Sandstone

Sandstone is a solid block analog to sand. It can both be found naturally very often at the bottom of sand stacks, and crafted with 4 blocks of sand in a square, even without the use of a crafting bench. It was added in the Beta 1.2 update on January 13th, 2011.

Function and behaviour
Its unique style allows for desert-themed architecture. Sandstone can be quickly obtained in order to build a shelter and survive the first night in Survival when you spawn in a desert biome.

Placed Sandstone can be harvested with a pickaxe. Picking this block by hand destroys the block; it takes slightly longer to pick it with bare hands than wood.

Sandstone naturally spawns at a depth of 4 below the sand surface.

This block can be crafted into a Sandstone slab.

Sandstone's blast resistance is similar to sand or dirt and markedly less than wood or stone.

Previous changes
Sandstone can now be used to craft a sandstone slab.
 * Minecraft Beta 1.3

Sandstone can now be found at the bottom of naturally generated sand, as of the Beta 1.3 update.

Sandstone had been added to Minecraft.
 * Minecraft Beta 1.2