page.title=SDK Release Notes @jd:body

This document provides version-specific information about Android SDK releases.

Android SDK

The Android SDK has changed! If you've worked with the Android SDK before, you will notice several important differences:

Note that if you are currently using the Android 1.6 SDK, you do not necessarily need to install the new SDK, since your existing SDK already includes the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool. To develop against Android 2.0.1, for example, you could just download the Android 2.0.1 platform into your existing SDK.

Release notes for Android platforms and other SDK components are now available from the "SDK" tab, under "Downloadable SDK Components."

To get started with the SDK, review the Quick Start summary on the Android SDK download page or read Installing the SDK for detailed installation instructions.

Android 1.6 SDK, Release 1

This SDK provides updates to the development tools and Android system that you use to create applications for compliant Android-powered devices.

Release Overview

This SDK release includes several new features for developers. Highlights of the changes include:

For details about the Android platforms included in the SDK — including bug fixes, features, and API changes — please read the Android 1.6 version notes.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

If you've been developing an application using an Android 1.1 SDK, you need to make a few changes to your development environment to migrate to the new SDK. Tools and documentation are provided to assist you. No changes to the source code of an existing application should be needed, provided that your application is not using Android internal structures or APIs.

To ensure that your existing application will work properly on a device running the latest version of the Android platform, you are strongly encouraged to migrate the application to the new SDK, compile it using the platform matching the application's original API Level, and run it against the most current platform.

ADT Plugin for Eclipse

An updated version of the ADT Plugin for Eclipse is available with the Android 1.6 SDK. The new version, ADT 0.9.3, provides several new features, including integrated support for the Android SDK and AVD Manager and zipalign tool. In addition, the New Project Wizard now lets you create a test package containing tests for your application. These features are described in the sections below.

If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT and want to get started with the Android 1.6 SDK, you should download and install a compatible version of the ADT Plugin (0.9.3 or higher).

The new version of ADT is downloadable from the usual remote update site or is separately downloadable as a .zip archive. For instructions on how to download the plugin, please see ADT Plugin for Eclipse.

Android SDK and AVD Manager

The SDK offers a new tool called Android SDK and AVD Manager that lets you manage your SDK and AVD environments more efficiently.

Using the tool, you can quickly check what Android platforms, add-ons, extras, and documentation packages are available in your SDK environment, what their versions are, and whether updated versions are available. You can then download one or more items from remote repositories and install them directly in your SDK environment. For example, the tool lets you obtain updates to SDK tools incrementally, as they are made available, without having to wait for the next SDK release. You can also download Android platform versions into your environment that were not included in the SDK package.

The tool also lets you quickly create new AVDs, manage their properties, and run a target AVD from a single window.

If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, you can access the Android SDK and AVD Manager from the Window menu.

If you are developing in another IDE, you can access the Android SDK and AVD Manager through the android command-line tool, located in the <sdk>/tools directory. You can launch the tool with a graphical UI by using the android command without specifying any options. You can also simply double-click the android.bat (Windows) or android (OS X/Linux) file. You can still use android commands to create and manage AVDs, including AVDs with custom hardware configurations.

Integration with zipalign

The Android system offers a performance optimization for installed application packages whose contained uncompressed files are all aligned on 4-byte boundaries. For these .apks, the system can read the files by mmap'ing the zip file, rather than by copying all the data out of them. This reduces the amount of memory used by the application at run time. The SDK includes a tool called zipalign that you can run against your .apks, to align them properly and enable them to benefit from this optimization.

The ADT Plugin and the Ant build tools both provide integrated support for aligning your application packages. After you build an .apk, the SDK tools can sign and then run zipalign against it. The SDK includes the standalone version of the zipalign tool, so you can run also run it manually from the command line if you choose.

In general, note that you must zipalign an application only after it has been signed, as signing will disrupt the package alignment.

Support for Test Packages in New Project Wizard

The New Project Wizard available in the ADT 0.9.3 now lets you add a test package containing Instrumentation or other classes of tests while you are creating or importing a new Android application project.

