

o    Search within a page

o    User-selectable text-encoding

o    UI changes include:

§  Unified Go and Search box

§  Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen

·         Contacts

o    Shows user picture for Favorites

o    Specific date/time stamp for events in call log

o    One-touch access to a contact card from call log event

·         System

o    New Linux kernel (version 2.6.27)

o    SD card filesystem auto-checking and repair

o    SIM Application Toolkit 1.0

·         Google applications (not available in the Android 1.5 System Image that is included in the Android SDK)

o    View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications

o    Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages

o    Upload videos to Youtube

o    Upload photos on Picasa

Built-in Applications

·         Alarm Clock ·         Browser ·         Calculator ·         Camcorder ·         Camera ·         Contacts ·         Custom Locale (developer app) ·         Dev Tools (developer app)

·         Dialer ·         Email ·         Gallery ·         IME for Japanese text input ·         Messaging ·         Music ·         Settings ·         Spare Parts (developer app)