Android 2.3 versions incorporate a variety of improvements including game enhancements. Android developers focused on gaming for Android devices have a suite of technology tools enabling development of complex Android mobile applications. A few salient gaming enhancements are highlighted here.
Refinements For Game Developing
The significant enhancements to productivity suits for game developing are listed below:
- Concurrent garbage collector causes only an imperceptible 3 ms pause ensuring polished performance of games with smoother animations and increased responsiveness
- Touch and keyboard events are processed faster in Android 2.3 which minimizes CPU utilization resulting in increased responsiveness for gaming apps that use touch events along with CPU-intensive operations like 3D graphics
- Games can be rendered in Android 2.3 with faster graphics performance due to integration of 3rd-party video drivers
Native Code Compatibility
Android apps that use native code can handle process inputs and sensor events directly in their native code, which translates into improved efficiency and quicker responsiveness. Native libraries allow applications to handle similar input events to that of the framework.
3D Motion Processing
Android 2.3 comes with an API to support various sensor types like gyroscope, rotation vector, linear acceleration, gravity, and barometer sensors. Game developers can leverage the increased product suit capabilities to build games that recognize complex user gestures and motions. This is feasible thanks to the new sensor types that can be used along with other sensor types to track motion and orientation.
Native Access To Storage And Application Assets
Android 2.3 is enabled with native Asset Manager API and native Storage Manager API. The Asset Manager API lets Android applications retrieve application assets directly from the native code. If the assets are compressed, they will be decompressed through the native Asset Manager API - there is no limit on the size of compressed assets size that can be read. The native Storage Manager API can be used by Android mobile applications to directly access OBB files (Opaque Binary Blob files).
Native Development Kit (NDK)
Android 2.3 covers the Release 5 NDK that provides a suite of tools, tool chains, and libraries for developing Android applications that leverage the rich native environment of Android 2.3. NDK allows building of performance-critical parts of the Android applications in native code. The suite of tools in NDK lets Android developers creates activities, receive user input, use hardware sensors, access app assets, etc.
New Ways Of Communications
Android 2.3 platforms come with a rich array of enhanced communications matrix, which is described below:-
- Android 2.3 is enabled with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) that lets you to make voice calls over the Internet on devices that are 3rd-party SIP activated. The 2.3 platform includes a full SIP protocol stack and integrated call management services, which makes setting up voice calls by Android mobile applications a breeze.
- Android 2.3 supports Near-field Communications (NFC) that allows Android developers develop apps that provide localized information and services. The NFC API reads and responds to information on the NFC tag when the NFC-enabled device "touches" the tag (relies on wireless technology in the device hardware). Applications can read tag information, respond to them, or store the messages.
- Game developers can now take advantage of the audio effects API in Android 2.3 that provides features like equalization, bass boost, and headphone virtualization et al. Audio effects can be applied across tracks or multiple audio effects can be mixed on a local track. Support for audio formats like AAC encoding, AMR wideband encoding, WebMopen container, and VP8 open video compression are included in Android 2.3 platform.