New USB Driver for Windows

If you are using Windows and want to develop or test your application on an Android-powered device (such as the T-Mobile G1), you need an appropriate USB driver.

The Windows version of the Android 1.6 SDK includes a new, WinUSB-based driver that you can install. The driver is compatible with both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista. The driver represents an upgrade from the USB driver included in previous Android SDKs, although installing the new driver is not required.

If you installed the USB driver from a previous SDK release and it is working properly, you do not need to upgrade to the new driver. However, we recommend upgrading if you have had any problems with the older driver or simply want to upgrade to the latest version.

For driver installation or upgrade instructions, see USB Driver for Windows.

Emulator Skins, Android 1.6 Platform

The Android 1.6 platform included in the SDK provides a new set of emulator skins, including:

Besides these defaults, You can also create an AVD that overrides the default density for each skin, to create any combination of resolution/density (WVGA with medium density, for instance). To do so, use the android tool command line to create a new AVD that uses a custom hardware configuration. See Creating an AVD for more information.

Other Notes and Resolved Issues

Android 1.5 SDK, Release 3

Provides an updated Android 1.5 system image that includes permissions fixes, as described below, and a new application — an IME for Japanese text input. Also provides the same set of developer tools included in the previous SDK, but with bug fixes and several new features.

Permissions Fixes

The latest version of the Android platform, deployable to Android-powered devices, includes fixes to the permissions-checking in certain areas of the framework. Specifically, the Android system now properly checks and enforces several existing permissions where it did not do so in the previous release. Because of these changes in enforcement, you are strongly encouraged to test your application against the new Android 1.5 system image included in this SDK, to ensure that it functions normally.

In particular, if your application uses any of the system areas listed below, you should add the required permissions to the application's manifest and then test the areas of your code that depend on the permission-protected services. Even if you believe your application does not use the permissions-protected services, you should compile and test your application under the latest platform version to ensure that users will not encounter problems when using your application.

The changes to permissions are as follows:

For more information, see the issue described in the oCert advisory below:

http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2009-011.html

Resolved Issues, Changes

Android 1.5 SDK, Release 2

This SDK release provides the same developer tools as the Android 1.5 SDK, Release 1, but provides an updated Android 1.5 system image that includes a security patch for the issue described in the oCert advisory below:

http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2009-006.html

Android 1.5 SDK, Release 1

This SDK provides updates to the development tools and Android system that you use to create applications for compliant Android-powered devices.

Release Overview

This SDK release includes many new features for developers. Highlights of the changes include:

For details about the Android platforms included in the SDK — including bug fixes, features, and API changes — please read the Android 1.5 version notes.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

If you've been developing an application using an Android 1.1 SDK, you need to make a few changes to your development environment to migrate to the new SDK. Tools and documentation are provided to assist you. No changes to the source code of an existing application should be needed, provided that your application is not using Android internal structures or APIs.

To ensure that your existing application will work properly on a device running the latest version of the Android platform, you are strongly encouraged to migrate the application to the new SDK, compile it using the platform matching the application's original API Level, and run it against the most current platform.

SDK Add-Ons

This version of the SDK introduces support for SDK add-ons, which extend the Android SDK to give you access to one or more external Android libraries and/or a customized (but compliant) system image that can run in the emulator. The purpose of an SDK add-on is to give you a way to develop applications for a specific actual device (or family of devices) that extends the APIs available to Android applications through external libraries or system customizations.

From the perspective of your Android development environment, an SDK add-on is similar to any of the Android platform targets included in the SDK — it includes an external library, a system image, as well as custom emulator skins and system properties. The add-on differs in that the Android platform it provides may include customized UI, resources, or behaviors, a different set of preinstalled applications, or other similar modifications.

