Tommaso asked the community that if he doesn't add the commands for 0.9, instead he will add a button used to switch gamemodes

Ok, let’s say in 0.9 there are no commands, but there’s a button to switch game mode. Deal? :P
— Tommaso Checchi (@_tomcc) April 14, 2014

@iTrueMU the plan is to have it for 1.0 :)
— Tommaso Checchi (@_tomcc) April 10, 2014

MCPE just became something like three times faster after I found & fixed some not too smart code about work scheduling :D
— Tommaso Checchi (@_tomcc) April 9, 2014

Tommaso said on Twitter that MCPE is now 3x faster than 0.8.1. We're not sure if this only applies to multi-core devices or also applies to single-core devices

As you can see here the grass transitions correspondingly to its biome.

Pretty grass transitions. :) pic.twitter.com/f8TEsqUHBK
— Johan Bernhardsson (@jbernhardsson) April 7, 2014

@Pokemonster3241 I don't know if I have a complete list right now. A lot of it is still in the works. (50+ biomes and variations) :)
— Johan Bernhardsson (@jbernhardsson) April 1, 2014

@Pokemonster3241 Not entirely sure yet, I hope to add it to the 0.9.x/1.0.0 release.
— Johan Bernhardsson (@jbernhardsson) April 1, 2014

Skins will be added to the sub-updates of 0.9.0 or in the 1.0.0 update.

@AsheicS May, I hope. :)
— Johan Bernhardsson (@jbernhardsson) April 1, 2014

Johan told us that the 0.9.0 update will release on May. Specifically late-May to early-June

New world generator in action. A couple of more days and the new biomes should work. :) pic.twitter.com/HpUQXlfs2C
— Johan Bernhardsson (@jbernhardsson) March 31, 2014

After a user noticed that PE 3D clouds only have two shades, he asked Tommaso if he could fix it, Tommaso did

@MisterWhite_548 uhm uhm, interesting detail! Yeah, I'll add it to the TODO at least :)
— Tommaso Checchi (@_tomcc) April 1, 2014

Download this texture pack
Source

Johan Bernhardsson posted a picture of some of the blocks which includes:

- Cocoa Pods
- Double Tall grass
- Large Ferns
- Stained Clay
- Andesite, Granite, etc.
- Acacia, and Dark Oak wood
- The new 1.7 flowers
- Vines
- Red Sand
- Stained Clay
- Hardened Clay
- Podzol
- Mycelium

I am now back to continue working on the blog. I have been absent for the past few weeks because i was focusing on my school activities and academics. Now that this school year has ended, i can now focus on the blog and forums again without any problems.

-SpartanNova

Welcome to BlazeCraft.

• Added iron trapdoors
• You can now share to lan for spectator mode only

• A resourcepack can now be bundled with a map, put it in the map save directory and name it “resources.zip”
  • Example: ".minecraft/saves/TheMapWithTheThing/resources.zip"
• The commands /testfor, /testforblock and /clear can now test for partial matches of NBT lists
  • Example: /testfor @p {Inventory:[{Slot:6b,id:"minecraft:diamond_sword"}],SelectedItemSlot:6}
• Scoreboard objectives for fake players with a name starting with # will never show up on the sidebar
• New /scoreboard subcommands /scoreboard operation and /scoreboard test
• The command /scoreboard operation can apply arithmetic operation to scores (+ – * / %) and accumulate player scores
  • Example: /scoreboard players operation #teamscores redScore += @a[team=red] blueKills
• The command /scoreboard test can be used to test if a scoreboard value is between a min and a max value
  • Example: /scoreboard players test #global anObjective 12 19
• New command /execute to execute commands in the context and at the position of other entities or players
  • Example: /execute @e[type=Chicken] ~ ~ ~ fill ~-1 ~-1 ~-1 ~1 ~1 ~1 minecraft:glass
• New selector parameters for entity selectors to detect entity rotations with rxm – x rot min, rx – x rot max, rym – y rot min, ry . y rot max
  • Example: @a[rxm=-15,rx=15,rym=-45,ry=45]
• Players in team can now have a team based objective shown on the sidebar, depending on the team color
  • Example: /scoreboard objectives setdisplay team.yellow anotherObjective
• While debug overlay is on (press F3 to turn it on and off), looking at a block in the world will show the coordinates of that block
• BlockItem instances can now hold a custom NBT tag that is merged into a block entity when it’s placed
  • Example: /give @p command_block 1 0 {BlockEntityTag:{Command:"setblock ~ ~ ~ minecraft:diamond_block"}}
• In creative mode, players can create a copy of a BlockEntity in their hotbar, including all NBT data, with ctrl+[PICK_KEY] (usually ctrl+middle mouse button)
• The /tellraw command can now insert values from scoreboards into messages
  • Example: /tellraw @p {text:"Have ",extra:[{score:{name:"Searge",objective:"reward"}},{text:" diamonds"}]}
• New command /testforblocks to compare two areas of a map
  • Example: /testforblocks 100 64 100 107 69 107 0 64 0 masked
• Dispensers will place a commandblock instead of shooting it out
• Nametags for players in other teams can now be hidden with a team option
  • Example: /scoreboard teams option red nametagVisibility hideForOtherTeam

