Android 2.0 Platform Highlights

New User Features

Contacts and accounts

• Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)

• Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.

• Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact's information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

Email

• Exchange support.

• Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

• Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.

• Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

• Built-in flash support

• Digital zoom

• Scene mode

• White balance

• Color effect

• Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

• An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.

• The framework's multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.

• A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

New Platform Technologies

Media Framework

Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration.


Bluetooth

• Bluetooth 2.1

• New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)

New Framework APIs

• Android 2.0 includes several new developer APIs.