The SDK includes a single SDK add-on — the Google APIs add-on. The Google APIs add-on gives your application access to the com.google.android.maps external library that is included on many (if not most) Android-powered devices. The Google APIs add-on also includes a {@link android.location.Geocoder Geocoder} backend service implementation. For more information, see the "Maps External Library" section below.

Android Virtual Devices (AVDs)

The SDK now gives you the capability to compile an application against any one of several system targets, then run it in the emulator on top of any compatible system image. There are two types of targets:

A new tool called "android" lets you discover what targets and AVDs are available to use.

For more information about AVDs, see Android Virtual Devices

Other Notes

Maps External Library

In previous versions of the SDK, the com.google.android.maps package was included in the standard Android library and system image. In the Android 1.5 SDK, that is not the case. The Android 1.5 library and system image do not include the Maps external library (com.google.android.maps). However, the Maps external library is available as part of the Google APIs add-on for the Android SDK, downloadable from this location:

http://code.google.com /android/add-ons/google-apis

For your convenience, the Google APIs add-on is included in the SDK.

For information about how to register for a Maps API Key, see Obtaining a Maps API Key.

USB Drivers for Windows

If you are using Windows and want to develop or test your application on an Android-powered device (such as the T-Mobile G1), you need an appropriate USB driver. For your convenience, the Windows version of the Android SDK includes these USB drivers that you can install, to let you develop on the device:

For driver installation or upgrade instructions, see USB Driver for Windows.

Resolved Issues, Changes

Media

Known Issues

Sensor problems in Emulator

Other

Android 1.1 SDK, Release 1

This SDK provides the development tools and Android system image you need to create applications for Android-powered devices. Applications developed on this SDK will be compatible with mobile devices running the Android 1.1 platform.

This release provides an updated system image (Android 1.1), updated documentation, and the same set of development tools provided in the Android 1.0 r2 SDK. The updated system image includes bug fixes and some smaller features, as well as a few minor API changes from the 1.0 version.

For details about the Android 1.1 system image included in the SDK — including bug fixes, features, and API changes — please read the Android 1.1 version notes.

App Versioning for Android 1.1

If you are using this SDK to build an application that is compatible only with Android-powered devices running the Android 1.1 platform, please note that you must set the the android:minSdkVersion attribute in the application's manifest to the API Level of Android 1.1 — "2".

Specifically, you specify the android:minSdkVersion attribute in a <uses-sdk> element as a child of <manifest> in the manifest file. When set, the attribute looks like this:

<manifest>
  ...
  <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="2" />
  ...
</manifest>

By setting android:minSdkVersion in this way, you ensure that users will only be able to install your application if their devices are running the Android 1.1 platform. In turn, this ensures that your application will function properly on their devices, especially if it uses APIs introduced in Android 1.1.

If your application uses APIs introduced in Android 1.1 but does not declare <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="2" />, then it will run properly on Android 1.1 devices but not on Android 1.0 devices.

If your application does not use any new APIs introduced in Android 1.1, you can indicate Android 1.0 compatibility by removing android:minSdkVersion or setting the attribute to "1". However, before publishing your application, you must make sure to compile your application against the Android 1.0 system image (available in the Android 1.0 SDK), to ensure that it builds and functions properly for Android 1.0 devices. You should test the application against system images corresponding to the API Levels that the application is designed to be compatible with.

If you are sure your application is not using Android 1.1 APIs and has no need to use them, you might find it easier to keep working in the Android 1.0 SDK, rather than migrating to the Android 1.1 SDK and having to do additional testing.

ADT Plugin Compatibility

For this version of the SDK — Android 1.1 SDK, Release 1 — the compatible version of the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin for Eclipse is 0.8.0. If you are using a previous version of ADT, you should update to the latest version for use with this SDK. For information about how to update your ADT plugin, see ADT Plugin for Eclipse.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

If you've been developing an application using an Android 1.0 SDK no changes to your application are needed. You may want to wipe application user data (emulator option -wipe-data) when running your application on the Android 1.1 emulator for the first time.