• [Bug MC-36947] – /weather clear doesn't clear weather for anywhere near the amount given
• [Bug MC-44489] – /kill @e doesn't kill ender dragons
• [Bug MC-45773] – Chest not spawning in Monster dungeons
• [Bug MC-46559] – Spectating a mob leaves you at two blocks tall view
• [Bug MC-46838] – testfor NBT parsing error
• [Bug MC-47520] – Standing under block with water / lava on top will apply blue / red filter.
• [Bug MC-47543] – Items stacked with Items that have PickupDelay set to 32767 can no longer be picked up
• [Bug MC-47545] – CanPlaceOn does not work with wooden doors
• [Bug MC-47555] – Cannot place boats
• [Bug MC-47596] – Items of the same type (IE, stone and stone) ignore datavalues and stack anyway
• [Bug MC-47598] – The color of sugar canes doesn't change depending on the biome
• [Bug MC-47636] – Boats appear to be sunken in water
• [Bug MC-47642] – Hopper: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 4
• [Bug MC-47653] – torch causing missing texture when placed on bottom side of block
• [Bug MC-47685] – Hopper: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
• [Bug MC-47817] – Baby Zombie Pigman Running with Strange Speed
• [Bug MC-47821] – Ghasts do not despawn in Peaceful Mode
• [Bug MC-48043] – Held Blaze Rod not in hand
  
  Cross-platform server jar: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/14w07a/minecraft_server.14w07a.jar

Tommaso Checchi posted on Reddit that they will be shutting down Realms on MCPE starting 0.9.0 because of huge changes, they will open it again to the MCPE community on 0.9.1

Side grass is also tinted, which means OpenGL is upgraded

Johan posted a picture on Twitter confirming that there will be tinted grass.

Slimes have been added

Endermen have been added

Johan posted pictures of the slime and endermen on Twitter, but they are not finished.

Well, nothing to see here! Actually, there's nothing at all. pic.twitter.com/KCvlKw5xch
— Tommaso Checchi (@_tomcc) February 3, 2014

Tommaso has added a SuperFlat world-type terrain generator to 0.9 Alpha Build 1

Notable additions for survival:

Book copying mechanics has been altered to differentiate the original & copies of books
Activator rails can eject entities from Minecarts
Notable additions for mapmakers:

Added a spectator gamemode (/gamemode spectator). Not 100% finished.
Spectators cannot be seen by anybody but other spectators
Spectators can view inventories/etc, but not modify them
Spectators can go through any entity or block without interfering with it
Spectators can click on entities to take their camera
Spectators cannot use items, place blocks, destroy blocks or interact with blocks in any way
Spectators are only slightly buggy maybe sometimes

Bugs fixed in this snapshot:

[Bug MC-38944] – Joining Realms World "Cancel" Button Mis-Placed
[Bug MC-44521] – @a, @e, and any UUID references work incorrectly after a player dies.
[Bug MC-45050] – /fill … skull | Hitbox Bug
[Bug MC-45159] – Blocks with tile entities don't get removed when you clone / fill an airblock to their position.
[Bug MC-45453] – Items & Blocks placed in item frames are rendered incorrectly
[Bug MC-45470] – Items don't render on the ground properly
[Bug MC-45478] – Pre-snapshot14w04a villagers break crops but don't replant them
[Bug MC-45492] – Transparent blocks are much darker
[Bug MC-45554] – Two tall flowers variants are not generating.
[Bug MC-45763] – Some blocks are facing the wrong way if placed in an Item Frame
[Bug MC-45764] – Map will not show in item frame
[Bug MC-45795] – Villagers can not place or pick up any crops
[Bug MC-45847] – /summon Villager Farmer NBT tag canPickUpLoot will default to 0

To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (See the “new profile” dialog). Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

Cross-Platform server jar: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/14w05a/minecraft_server.14w05a.jar

Johan replied to a Reddit comment saying that he "hopes" to add Villagers and confirms that they will release the 0.9 update or at least the Betas in April.

Johan replied on a Reddit comment giving the idea of the brand new controls for larger devices