Wireless

As part of a series of blog posts, Google has released more information this week about some of the goodies we can expect out of version 1.5 of the Android operating system, which has been going by the code name Cupcake, and which wireless carrier T-Mobile is expected to push out to U.S. customers at the end of next week. High on the list of upgrades is the ability to record videos and upload them to Google-owned YouTube.

Take the video. Share it through YouTube.

(Credit: Google)

Based on what we can ascertain from Google's introductory video, shooting a video on the Android 1.5 platform will be nearly as straightforward as taking a photo--except that after framing the picture, you'll need to turn the recorder on and off. After taking the video, you'll be able to share it via e-mail or MMS, or as a YouTube upload. You'll have the chance to type in a title and a caption, and set the viewing access as public or private before sending your recording on its way.

For the time being, YouTube will support one login per person, and you'll need an account before you'll be able to upload video. Those wishing to manage video on a separate account will need to access YouTube from the browser of T-Mobile's G1 phone for now.

Add a title, description, and privacy settings.

(Credit: Google)

We also learned more about what's in store in Android 1.5. Following the phone-to-Web upload theme, G1 owners will be able to more easily push photos from the Android device to Google's Picasa Web Albums online. In much the same way you'll upload videos to YouTube, shooting photos to Picasa will be an option you encounter after taking a photo and pressing Share.

In addition, Android's Gmail will gain some batch editing capabilities similar to what's available in Gmail from the desktop browser. Instead of managing messages one at a time on the phone, as is the current mode of operation, you'll be able to select multiple e-mail threads to archive, delete, label, and mute at once.

You can watch more in Google's Cupcake walk-though video, and lick your chops in anticipation of the greater Android computing power that's imminent for T-Mobile's U.S. customers.

Rogers Wireless plans to release two Android phones, starting June 2.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Updated at 7:21 a.m. PDT with comment from Rogers.

Dominant Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless announced plans to release two phones in June built by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC and powered by Google's Android open-source operating system.

The HTC Dream, sold in the United States as the T-Mobile G1, was the first Android phone to go on sale last year, but now the newer HTC Magic, which lacks the G1's flip-out keyboard and uses a touch-screen software keyboard instead, has begun arriving in parts of the world. Rogers will sell both in June, the company said Thursday.

The HTC Magic phone, in this case sold through Vodafone, is coming to Canada via Rogers Wireless.

(Credit: Vodafone)

"Both devices offer outstanding wireless Internet search capabilities and a full suite of applications that run two times faster on Canada's fastest mobile network," John Boynton, Rogers Wireless' chief marketing officer, boasted in a statement Thursday.

The Rogers Wireless Android phone Web site said the debut date is June 2, but the company offered no information about prices or subscription plans.

"Regarding pricing, it will be released soon, but in the meantime, I can confirm that customers who activate or upgrade to a HTC Dream or HTC Magic smartphone will be able to take advantage of Rogers Wireless' in-market pricing," spokeswoman Elizabeth Hamilton said. "And I can also confirm that customers can choose from contract or no-contract pricing."

Rogers' 3.5G network reaches 75 percent of Canada's population, she added.

Meeting its own deadline, Google on Monday released the final version of software to create programs for a forthcoming update to the company's Android mobile phone operating system.

Xavier Ducrohet announced the Android 1.5 software development kit (SDK) on the Android developer blog.

The forthcoming Samsung I7500 uses Google's Android operating system.

(Credit: Samsung)

The Android 1.5 SDK release notes include details programmers might be interested in, such as improvements in emulating multiple Android devices and gauging performance issues.

And for comic relief, Google added, "We regret to inform developers that Android 1.5 will not include support for the Zilog Z80 processor architecture," an 8-bit chip that dates back to the 1970s.

Ordinary folks, though, will be more interested in the list of new features with Android 1.5, code-named Cupcake. Among those are video support, faster GPS, stereo Bluetooth, a faster Web browser, a software-based screen keyboard, and user interface changes.

Android 1.5 is due in coming months. In Germany, T-Mobile plans a May release for Android 1.5 to users of the first Android phone, the G1 built by HTC.

Google led the creation of a consortium called the Open Handset Alliance to develop Android in an attempt to jump-start development of higher-end smartphones with sophisticated Web browsers and other software. Google believes mobile computing will drive significant growth in its Internet services.

T-Mobile has sold 1 million G1 phones in the United States so far.

Updated: April 24, 2009, at 1:10 p.m. PT with a comment from Google.

Last week Google tantalized Android developers with an early version of its software developer kit for Android 1.5, the upcoming version of its mobile operating system. Included with it is a laundry list of new features coming out, many of them suspiciously familiar to those Apple's iPhone already has. But here's one, highlighted on Friday, that the iPhone doesn't have: Live Folders.

(Credit: Google)

Loosely lumped into the category of "more home screen widgets," Live Folders are essentially shortcut views into a folder on the phone where you'll be able to view all the contents of your e-books, e-mails, RSS feeds, and playlists for example, without launching the application itself. Live Folders will also include real-time updating, so if a new e-mail comes in while you're viewing the in-box from your home screen, you'll see it appear.

