Twittering away on Android

My first test after installing the new SDK was attempting to compile and run the experimental Twitter client that I developed for my previous article. This initially failed because of alterations to the Android XML manifest file format, but it was very easy to make the requisite changes. You can refer to the Android manifest documentation page to see how the current manifest file should look.

In the source code for the program itself, the only element of the Android API used by my Twitter client that no longer works is the now-defunct EmboldenedSpan object. I simply changed it to a StyleSpan object with a Typeface.BOLD paramater. All things considered, it wasn't all that painful to get my simple application working with the new version of the SDK, but developers with more complex projects might have a different experience. Google's documentation includes an overview of the API changes between the m3 and m5 releases. In general, the documentation seems to be a bit better all across the board.
Squashing bugs and polishing the UI

In our previous article about Android, we voiced sharp criticism of Google for failing to provide a public bug tracking system, an omission that greatly impeded the process of providing feedback. Google finally resolved that problem last month when it announced that it would be using the issue tracker at the Android code.google.com page. This is a very positive sign that Google is taking the needs of the Android third-party developer community more seriously.

The user interface of the Android platform also got a big boost with this release. The home screen menu system is a bit more finger-friendly now and still retains solid usability with navigation buttons. We noted in our previous article that Android has a highly hardware-neutral design that reflects Google's intention to make it support a variety of different kinds of handsets. The user interface changes generally seem consistent with that approach. One oddity is a slide-down panel that displays notifications. It can be dragged from the top of the screen, but I couldn't find a way to activate it with a button. Overall, the new home screen menu feels more functional and less cramped than its predecessor, but is a bit less stylish.

One very noticeable change in the Android user interface is the addition of transition animations. The animations show up in many places throughout the system, generally when windows, dialogs, and menus appear. They are very subtle and add some additional elegance without becoming a distraction.

I tested several of the applications that come with the SDK, including the mapping program, the contact book, and the web browser. I also tested the experimental Google Talk chat integration feature. I was able to connect to Google Talk and receive messages, which are displayed as items on the notification panel. The performance and usability of the bundled applications is pretty decent.