mirwing story

UI framework

• New classes in android.view.animation to control the behavior of animations:
  • AnticipateInterpolator
  • AnticipateOvershootInterpolator
  • BounceInterpolator
  • OvershootInterpolator
• New XML attribute android:onClick to specify a View's View.OnClickListener from a layout file.
• New support for dealing with varying screen densities. Density information is associated with Bitmap and Canvas for performing the correct scaling. The framework will automatically scale bitmaps and nine-patches based on the density the resource was found under and the density of the screen, etc.

Search framework

• Applications can now expose relevant content to users as search suggestions in the Quick Search Box, a new device-wide search capability that is accessible from the home screen. To support this, the search framework adds new attributes to the searchable metadata file. For complete information, see the SearchManager documentation.

Accessibility framework

• New android.accessibility package that includes classes for capturing accessibility events and forwarding them to an AccessibilityService handler.
• New AccessibilityService package that lets your application track user events and provide visual, audible, or haptic feedback to the user.

Gesture Input

• New gesture API for creating, recognizing, loading, and saving gestures.

Text-to-speech

• New android.speech.tts package provides classes for synthesizing speech from text, for immediate playback or to create a sound file.

Graphics

• Classes in android.graphics now support scaling for different screen densities.

Telephony

• New SmsManager and other classes for sending and receiving SMS messages.

Utilities

• New DisplayMetrics fields for determining the density of the current device screen.

Android Manifest elements

• New <supports-screens> element lets you specify the device screen sizes that your application is designed and tested to support, where "size" is a combination of resolution and density. If your application is run on a device whose screen size is not specified in the <supports-screen> element, the system displays the application in compatibility mode, which performs best-effort scaling of the application UI to match the resolution and density of the screen.

  The attributes available for defining an application's screen support are:

  • smallScreen: Boolean value that indicates whether the application is designed to run on devices with small screens. Examples: QVGA low density; VGA high density.
  • normalScreens: Boolean value that indicates whether the application is designed to run on devices with normal screens. Examples: WQVGA low density; HVGA medium density; WVGA high density.
  • largeScreens: Boolean value that indicates whether the application is designed to run on devices with significantly larger screens, such that special care may be required on the application's part to make proper use of the screen area. Examples: VGA medium density; WVGA medium density.
  • anyDensity: Boolean value that indicates whether the application can accommodate any screen density.
  • resizable: Boolean value that indicates whether the application can expand its layout to fit slightly larger screens.
• New <uses-feature> element lets an application specify hardware (or other) features that it requires to function normally. When an application specifies such features, the system allows the application to be installed only on devices that offer the required features. The element supports these attributes:
  • name: The name of the feature required by the application. Currently accepts "android.hardware.camera" and "android.hardware.camera.autofocus" values, which specify that a camera and camera autofocus are required, respectively.
  • glEsVersion: Indicates the minimum version of OpenGL ES required.
• New attributes for the <uses-sdk> element:
  • maxSdkVersion: This indicates the maximum API Level on which an application is designed to run. If an application declares this attribute, the Android system prevents the user from installing the application if the system's API Level is higher than the value specified in this attribute.
  • targetSdkVersion: This indicates the API Level that the application is targeting. It is able to run on older versions (down to minSdkVersion), but was explicitly tested to work with the version specified here. Specifying this version allows the platform to disable compatibility code that is not required or enable newer features that are not available to older applications.

New Permissions

• CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE: Allows applications to enter Wi-Fi Multicast mode.
• GLOBAL_SEARCH: Allows the global search system to access the data of a specified content provider.
• INSTALL_LOCATION_PROVIDER: Allows an application to install a location provider into the Location Manager.
• READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS: Allows an application to read (but not write) the user's browsing history and bookmarks.
• WRITE_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS: Allows an application to write (but not read) the user's browsing history and bookmarks.
• WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE: Allows an application to write to external storage. Applications using API Level 3 and lower will be implicitly granted this permission (and this will be visible to the user); Applications using API Level 4 or higher must explicitly request this permission.

API Change Details

For a detailed view of API changes in Android 1.6 (API Level 4), see the API Differences Report.