Samsung’s latest contributions to the Android ecosystem include the recently launched S Pen functionality. It is not exactly new, but it is still in the process of taking off. And very few developers have integrated such functionality to their apps. In an effort to ease the transition, Samsung has just released a new version of their S Pen SDK, further enticing devs to make the jump.
SDK version 2.0 offers some good improvements over last version – 1.5. But lets take a look at exactly what these improvements include.
S Pen SDK 2.0 improvements:
- The SCanvasView Class inherited from CanvasView has been added: Using this class and method, developers can animate their drawings and record/play audio files over it; Special effects such as scratch, mosaic, blur, sketch, etc are supported.
- SAMM (Samsung Animated Multimedia Messaging) Library Class has been added: SAMM is the library encoding/decoding of multimedia data supporting drawing, text, stamp, icon, snapshot image, voice and data exchange between apps using the same SDK.
- Several improvements have been made in drawings: Stroke and segmentation rendering have been enhanced; Undo function after clear all has been added; Developers can now add image and text to the CanvasView.
- Sample source is added for new features.
Defects in SDK 1.5 have been corrected.
- Errors occurred when exporting the package with proguard have been fixed.
Samsung S Pen functionality looks very promising, especially with Samsung being the most popular Android manufacturer. There is sure to be a good market in the future. I specifically likes the multi-screen functionality that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 offers, and believe that creative developers out there can make some great products.
Hit the source link for more information about the new SDK, and let us know what you think. We will have to wait and see how well this takes off. But for now, tell us what apps you would like to see S Pen functionality in! Are any of you planning to get an S Pen-capable device?
[Source: Samsung Developers Via: intomobile]
k now wheres sgs2 ics
Version 2.0 is aptly named; only 2.0 people actually care about this.
I love the integration of the S Pen into the tablet, this is just what business users need to give Android an advantage over iOS in the work place. This is much nicer than the current capacative pens.
yeah I’ve noticed the “I used to have an iphone but galaxy note is awesome” posts. And if you’re an artist, why would you want to paint with your finger or some big fat capacitive stylus?
If I purchased the Note I would probably lose the Pen the first day.
How much do replacement pens cost?
You can find them for around $39 on Amazon. Good thing it’s hard for me to lose. :)
Do you at least get two of them?
No, but apparently you get an extra data cable.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ET-S100EBEGSTA-Stylus-Galaxy-SGH-i717/dp/B0076Z3E96/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1330695443&sr=8-4