Starting to feel like Android’s “Cupcake” update (v1.5) from May is getting a bit stale? Google’s got a new treat for you. They’ve just launched version 1.6 (which, under Google’s pastry-oriented naming scheme, is known as “Donut”) of Android to developers, which packs a hefty handful of new features and polishes up much of what was already there.
The bit that plays best to our geeky-blogger side (rather than our geeky-consumer side) is whats been added for the sake of lineup expandability. Namely, we’re talking about CDMA support – which, while not immediately awesome, opens the doors to Android handsets on the likes of Verizon, Sprint, and Virgin Mobile. Beyond that, they’ve also bumped the supported resolutions list to include screens all the way up to 800×480 – in other words, Android can now push much prettier images to higher-end screens.
With that said, v1.6 isn’t without obvious, user-facing improvements. The homescreen, for example, has been modified to include a new “Quick Search” box, which lets you dig through the web or your browser bookmarks, history, and contacts in a vein similar to that of the iPhone’s spotlight screen. The camera has seen a dramatic overhaul, improving load times by as much as 39%.
They’ve also added a new battery usage system, which is one of the more interest additions here. Think of it like the activity monitor on a computer, which keeps track of which apps are using the most CPU and RAM – but instead, it tracks how much of your battery is being gobbled up by a specific app. Battery life has been a huge complaint with Android devices so far, with much of the blame laying in the hands of applications being a bit too reliant on background processing. This lets you nail those out without having to deal with the process of elimination.
Last but by no means least: Android Market improvements. The Android Market used to be about as visually pleasing as a funeral during a rain storm, covered from edge to edge in black backgrounds and white text. They’ve done away with the drab here, instead opting for a whole lot of white with accents of the signature Android green. It may not be everyone’s style, but at least it doesn’t make you want to curl up and cry. They’ve also filled a request that developers have been making since day one: app descriptions can now include screenshots.
There’s a ton more going on behind the scenes here, including a new kernel, support for custom gestures within applications, accessibility improvements, and a whole lot of new APIs.
This is, as usual, a developer-only thing for now. Easy (or, at least, less intimidating) installation paths are sure to pop up for existing Android devices sooner or later (they already exist, to some extent), but Google expects the first sanctioned appearances on devices to begin sometime in October. In other words, expect this on the Cliq.
I’ve already installed this SDK and it looks fresh and really stable.. making new apps on it in progress :)
Google gives a new treat. Google – Android Donut’s good CDMA support and the bumped screen resolution now gives better push management of prettier images to higher-end screens.
I looked around, and it appears that the G1 won’t be getting the 1.6 Donut firmware upgrade?
Can anyone confirm or deny that?
It would be a shame because the G1 is not even 1 year old! And all the developer phones google seeded were G1s. How they would drop support for 1.6 firmware is beyond me.
Go here for Hero on the G1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533731
I believe it’s a hardware limitation of the G1; not enough ROM dedicated to the OS, so it will no longer fit on it.
That’s what I heard, at least.
That is a piss poor way of dropping support for a phone not even 1 year old.
They should extend the system image to the SD card(with file system level encryption if they are worried about people copying apps), which is at least 1GB in size.
Guys.. it’s clearly written, that this is version for developers only.. it’s SDK, no new rom for devices yet.. it’s a matter of about one month to 1.6 officially hits android phones..
and yes, G1 included, of course.
G1 not supporting 1.6 is nothing more than a rumor.
People are running custom builds of 1.6 on the G1 already.
I’ve been running Donut for a while via @cyanogen mod. Im hoping now some of the bigger companies will update their apps. Im looking at you Weatherbug/Weather Channel and Amazon. I highly recommend checking out CM mod he is doing some amazing stuff.
The G1 will see Donut (1.6). The jury is still out on Eclair (2.0), however.
Probably no OBEX support yet… feh!
Will this eventually be runnable on a mytouch 3g?
*Still* no bluetooth API ? Seriously ?
I hate to say it but the Android SDK is still severely lacking in certain areas. I have been developing an app that requires simultaneous audio playback and tight timing and the tools available (SoundPool, Handler etc) are just atrocious. A nice old implementation of java.sound.* would save myself and a lot of other developers a lot of anguish. I understand that there actually was such a thing in some early builds (circa 0.9) but that they were pulled for lack of stability or some such thing. That said, there are many things that are great in Android as well. Certainly a far more pleasant platform to work with than iPhone
Does this mean you can use an android phone on verizon now?
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Outside the U.S. Android is vaporware. Too bad.
check out this!http://www.sizlocore.blogspot.com/
Come on Google, extend the G1 system image to the SD card, and where is the bluetooth API, cause pair/connecting with PCs is currently pathetic.
My goodness so many people here not familiar with the development life-cycle.
With some minor efforts 1.6 will work with SD memory.
In phased development you cant have all the bells-and-whistles in phase-1.
We are working with several Chinese manufactures to allow 1.6 to work on ultra-low-cost mobile phones using “SD-Cards”, In order to see Android on $30 retail phones by 2010.
So relax everyone :-) Take a chill-pill or eat some Chili Peppers and drink a nice cold beer :-)
So, will the Hero ship with Donut?
Sounds great, too bad it doesn’t work with the G1, would have been nice to try it. I just got a G1 and I’m looking for a BT headset for it, I found these http://www.budsgoblue.com/ but I don’t know it they’ll work with it. Wish I had more info…
@Mike – Bluetooth headsets worked from the initial G1 release, and the 1.5 “Cupcake” update added support for playing music and other audio besides phone conversations through BT. I think people here are more specifically complaining about API support for BT.
In this way, we can write a program only to ourselves, it’s so interesting and usefull.