Date: December 2009
API Level: 4
Android 1.6 is a minor platform release deployable to Android-powered handsets since October 2009. The platform includes new features for users and developers, as well as changes in the Android framework API.
For developers, a new release of the Android 1.6 platform is available as a downloadable component for the Android SDK. The platform — Android 1.6 r2 — includes a fully compliant Android library and system image, as well as a set of emulator skins, sample applications, and minor development updates. The downloadable platform is fully compliant (API Level 4) and includes no external libraries.
To get started developing or testing against the Android 1.6 platform, use the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool to download the latest Android 1.6 platform into your Android 1.6 or later SDK. For more information, see Adding SDK Components.
For a list of new user features and platform highlights, see the Android 1.6 Platform Highlights document.
The sections below provide information about the available releases of the Android 1.6 platform.
December 2009. Requires SDK Tools r4 or higher.
API related:
android.telephony.TelephonyManager: DATA_ACTIVITY_DORMANT,
PHONE_TYPE_CDMA, NETWORK_TYPE_CDMA,
NETWORK_TYPE_EVDO_0, NETWORK_TYPE_EVDO_A, and
NETWORK_TYPE_1xRTT.System image:
Tools:
September 2009. Initial release. Requires SDK Tools r3 or higher.
The system image included in the downloadable platform provides these built-in applications:
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The system image included in the downloadable platform provides a variety of built-in locales. In some cases, region-specific strings are available for the locales. In other cases, a default version of the language is used. The languages that are available in the Android 1.6 system image are listed below (with language_country/region locale descriptor).
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Localized UI strings match the locales that are accessible through Settings.
The downloadable platform includes a set of emulator skins that you can use for modeling your application in different screen sizes and resolutions. The emulator skins are:
For more information about how to develop an application that displays and functions properly on all Android-powered devices, see Supporting Multiple Screens.
The sections below provide information about the application framework API provided by the Android 1.6 platform.
The Android 1.6 platform delivers an updated version of the framework API. As with previous versions, the Android 1.6 API is assigned an integer identifier — 4 — that is stored in the system itself. This identifier, called the "API Level", allows the system to correctly determine whether an application is compatible with the system, prior to installing the application.
To use APIs introduced in Android 1.6 in your application, you need to
set the proper value, "4", in the attributes of the <uses-sdk>
element in your application's manifest.
For more information about how to use API Level, see the API Levels document.
android.view.animation
to control the behavior of animations:
AnticipateInterpolatorAnticipateOvershootInterpolatorBounceInterpolatorOvershootInterpolatorandroid:onClick to specify a View's
View.OnClickListener
from a layout file.
To use APIs introduced in Android 1.6 in your application, you need to
set the proper value, "4", in the attributes of the <uses-sdk>
element in your application's manifest.
SearchManager documentation.
android.accessibility package
that includes classes for capturing accessibility events and forwarding them to
an AccessibilityService handler. AccessibilityService package
that lets your application track user events and provide visual, audible, or
haptic feedback to the user. gesture API for creating, recognizing,
loading, and saving gestures.android.speech.tts package provides
classes for synthesizing speech from text, for immediate playback or to create a
sound file.android.graphics now support scaling
for different screen densities.SmsManager and other classes
for sending and receiving SMS messages.DisplayMetrics fields for
determining the density of the current device screen.<supports-screens> element lets you specify the device screen sizes that your
application is designed and tested to support, where "size" is a combination
of resolution and density. If your application is run on a device whose screen
size is not specified in the <supports-screen> element, the system
displays the application in compatibility mode, which performs best-effort scaling
of the application UI to match the resolution and density of the screen.
The attributes available for defining an application's screen support are:
smallScreen: Boolean value that indicates whether the
application is designed to run on devices with small screens.
Examples: QVGA low density; VGA high density.
normalScreens: Boolean value that indicates whether
the application is designed to run on devices with normal screens.
Examples: WQVGA low density; HVGA medium density; WVGA high density.
largeScreens: Boolean value that indicates whether
the application is designed to run on devices with significantly
larger screens, such that special care may be required on
the application's part to make proper use of the screen area.
Examples: VGA medium density; WVGA medium density.
anyDensity: Boolean value that indicates whether
the application can accommodate any screen density.
resizable: Boolean value that indicates whether
the application can expand its layout to fit slightly larger screens.
<uses-feature>
element lets an application specify hardware (or other)
features that it requires to function normally. When an application
specifies such features, the system allows the application to be installed only
on devices that offer the required features. The element supports these
attributes:
name: The name of the feature required by the application. Currently accepts
"android.hardware.camera" and "android.hardware.camera.autofocus" values, which specify that a
camera and camera autofocus are required, respectively.glEsVersion: Indicates the minimum version of OpenGL ES required.<uses-sdk> element:
targetSdkVersion: Indicates the API Level that the application is targeting.
It is able to run on older versions (down to minSdkVersion), but was explicitly tested to
work with the version specified here. Specifying this version allows the platform to
disable compatibility code that is not required or enable newer features that are not
available to older applications. maxSdkVersion: Indicates the maximum API Level on which an application is
designed to run. Important: Please read the <uses-sdk>
documentation before using this attribute. CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE: Allows applications to enter Wi-Fi
Multicast mode.
GLOBAL_SEARCH: Allows the
global search system to access the data of a specified content provider.
INSTALL_LOCATION_PROVIDER:
Allows an application to install a location provider into the Location Manager.
READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS:
Allows an application to read (but not write) the user's browsing history
and bookmarks.
WRITE_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS:
Allows an application to write (but not read) the user's browsing history
and bookmarks.
WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE:
Allows an application to write to external storage. Applications using API Level 3
and lower will be implicitly granted this permission (and this will be visible to
the user); Applications using API Level 4 or higher must explicitly request this
permission.
For a detailed view of API changes in Android 1.6 (API Level 4), as compared to the previous version, see the API Differences Report.