This device’s aesthetics are a true mash up between the HTC-Magic and HTC-Pro, offering a very streamlined, sexy design. So, what does this little gem have running under its hood? Well, as reported by Engadget, it will come equipped with a 3-Megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 support, AGPS, and will support EDGE and 850 / 1900MHz HSPA bands. I’m sad to say, however, its processor chip won’t hold its weight to the iPhone or any upcoming power-house phones and the resolution (marked at 240 X 320) is not impressive at all. This device, as drawn out on the specification-sheet, will only support video-playback, with no mention of actually recording videos that is now available for T-Mobile’s Android handsets with Google’s release of Cupcake. It’s nice to see healthy competition within a service providers selection of devices, but this phone is not shaping up to be a David to Apple’s Goliath. It’s a shame the first Android phone on AT&T is nothing more than a gutted, dulled down T-Mobile G1.

[Via Engadget]

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Please note that before you update manually (This will not ‘root’ your phone, don’t worry about that), that this method is not supported by T-Mobile. We’ve done this countless times as new updates have rolled in, and its worked flawlessly – but if your phone explodes, it’s not our fault.

So, follow these steps exactly and you’re going to have a nice, delicious cupcake too! (not a real cupcake, just a bad-ass update)

• Rename ’signed-kila-ota-xxxx.xxxx.zip’ to ‘update.zip’
• Transfer update.zip to the ROOT of your G1’s MicroSD card. (For some reason, I couldn’t transfer the file directly from my desktop to the phone, I had to manually take the chip out and transfer it that way. The issue was caused by an I/O discrepancy.)
• Make sure your phone is powered off completely
• Hold down the ‘Home’ and ‘Power’ buttons From here it will bring up the bootloader.
• Open your keyboard and press Alt+L to bring up the bootloader command terminal
• From here, press Alt+S to apply the patch and let that sucker install!
• When it’s finished you’ll net to press Home and Back to begin manual reboot (note- not the power-button)

If you see the chip, everything went kosher and the radio is being configured and updated.

So, there you have it, just be patient while it boots up, the first time around it takes anywhere from 2-4 minutes. And I noticed that it was EXTREMELY slow after it became operation, however it completely subsided after 2 minutes or so. After the fact the performance has been nothing short of outstanding. The entire process took about 20 minutes from start to finish, and I’m a proud owner of a newly updated Cupcake. Now, I’m off to make senseless movies about my cat with the new video camera app.

[Via Phandroid and XDA-Developers]

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After four long months,the Android v1.5 “Cupcake” update has finally been made available to the masses in the UK and USA. As April 29th came to a close, the first reports of update notifications came trickling in, and they’ve continued throughout the morning.

As usual, it’s not hitting every handset at the same time. Don’t panic if you’ve yet to see the prompt – you’ll probably see it within a day or two, tops. This one’s a big one, so look forward to some exploration. You’ll have video recording, stereo bluetooth, onscreen keyboards, live folders, new widgets, a brushed up browser, and a slew of performance upgrades and bug fixes to check out. Be sure to drop a comment and let us know when it hits your handset!

(Our favorite part: Though “Cupcake” was originally just an internal moniker for the development branch, the name has become official enough that it’s in the update notification.)

[via Phandroid]

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As work on the Android “Cupcake” build (Firmware 1.5) continues, the developers continue to slip more little features in under the radar.

We were spending a few minutes with the just announced HTC Magic last night, and we noticed one bit in the live folders screen we hadn’t seen before: YouTube Favorites. Live folders are a new addition to Cupcake which allow you to add self-updating folder to the homescreen. Previously, we’d only seen the first three on the list in the screenshot above: All Contacts, Contacts with Phone numbers, and Starred Contacts. The YouTube Favorites live folder, as you probably could guess, pulls your favorites from your YouTube account and makes them accessible with just 2 clicks. It’s the first non-contact-related Live Folder we’ve seen so far – and the one that seems the most useful, as well.

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As 2008 came to a close, we saw the first hints of a new developmental branch of Android called “Cupcake”. Promising video recording, copy and paste, stereo bluetooth and more, an endless clamor has rang from the userbase ever since. There’s still no word as to when we can expect it to drop onto devices, nor are they making promises that any specific feature will make it on to any given handset (be it the G1 or a future release) – but with the Cupcake branch at a reasonably stable point and beginning to show some of its new tricks, we thought we’d do a video run-through of what has made it in so far.

Some of the biggest features (including those mentioned up above) have yet to make it in, or are untestable in the Android SDK emulator.

Here’s what’s changed so far:

• Firmware Version: 1.5
• Onscreen keyboard has been added for portrait mode, allowing the user to type with the touchscreen. If this is enabled on the G1, users won’t have to open the keyboard to type unless they want to, addressing a common complaint amongst early adopters.
• Two new apps, though it’s unclear (and from their rudimentary state, seemingly unlikely) if they’re intended for the final build or just demo apps:

• Global Time: Shows how the sun is currently lighting the earth
• Note pad: Ultra basic note pad – of the three, the most likely to make it into the final build.

Want to check out Cupcake for yourself? If you’re comfortable installing the Android SDK and replacing a handful of files, it’s dead simple – check out this tutorial from Nullwire for more details.

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arron la via Talk Android
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