After the rumors about the HTC Dream which should be on the market earlier than expected after the supposed delays, Google has released a Beta of the new Android SDK.

The SDK can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/android/download_list.html and for information about upgrading from the previous version you can visit http://code.google.com/android/intro/upgrading.html .

Google wants to move quickly towards the release of the SDK 1.0.

The important changes in this new BETA release are:

• First and most obviously, the new Home screen is included, along with a ton of UI changes for 1.0.
• Some new applications are included: an Alarm Clock, Calculator, Camera, Music player, Picture viewer, and Messaging (for SMS/MMS conversations.)
• Several new development tools were added, such as a graphical preview for XML layouts for users of Eclipse, and a tool for constructing 9-patch images.
• Since we've got a new Home screen application now, we thought the now-obsolete version from the M5 early-look SDK might be helpful to developers, so its source is included as a sample.
• A number of new APIs are fleshed out and improved, and others are now close to their final forms for 1.0.
• Tons of bugs were fixed, of course. (If you had problems with the MediaPlayer, try it now!)

This is how the new main screen of the emulator looks:

The unofficial TMobile blog (TNO News) claims TMobile will offer the first Android Phone (called with the (code)name G1) on 17th September for their customers at the price of 150 $, much less than the expected 399 $.

The other customers (not already TMobile) should wait until the beginning/mid October when the national launch will take place.

Expected specifications:

• 3g
• a 5" long by 3" wide touch screen
• a slide out QWERTY keyboard
• 3.0 Megapixel camera
• Three available colors: brown, white and black

Users will be required to have a GMail account to get the phone working.

We have only to wait and see if TMobile will really meet this exiting deadline.

The LWUIT project is now Opens Source as announced in the blog of the project. Now the new features/bug fixings will be commited diectly to the repository and they will be immediately available for the developers that can also contribute directly to the project.

Main features of the new drop/source code include the following:

• Live drag and drop support for components in layouts
• Component z-ordering support
• New absolute/scalable layout allowing arbitrary positioning
• SVG Image support using JSR 226 - SVG Images can be loaded and applied to any component
• 3D transitions are now possible for all components including dialogs and arbitrary components
• Performance improvements: Added the ability to repaint a dirty rectangle within a Component
• Added support for glass pane allowing a painter/painter chain to draw on top of the current component very efficiently.
• Fix for issue of layering modal dialogs one on top of the other

About the license of the library they say: "The license we picked is the GPL+Classpath Exception which allows binary linking with the application (unlike the LGPL) thus allowing you to build and obfuscate your own proprietary applications. We still intend to offer binary drops under the current binary license to give you a choice between two licenses and ease your interaction with the legal department in your respective corporation (note that the binary license only applies to the binary drops!)."