The Live Folders feature could potentially be available on any third-party app you download from the Marketplace, though it seems to lend itself best to social, informational, and entertainment content--I'm thinking your Netflix queue, Facebook status updates, video playlist, and so on.

It's not entirely clear from the Android team's blog post how exactly the feature will display on the home screen, but Google tells us that Live Folders will live on the home screen like a shortcut icon; developers can choose to make them read-only or to give them the ability to launch the app from within a list view. For example, selecting a "favorite" contact from that folder would open their record in the phone book.

Live Features will include a few basic Live Folders to get you started when Google Android 1.5 phones ship, like a view into your contact list. The rest will be up to developers.

Google has released an Android 1.5 software developer kit, giving programmers access to several new features, such as video support and a faster browser that will appear in a forthcoming version of the company's open-source mobile-phone operating system.

Android competes in the smartphone market with operating systems such as Apple's iPhone OS, Nokia's Symbian, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Although Google attracted many partners to participate in the Android project, called the Open Handset Alliance, so far, only Taiwanese handset maker HTC is offering models. New options are expected this year, though.

Google has said it initiated the Android project in an attempt to jump-start heavier and more sophisticated use of the Internet on mobile phones. Search advertising on mobile phones is a new area of potential revenue growth for the company, but Google also is eager to extend its online services such as Gmail more deeply into the mobile realm.

Among the changes users will be able to see in Android 1.5, code-named Cupcake, are the following:

• Video recording and playback, and videos can be uploaded to YouTube.

• Stereo Bluetooth and auto-pairing for better Bluetooth headset support.

• A Web browser with the latest WebKit technology, including the Squirrelfish technology for faster JavaScript. The browser also includes copy-and-paste support, search within the page, the unified search and address bar that debuted in Google's Chrome browser, and faster scrolling.

• "Much faster" acquisition of location through the GPS system.

• A "soft" screen-based keyboard.

• More widgets on the home screen, including a music player and picture frame, along with the current search and clock widgets.

• Applications can rotate when the phone's accelerometer detects a new orientation.

• User interface improvements to messaging, Gmail, calendar, browser, and other applications. The Gmail application supports batch operations so multiple messages can be deleted or archived at once, for example.

• Faster camera start-up and operation. Photos can be uploaded to Google's Picasa photo-sharing site.

• User photos in the contacts application.

There are changes under the hood, too, including the new Linux kernel version, 2.6.27. Android applications run at a higher level, though, using a variation of the Java technology for writing and running programs, and here there are changes too. Developers will be able to tap into several new application programming interfaces, providing easier support for a number of phone features:

• APIs for recording and playing back audio and video.

• Some support for the OpenGL graphics technology.

• A text prediction engine to speed typing.

• A framework for speech recognition.

• A framework to make it easier for background processes to interact with running applications' interface processes.

• APIs for widgets on the home screen and frameworks for various widgets.

However, Google cautioned, the APIs aren't final and could change before the final software developer kit is released, sometime toward the end of April.

"I encourage you to start working with this early-look SDK, but please know that the APIs for Android 1.5 have not been finalized. The majority of the APIs are settled, but there may be some changes before the final release. As a result, it's very important that you don't release applications based on this early-look SDK, since they may not work on real devices," Xavier Ducrohet said in a blog post announcing the SDK. "The applications you release should be built on the final Android 1.5 SDK release, which will be available around the end of this month."

Imminent enhancements to Google's Android mobile platform have been revealed this week, in the form of a development effort called "Cupcake."

Credit: CNET Networks

T-Mobile's G1, aka the HTC Dream, was the first phone to go on
sale with Google's Android operating system.

Android is in the process of being turned by Google from its own development project into open source. This week, some of the changes made to the mobile operating system by a private group of developers came to light in Cupcake--the Android code the group shares with the outside world. Now, according to the Android road map, the Cupcake enhancements have started to be merged into the wider, open-source Android project.

The private development branch will continue to operate, and the current merging of the new features into the master Android branch will be completed in early January.

Some of the changes coming to Android are bug fixes, affecting elements such as e-mail, conversation-list scrolling, and the alarm clock. Several new features are, however, also being added--for example, the ability to save MMS attachments. The Linux kernel upon which Android runs has been upgraded to version 2.6.27, and "basic x86 support" has been added.

The WebKit browser core has been updated, and support for the new SquirrelFish JavaScript engine has been added. The browser will now support cutting and pasting, and will also include a find function.

Android's camera functionality has received a major boost, with the addition of video capture. Download functionality has also been enhanced; applications can pause their downloads, and interrupted downloads can now be resumed instead of failing.

Virtual keyboards will also become possible, and third-party developers will be given the application programming interfaces to create their own input methods. A new API for speech recognition is also included, as is A2DP stereo Bluetooth support.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.