SEVENCLICK
Mobile Technology Evangelists

Android 1.5, based on the Cupcake branch from the Android Open Source project, has been released as an early look version. Although 1.5 is still not supported on Android devices, developers can download the 1.5 SDK and start testing the new features, as well as send feedback to Google in order to improve the 1.5 final version.

Cupcake is full of new features, and though there are no big surprises, the feeling is that most things have been improved. I´d stress the ability to install downloadable IMEs in order to get customized soft-keyboards (we already knew the importance of IMEs for Android roadmap). Here´s a summary of 1.5:

• User interface improvements (refinements of UI core elements, window animations…)
• Home screen Widgets
• Updated linux kernel and SD filesystem checks
• Google Apps integration (uploads to YouTube, Picassa)
• Faster GPS signal acquisition as well as faster camera start-up
• Speech recognition
• New APIs and developers tools (improved JUnit support, easier profiling…)

Via Android Developers Blog