Android 3.0 Platform Preview and SDK Is Here 129
mikejuk writes "Google has released the Android 3.0 SDK, to allow developers time to create the apps that will run on the flood of tablet devices that should be availalble later in the year. The preview includes improved 2D and 3D graphics, new user interface controls, support for multicore processors, DRM and enterprise security features. It is complete with a 3.0 emulator that you can use to try applications on, but you can't add them to the app market just yet."
This is where Nokia missed the boat (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to be the biggest supporter of Nokia's Maemo/MeeGo OS. Except for the N770, I owned every single Maemo device they released (N800, N810, N900) and I loved them. They were true pocket computers running full, unlocked versions of Debian.
I still own the N900, which at the time it came out, was miles ahead of anything else available on the market in terms of features, customization, and hardware. It was amazing to have full desktop (not mobile) skype connectivity built into the phone. Just connect to wifi or 3G and make calls to any other Skype computer or N900. Full (not web) browsing enabled by default. Flash 9 preinstalled. But it is almost a year and a half later, and in the meantime Nokia has not released any new Maemo/MeeGo hardware, and only 1 major update to the N900 firmware. Even that update only fixed minor bugs and added the QT libraries.
In the meantime, Android went through at least 3 major revisions, and there are a multitude of devices to fit any need and budget. And now it matches pretty much all the features that made the N900 special. The worst part? Nokia hasn't even announced ANY MeeGo devices, let alone released them. They may still do it, but I think it's too little too late.
Re:Thanks. (Score:4, Interesting)
(Note: I'm the person who posted the first response too, but I wasn't logged in then so it came out as from anonymount).
If you want to do some custom drawing, then sure, you can start with a View and extend it to make your own Widget.
You can draw without a View, but only on bitmaps. Canvases from the screen come from Views. If you have a Drawable and you want it to appear on the screen, then the easiest way is to create any view you want and just make the background be that Drawable. This can all be done in XML in your layout resource file and it doesn't take a single line of Java code. It's very easy once you're used to it.
When I started out my biggest confusion was Activities, Apps, and Tasks. Those really mixed me up. But once I got used to them I found them very nice, it makes it easy to build modular apps that work together smoothly.