As of yesterday, developers are now allowed to get the SDK for the next platform of Google’s open source OS, Android 1.5. This new build is based on the cupcake branch from the Android Open Source Project and includes APIs for features like a virtual QWERTY keyboard, widgets for the home screen, live folders and speech recognition. At the developer’s site you can download the early-view version of Android 1.5, learn about upgrading your Eclipse plug-in and learn what changes you will find in version 1.5. The SDK itself has been changed with improvements to the developer’s tools and will also include multiple versions of the Android software. For example, the early look SDK now offered not only includes version 1.5 of Android, but also includes version 1.1 so that multiple builds can be targeted with just one SDK installation. Google is telling developers not to release apps based on this version of Android 1.5 because there still could be some changes before the official release, which should be available at the end of the month. In the meanwhile, developers can download the Android 1.5 early look SDK by clicking on this link.

