Android 2.3 Officially Announced in Video!

We’re too damn excited to even write up much of a post.  Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is now official, the SDK is out and this sweet video has been released that talks about all of the technical goodies involved.  Watch it now!

UPDATE: Nexus S just announced!  Info over at Android Life.

UPDATE 2:  The 2.3 SDK is also live…

New APIs and technologies include:

Enhancements for game development: To improve overall responsiveness, we’ve added a new concurrent garbage collector and optimized the platform’s overall event handling. We’ve also given developers native access to more parts of the system by exposing a broad set of native APIs. From native code, applications can now access input and sensor events, EGL/OpenGL ES, OpenSL ES, and assets, as well a new framework for managing lifecycle and windows. For precise motion processing, developers can use several new sensor types, including gyroscope.

Rich multimedia: To provide a great multimedia environment for games and other applications, we’ve added support for the new video formats VP8 and WebM, as well as support for AAC and AMR-wideband encoding. The platform also provides new audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost.

New forms of communication: The platform now includes support for front-facing camera, SIP/VOIP, and Near Field Communications (NFC), to let developers include new capabilities in their applications.

More on the SDK here.

Update 3:  Nexus S announced.  Available for $529 unlocked with no contract or $199 on 2-year contract with T-Mobile.  Can purchase on December 16th at Best Buy and bestbuy.com.  Google phone gallery page is also live with info.

Update 4: Nexus S official specs.

Highlights in the video:

• Gaming
• Gyroscope
• Multimedia
• New forms of communication (video chatting)
• NFC (near field communication)

Cheers adam!