Google's Donut build of the Android mobile operating system software is spotted on T-Mobile G1 phones. Donut is not actually Android 2.0, but a sort of mashup of development features. Donut boasts Google's universal search engine experience, Google Voice Search, CDMA support and other desired functions to help Android gadgets -- in particular the T-Mobile myTouch 3G -- better compete with Apple's iPhone. MyTouch 3G with Google comes out Aug. 5.
Numerous blogs this weekend reported sightings of the new Google Android "Donut" code on G1 phones.
Donut follows Cupcake, but precedes Éclair and Flan in the dessert-oriented nomenclature for refreshes, which are not new releases but new iterations of Android code. More on that later in this report.
Engadget claims Donut boasts many of the same features introduced at Google I/O in May, including universal search, text-to-speech to let users use Google Voice Search to find information, and other perks. However, Engadget's Chris Zeigler cited Google Android team programmer Romain Guy in noting that there is not yet multitouch support despite prior claims of the feature.
"What's more, though, the codebase is showing signs of CDMA support—a must for Sprint and Verizon, of course, both of whom will almost certainly have Android sets at one point or another—and a cool 5-in-1 bank of toggle switches in a home screen widget that can be used to control common features like Bluetooth and WiFi," Zeigler wrote July 26.
Phandroid, which has plenty of pictures of the new features, notes VPN support, automated backups and "tons of performance tweaking," and Boy Genius Report has even more pics.
However, while many are reporting that Donut is Android 2.0, Donut seems more like a line of code to the Android followers.
The Android Guys note definitively: "Donut is what software developers refer to as a 'development branch.' It is a place where candidate features—ones that pass some basic muster—get blended together, along with submitted patches, for integration testing and other forms of quality assurance."
In any case, Android development appears to be alive and well as T-Mobile hurdles toward its release of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, slated for Aug. 5.
For $199 and a two-year plan, the device is smaller than the G1, which was characterized as clunky, and features an on-screen keyboard and 4GB of memory, among other features. eWEEK has pictures of the device here.
The Wall Street Journal's Katherine Boehret reviewed the device (paywall), noting that the myTouch 3G felt like what the G1 should have been like.
However, while the Android Market only had 50 applications ready for the G1 at its launch last October, there are now more than 6,300 apps there.
This is a great growth spurt, but still pales in comparison to the 65,000 applications available for Apple's iPhone in the App Store.
Meanwhile, Motorola is seeing Android as something that could save the company. The phone maker plans to release Android phones this fall, and the latest reports on the gadgets are positive.
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