Digia Launches Qt 5.1 by Adding New APIs, Support for Android and iOS and Improvements to Qt Quick


By: Jeff Stewart  |   July 17th, 2013   |   Android, Business, iOS, Mobile Apps, News, Smartphones, Tablets

Finnish software firm, Digia, bought a cross-platform application and UI name Qt from Nokia last year in August, has now released the Qt 5.1 edition of the platform. This new edition of Qt comes with some major improvements to the Qt-specific declarative UI language, Qt Quick and 3,000 enhancements to the earlier version. In addition to this, the new Qt 5.1 now also includes new APIs and preliminary support for both iOS and Android platforms, which makes Qt a “true cross-platform framework for native development across the most popular operating systems and targets.” Qt is also looking to bring in full ports for Android and iOS platforms in its next edition called Qt 5.2 that is expected to make its debut sometime later during this year.

 

According to the official press release, “Qt simplifies developers’ lives by enabling them to produce applications faster with intuitive user interfaces for multiple targets in the desktop, embedded and mobile space. It also makes it easier to address the paradigm shifts that touchscreen devices require. Qt 5.1 is fully integrated with the Qt Creator 2.7 IDE, resulting in a smooth development experience from within a single package.

 

The updates to Qt Quick present the new Qt Quick Controls, a ‘toolbox’ of reusable UI controls based on Qt Quick 2, Qt Quick Layouts, and more additions which reduce the amount of code developers have to write themselves. It makes developers’ lives easier, enabling them to quickly develop cross-platform applications. This capability is particularly valuable in industries that require modern looking UIs with animations and where rapid prototyping is necessary.

 

The Technology Previews for Qt on Android and iOS enable developers to start developing for the two most popular mobile operating systems while providing an easy way to port applications from other platforms by reusing the same code base. Most of the Qt functionality and tool integration is already in place to start developing mobile applications.”

 

The latest version of Qt also makes it easy to create and deploy impressive graphics together with velvet-like animation as well as 2D and 3D animations that are usually used for high-end architectures and limited performance devices like tablets, mobile phones and etc. Digia has been able to deliver these rich graphics by using OpenGL ES technology.

 

Along with top features the new Qt 5.1 also comes with support for all prominent desktop operating systems like Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and more. In addition to this, it also supports various mobile operating systems like SailFish and BlackBerry along with Android and iOS. Users can get the open source edition of Qt 5.1 from “the Qt Project, qt-project.org.” On the other hand, the commercial version of the cross-platform can be obtained as a free trial for 30 days from qt.digia.com.

 

Source: TNW, BusinessWire

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