Android 3.2 SDK goes live

Google quickly followed up on the launch of Android 3.2 by posting the software development kit. In addition to helping create native apps, it also helps explain the new tablet support. The release is very narrow on its new tablet requirements and explains that it will be focused only on seven-inch tablets with a 1024x600 display in addition to the nine- and ten-inch tablets it saw before.

Actual users will mostly see the new adaptation to sizes as well as the support for SD card media loading that Google had promised half a year ago. A new addition for zoom-in app compatibililty lets apps run on tablets that don't work properly in the usual scaling mode.

Developers mostly get better control over how apps display their buttons and other interface elements on different-sized screens, including the earlier sizes as well as the new seven-inch form factor.

The 3.2 update is likely the last Google will post in the 3.x family before Ice Cream Sandwich. Its new OS, which may start off as 4.0, is due to bring the Android 3 interface down to the phone level and scale more gracefully without being locked into certain resolutions.

The first tablets due to ship with Android 3.2 will be seven-inch tablets optimized for it, such as Huawei's MediaPad and Acer's Iconia Tab A100. HTC is also due to upgrade the Flyer and get a true tablet-native interface.

By Electronista Staff

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