Google Updates Android SDK

The new Android SDK update includes a new developer interface and a process for animations.

Google has updated its Android software developer's kit (SDK) today with a new user interface and new developer tools, among several changes.

Android is a project of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 companies headed by Google Inc. to provide an open operating system and related functions for wireless devices. Members of the OHA showed how they have implemented Android on hardware at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The update provides enhancements to the original SDK announced in November and gives open-source developers a feel of the Android platform.

The update contains a new user interface as well as a means for developers to create layout animations for their Android applications. Changes to multi-media encoding and media-player coding are also part of the new SDK.

Google hopes to emulate the PC software model in which a single downloadable application can run on multiple brands of inexpensive and expensive PCs. Android is also promoted as enabling consumers to download applications over the air from any download store.

Android’s license-agreement terms doesn't prohibit carriers from controlling the sale of all downloadable Android applications or Web-based services.

T-Mobile and Sprint have endorsed Android.