Adobe AIR 3 / Features

Utilize GPU acceleration to render webcam video streams with better performance.

Explore a new architecture for high-performance 2D/3D GPU hardware accelerated graphics rendering by Adobe, which provides low-level Stage3D APIs for advanced rendering in apps.

Create and use ActionScript libraries with native code to take advantage of the same platform- and device-specific native capabilities and APIs available to native apps, with easy integration into AIR applications.

Now developers have access to the Android Market Licensing Service, which lets publishers enforce licensing policies for paid applications that they publish through Android Market.

Now use this popular feature from AIR for iOS with AIR for desktop and Android. Simplify the app installation process and reduce testing/certification cost by packaging the AIR runtime with your app on Windows®, Mac, Android, and iOS devices.

The front-facing camera support available with AIR for iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS is now available on Android devices. Take advantage of the front-facing camera to connect users with rich video conferencing and chat experiences.

Flash Access content protection support is now available on mobile devices.

Stream beautiful video from your computer’s camera with higher compression efficiency and industry-wide support, enabling both high-quality real-time communications (e.g., video chat and video conferencing) and live video broadcasts.

Leverage hardware acceleration of the entire video pipeline for best-in-class high-definition (HD) video playback experiences. Reduce processor and memory usage and enable smoother video, and higher fidelity on mobile and TV devices.

Run faster apps and use resources more efficiently with reduced CPU memory usage (30% reduction in some applications) without requiring apps recompilation (Android OS with H.264 video decoding at 30fps and GPU-based animation and games at up to 50fps).

Work with powerful features for the development of expressive, high-performing applications for Android and iOS. Play audio in the background on iOS apps, access the front-facing camera on Android smartphones and tablets, and more.

Take advantage of iOS features like multitasking, retina display for higher screen resolutions up to 960x640, front and back camera support, and capture audio with the microphone.

Use Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) and a provider (a third-party server that will communicate with the APNS) to generate push notifications.

Deploy an AIR application on iOS devices without having to use the iTunes or iPhone configuration utility during development.

Constrained profile allows Stage3D content to run hardware accelerated on more graphics chipsets, especially the Intel GMA.

In addition to zlib compression of ByteArray, this compression type based on LZMA can be used to compress data inside a ByteArray.

Transparent images are now supported for compressed textures (ATF file format).

Build your AIR applications on iOS with iOS 5.1 SDK and leverage the enhancements available, including Retina display support.

Mobile apps can now take advantage of the native text input controls on Android, BlackBerry Tablet, and iOS operating systems, including platform-specific user interaction behaviors such as magnification and text selection.

Provides developers the ability to select whether audio should be outputted through the phone speaker or external speaker.

Allows developers to build TV apps that communicate with an attached game input devices such as a gamepad or controller wand.

Control the color depth of graphics on Android (16bit and 32bit) for renderMode=cpu/auto for AIR 3 apps.

Debug and build iOS apps faster using a new mode available within the AIR Developer Tool (ADT). During the development of an application, developers can now choose to use "interpreter mode" to streamline testing and debugging.

This feature allows end users to install or move the AIR runtime onto the SD cards within their Android devices so they can free up storage space on the phone.

Conveniently debug applications through a USB connection with no Wi-Fi setup required. 

Simplify multiscreen app development when soft keyboards automatically appear when required. Desktop apps designed for physical keyboards are easily optimized for mobile when you don't have to modify the content or apps to display the soft keyboard.

Build entirely new types of applications using multitouch (Windows 7, Android, BlackBerry® Tablet OS, and iOS) and gestures (Windows, Mac OS, Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and iOS).

Access remote control input methods that are common for television-style devices with consistent views for buttons such as pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward, and more.

Leverage 2D graphics acceleration using the underlying hardware acceleration systems that exist on TV platforms. Achieve high-performance interfaces by focusing on 2D and bitmaps that are accelerated directly by the TV hardware.

AIR apps for iOS render up to four times faster in CPU mode. Improves performance of many AIR for iOS apps, including those built with the Flex framework.

Developers can now write multitasking iOS applications that can play audio while in the background, such as music applications or reliable voice conferencing apps with multitasking support.

Encrypted local storage support is now available on mobile devices. Applications can more securely store sensitive data on a user’s device, enabling support for storage of sensitive data such as passwords, certificates, and auditing information.

Build GPS applications or applications that utilize a device location to deliver customized content based on location.

Receive acceleration values in x, y, and z axes from native device accelerometer sensors to ActionScript®. Developers can even specify the rate of accelerometer updates to conserve battery life.

Capture pictures and video onto your device's media gallery (camera roll). Applications can use the camera roll to display images or upload to a server (for example, you can take a picture or video and instantly upload and view it on Facebook).

Display web links inside an application to quickly access web content without having to leave your application. For example, you can use your Facebook application to access all your information instead of having to open a web browser.

Control screen orientation and control games by shaking or rotating.

Start up an application within the browser or native Android application.

Select text in a text field and see a menu for text operations like cut, copy, paste, and input method.

Maximize graphics rendering performance for Android and iOS by taking advantage of the device's graphics hardware acceleration.

Develop apps that use very large bitmaps. BitmapData objects are no longer limited to a maximum resolution of 16 megapixels (16,777,215 pixels), and maximum bitmap width/height is no longer limited to 8,191 pixels.