Jelly Bean

Fire up the old SDK manager, as you've got a new version to download!

The Android team has made the Android 4.2 SDK (API level 17) available for download, and it looks like there a few new goodies in there for developers to have a little fun with. The SDK (Software Development Kit) is the files and tools that application developers use to build all the great apps you see in Google Play, and getting it pushed out was certainly a priority. Here's some of the highlights:

Performance

We've worked with our partners to run Renderscript computation directly in the GPU on the Nexus 10, a first for any mobile computation platform.

New ways to engage users

Users can now place interactive lock screen widgets directly on their device lock screens, for instant access to favorite apps and content. With just a small update, you can adapt any app widget to run on the lock screen. Daydream is an interactive screensaver mode that users can encounter when their devices are charging or docked in a desk dock. You can create interactive daydreams that users display in this mode, and they can include any type of content.

New interaction and entertainment experiences

Android 4.2 introduces platform support for external displays that goes beyond mirroring. Your apps can now target unique content to any number of displays attached to an Android device.

Enhancements for international users

To help you create better apps for users in languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, Android 4.2 includes native RTL support, including layout mirroring. With native RTL support, you can deliver the same great app experience to all of your users with minimal extra work. Android 4.2 also includes a variety of font and character optimizations for Korean, Japanese, Indic, Thai, Arabic and Hebrew writing systems.

To download the latest SDK, open the SDK manager and select the new items from the available sources. For more information about everything that's new, see the source links.

Source: Android Developers. More: Platform Highlights; API Overview