Final Android 5.0 Lollipop SDKs and APIs now available, as well as preview images for Nexus 5 and 7
Developers, listen up: Android 5.0 Lollipop will soon be headed to handsets, and that means final APIs and SDKs are ready for you to begin developing against. You’ll use these to make sure everything’s good to go by the time the update begins hitting the first handsets (which are sure to be those from the Nexus camp).
There are over 5,000 new APIs to get your feet wet with, including libraries for material design animations and UI elements, new under-the-hood features, new user-facing features and more. You’ll be looking for API Level 21, and apps made at that level can now be uploaded to Google Play for use when Android Lollipop arrives for the masses.
Google also has tons of documents to help you get started with building Material Design user interfaces, building user interfaces for Android TV and a whole lot more. Here are a few relevant links for you to get started with:
- Differences between the previous Android L preview and the final preview
- Material Design specification documents and the new support library for material design widgets, animations and elements
And at the source link you’ll be able to find download links for the final preview images for both the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7, though they haven’t gone live as of the time of this writing (and note that these aren’t to be considered final images — those will be along once the final Android 5.0 upgrade begins rolling out for these devices).
Have fun and get those apps ready for the next exciting chapter of Android! As for users, be sure to get a refresher on everything new in Android 5.0 right here (and cross your fingers that it doesn’t take too long for it to make its way to your handset or tablet if you’re a non-Nexus user).
[via Android Developers]