Windows Azure Toolkit for Android

Windows Azure Toolkit for Android has been released along with significant updates to the Windows Azure Toolkits for Windows Phone and iOS.

The purpose of these toolkits is to make it easier for mobile device developers – across multiple device platforms – to build applications that use Windows Azure to run services that power their device experiences. The toolkits include native libraries, project templates, sample applications, and documentation that make it easy for developers quickly get started build device applications that use Windows Azure.

Get the toolkits here: Windows Phone | iOS (iPhone & iPad) |Android

What’s New?

Some of the more notable updates shipping today are:

• First release of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Android, which includes native libraries (for storage and authentication), a sample application, and unit tests.
  • Support for SQL Azure in the Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone.
  • Store both membership data and MPNS channels.
• Simple sample demonstration binding to SQL Azure data through OData.
• Full support for Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio 1.4 and Windows Developer Phone Tools 7.1 RC.
• Upgraded the web application to ASP.NET MVC 3.
• Shipped the full source code to BabelCam, which is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace.
• Significant updates and restructuring of the Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS.

BabelCam Sample Application

BabelCam allows you to take a picture of text and turn it into characters while letting you translate into a different language at the same time – great for trying to understand foreign restaurant menus! BabelCam was initially created as a sample for a presentation at MIX 11. The release of the full source code for BabelCam is exciting as you can now run BabelCam locally on the Windows Phone and Windows Azure emulators while inviting people to download and install the free version of the application directly from the Windows Phone Marketplace (requires Zune software). One reason BabelCam is a good demo is that it uses a number of services, including Windows Azure web and worker roles, Windows Azure storage (blobs, tables, and queues), the Microsoft Push Notification Service, Project Hawaii’s OCR Service, and the Bing Translator. BabelCam allows you to demonstrate a whole lot for one simple application! Additionally, a comprehensive setup script is provided to help you configure and run the BabelCam sample. Want More?

For more details, please refer to the following posts:

• The Official Microsoft Blog: Microsoft Releases the Windows Azure Toolkit for Android
• Windows Phone Developer Blog: Building Windows Phone Applications Using Windows Azure
• Windows Azure Team Blog: NOW AVAILABLE - Windows Azure Toolkit for Android
• Wade Wegner’s Blog: Windows Azure Toolkits for Devices: Now With Android!

You can also watch this video on Channel 9, which covers all updates released today:

Have fun coding !!