Qualcomm announces Snapdragon SDK for Android - News

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon SDK for Android Thumb

Allows developers to enhance apps on Snapdragon devices

Publish date: 27 June 2012 by Hanleigh Daniels

Qualcomm has announced its Snapdragon SDK for Android at the Uplinq 2012 developers conference, which kicked off today in San Diego in the US. The company stated that the Snapdragon SDK (solutions developer kit) provides mobile application developers and device manufacturers with the ability to differentiate their applications on Snapdragon-powered mobile devices.

This is achieved by enabling them to access a new set of value-added features only found on devices running on a Snapdragon processor. Initially, the SDK will only support smartphones and tablets that employ the Snapdragon S4 8960 processor, but Qualcomm expects this SDK to support all future Snapdragon processors over time.

Some of the new features and benefits of the Snapdragon SDK include:

Facial processing such as blink and smile detection, which makes it easier to take better pictures of people in groups.
Burst capture - leverages zero shutter lag to photograph a stream of images at once to select the best shot.
Surround sound recording for better audio capture.
Hardware echo cancellation for better real-time audio experiences.
Sensor gestures (tap-left/tap-right, push/pull, face-up/face-down, tilt) that enable developers to offer new differentiated user interfaces.
Indoor location that enables apps to continue providing accurate location info even when the user is indoors.

A preview release version of the SDK is available for developers to download from Qualcomm’s developer website, with the full SDK becoming available within the coming months.

“The most powerful applications in mobile are those that are tightly integrated with the underlying hardware,” said Rob Chandhok, president of Qualcomm internet services and the company’s senior vice president for software strategy.

“Qualcomm is always striving to enable developers and device makers to differentiate their offerings via the unique capabilities found in its industry-leading Snapdragon mobile processors. With the Snapdragon SDK for Android, developers and manufacturers can now more easily utilise these features as they work to set their products apart in a crowded ecosystem.”

In related news, Microsoft recently previewed the forthcoming release of its smartphone platform, Windows Phone 8 (WP8). Qualcomm has confirmed that it will supply the Snapdragon S4 Plus dual-core chipset (up to 1.7 GHz per core) for the initial Windows Phone 8-powered smartphones.