Keeping up with its earlier announced Monday schedule, Google has launched the Android 1.5 software development kit (SDK), release 1; and has made it available for download by general public, on the Android developer blog.

Among the host of features that the new version of Android offers are - home-screen widgets, live folders, speech recognition, soft keyboards, and new programming tools; in addition to video support, stereo Bluetooth, faster GPS, a faster Web browser, and user interface changes.

The developer page says that HTC has also produced new system images to allow Android 1.5 upgrades for Android Dev Phone 1. Google said: "This new version, which is only available for the ADP1, is based on the Cupcake branch from the Android Open Source Project and corresponds to the system image of the Android 1.5 SDK, release 1."

Google has also said that the Android developer phones like the ADP1 are actually aimed at facilitating application development, rather than using them on a daily basis. Moreover, being "operator-neutral and country-neutral," they lack some of the features found on end-user devices.

The release notes of the new Android 1.5 include requisite details for programmers, like improvements in emulating multiple Android devices and gauging performance issues.