Android 1.6 Overview
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Android 1.6 “Donut” |
| Added User Features: | |
| Quick Search Box for Android – | Android 1.6 includes a redesigned search framework that provides a quick, effective, and consistent way for users to search across multiple sources—such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, and the web—directly from the home screen.
The system constantly learns which search results are more relevant based on what is clicked. So popular contacts or apps that have previously been picked will bubble up to the top when a user types the first few letters of a relevant query.
The search framework also provides developers a way to easily expose relevant content from their applications in Quick Search Box.
Android 1.6 includes a redesigned search framework that provides a quick, effective, and consistent way for users to search across multiple sources—such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, and the web—directly from the home screen. |
| Camera, Camcorder, and Gallery – | An updated user interface provides an integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery experience. Users can quickly toggle between still and video capture modes. Additionally, the gallery enables users to select multiple photos for deletion.
Android 1.6 also provides a much faster camera experience. Compared to the previous release, launching the camera is now 39% faster, and there is a 28% improvement in the time from completing one shot to the next. |
| VPN, 802.1x – | A new Virtual Private Network (VPN) control panel in Settings allows users to configure and connect to the following types of VPNs:
L2TP/IPSEC pre-shared key based VPN |
| Battery usage indicator – | A new battery usage screen lets users see which apps and services are consuming battery power. If the user determines that a particular service or application is using too much power, they can take action to save the battery by adjusting settings, stopping the application, or uninstalling the application. |
| Text-to-speech engine – | Android 1.6 features a multi-lingual speech synthesis engine called Pico. It allows any Android application to “speak” a string of text with an accent that matches the language. The engine supports the following languages: English (American and British accents), French, Italian, German and Spanish. If you’re using a T-Mobile G1 or Dream device, you’ll need to download the SpeechSynthesis Data Installer from Android Market, which includes the “voices” needed by the text-to-speech engine. |
| Gestures – | A new gestures framework provides application developers with a framework for creating, storing, loading, and recognizing gestures and associating them with specific actions.
Developers can use the new GestureBuilder tool included in the Android 1.6 SDK to generate libraries of gestures to include with their application. |
| Expanded support for screen densities and resolutions – | Android 1.6 adds screen support that enables applications to be rendered properly on different display resolutions and densities. Developers can also specify the types of screens supported by their application. |
| Telephony support for CDMA – | Android 1.6 includes support for CDMA in the telephony stack. |
| Android Market Updates – | For devices with Android Market, the latest version improves the overall user experience and makes it easier for users to discover great apps and games from developers.
At the homescreen, users can choose among Apps, Games, and Downloads. |
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