The folks at Google’s Android Developer Blog have just announced a new, free application called AndroidGlobalTime.
It may not be the most exciting android application we’ve seen, but it’s not supposed to be. This specific app is intended to illustrate (to developers) the use of “OpenGL ES APIs” in Android applications.
We’ve been hearing some developer noise regarding complaints about the SDK release process, continual delays with bug fixes and the like. We hope the Google Android team aren’t spending much time on these little apps while overlooking the needs of the early adopting development core. Because lets face it, the coolest programs are going to come from third parties.
Here is a quick briefing on use of the app:
“When you launch it, you’ll see a spinning globe showing day and night regions. Pressing the space bar will overlay an analog clock with the time corresponding to location you’re currently examining. The arrow keys allow you to spin the Earth and traverse through different time-zones while the clock is displayed. Pressing the center key in the emulator toggles between a 3D and 2D view of the earth. Pressing the L key will turn the city lights on or off. You can also zoom-out by pressing 2 and zoom-in by pressing 8.”
We warned you it wasn’t terribly exciting. But, we’d prefer boring Android news to no Android news at all!