Other Notes

MapView API Key

com.google.android.maps.MapView is a class that lets you easily integrate Google Maps into your application. Before you can access the maps data, you will need to register with the Google Maps service and receive a Maps API Key, which you then add to your MapView for authentication to the server.

Developers should note that the registration service for MapView is now active and Google Maps is actively enforcing the Maps API Key requirement. For information about how to register for a Maps API Key, see Obtaining a Maps API Key.

USB Drivers for Windows

If you using Windows and want to develop or test your application on an Android-powered device (such as the T-Mobile G1), you need an appropriate USB driver. For your convenience, the Windows version of the Android SDK includes these USB drivers that you can install, to let you develop on the device:

The USB driver files are located in the <SDK>/usb_driver directory. For details and installation instructions, see Setting Up a Device for Development.

Resolved Issues, Changes

Emulator

Known Issues

JUnit and Eclipse/ADT

Other

Android 1.0 SDK, Release 2

This SDK release includes the Android 1.0 platform and application API. Applications developed on this SDK will be compatible with mobile devices running the Android 1.0 platform.

This release includes mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added.

ADT Plugin Compatibility

For this release of the SDK, the compatible version of the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin for Eclipse is 0.8.0. If you are using a previous version of ADT, you should update to the latest version for use with this SDK. For information about how to update your ADT plugin, see ADT Plugin for Eclipse.

Other Notes

T-Mobile G1 Compatibility

This version of the SDK has been tested for compatibility with the first Android-powered mobile device, the T-Mobile G1.

MapView API Key

MapView is a class that lets you easily integrate Google Maps into your application. Before you can access the maps data, you will need to register with the Google Maps service and receive a Maps API Key, which you then add to your MapView for authentication to the server.

Developers should note that the registration service for MapView is now active and Google Maps is actively enforcing the Maps API Key requirement. For information about how to register for a Maps API Key, see http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis/mapkey.html.

USB Driver for Windows

If you using Windows and want to develop or test your application on an Android-powered device (such as the T-Mobile G1), you need an appropriate USB driver. For your convenience, the Windows version of the Android SDK includes a USB driver that you can install, to let you develop on the device. The USB driver files are located in the <SDK>/usb_driver directory.

Resolved Issues, Changes

Unless otherwise noted, Known Issues from the previous SDK release also apply to this release.

Android 1.0 SDK, Release 1

This SDK release is the first to include the Android 1.0 platform and application API. Applications developed on this SDK will be compatible with mobile devices running the Android 1.0 platform, when such devices are available.

This release includes mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added. The Android 1.0 also includes several API changes from the 0.9 version. For those porting from the M5 release, the SDK also includes the legacy changes overview and API Differences Reports. See the current Overview of Changes for more information.

ADT Plugin Compatibility

For this version of the SDK — Android 1.0 SDK, Release 1 — the compatible version of the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin for Eclipse is 0.8.0. If you are using a previous version of ADT, you should update to the latest version for use with this SDK. For information about how to update your ADT plugin, see Upgrading the SDK.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

If you've been developing an application using a previous SDK version and you want the application to run on Android-powered mobile devices, you must port the application to the Android 1.0 SDK. Please see Upgrading the SDK for detailed instructions on how to make the transition to this release. Be sure to wipe application user data (emulator option -wipe-data) when running your application on the Android 1.0 SDK emulator.

Other Notes

MapView API Key

MapView is a class that lets you easily integrate Google Maps into your application. Before you can access the maps data, you will need to register with the Google Maps service and receive a Maps API Key, which you then add to your MapView for authentication to the server.

Currently, the registration service for MapView is not yet active and Google Maps is not yet enforcing the Maps API Key requirement. However, note that the registration service will be activated soon, so that MapViews in any application deployed to a mobile device will require registration and a valid Maps API Key.

As soon as the registration service becomes available, we will update the page at http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis/mapkey.html with details about how and where to register. Please check that page periodically for registration information, if you are using a MapView.

Resolved Issues, Changes

Emulator

SQLite

Other