18
Apr
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[For Developers] ADT 20/SDK Tools r20 Previews Are Here - Brand New Property Editor(!), NDK Support, Performance Improvements, Bug Fixes Galore

Posted by in Development, News

As an Android developer, I like to keep tabs on the tools I use every day, especially ones as important as ADT for Eclipse and SDK Tools. As was the case several times before, the Android team in charge of both of them posted previews of upcoming releases of ADT 20 and SDK Tools r20, available for manual download ahead of the final releases.

Yup, you heard me correctly - 20, not 18 or 19. Even though the previous major release was 17, 18 followed up shortly after with some minor changes, and 19, even more minor, wasn't even posted to the downloads page (see here for the reason).

27
Oct
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For Developers: Android SDK Tools r15 And ADT 15 Bug Fixers Now Available

Posted by in Android OS, Development, News

The Android 4.0 API that was released together with the unveiling of the Galaxy Nexus also brought us, developers, ADT 14 and SDK Tools r14, which quite a few people started having problems with almost immediately. The tools were released in an incomplete state based on my experience with ADT 14-preview, as some serious and known bugs weren't fixed when 14-final came out. I have a feeling the ICS event kind forced the corresponding ADT/tools 14 release and prompted Google to roll it out in what I consider a broken state (many reported crashes, broken Logcat, etc).

Thankfully, the tools team (hi, Tor and Xav!) persistently worked on the issues and just released ADT 15 and SDK Tools 15, brining much relief to those of us experiencing said problems (the un-pausable scrolling Logcat was killing me in the last few weeks).

18
Oct

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) SDK and ADT 14 Released

Posted by in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Developers, start your engines. Fresh Ice Cream Sandwich versions of the SDK and ADT have been released. There is a ton of new stuff to learn and play with. For starters, take a look at the 4.0 platform page here, download the 4.0 SDK here, and instructions for ADT 14 are over here.

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I think I could write a book on all the new things in ICS, but here are the highlights for developers:

    • Unified UI framework for phones, tablets, and more - All the UI elements from Honeycomb, like the action bar and fragments.

    • Communication and sharing - "Applications can integrate contacts, profile data, and calendar events from any of the user’s activities or social networks." There are new APIs for Contacts, Calendar, and Visual Voicemail.

      • 27
      Sep
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      Android Developers, Listen Up: ADT 14 And SDK Tools r14 Previews With Much Needed Improvements Are Now Available For Download

      Posted by in Android OS, Development, News

      As an Android developer, I don't think I've been this excited for an ADT and Tools releases in a long time. The Android tools team (Tor and Xav) just dropped off the latest ADT and SDK Tools at the Android Tools download site, bringing both up to version 14.

      Among a sizeable list of improvements I'm mostly excited about these (and by excited, I mean ecstatic):

      • Improved incremental builds. Resource compilation is run much less frequently. It is no longer run when strings are edited, or when layouts are edited(unless a new id is introduced), and it is no longer run once per library project.