Anyone for an Open Source Donut?

Davey Winder
Sunday, 07 June 2009 04:32

Business IT - Open Source

Hot on the heels of Android 1.5, Google has demonstrated Android 2.0 in San Francisco. So what can we expect from the next generation open source smartphone OS and when can we expect it?

Was it really only a month ago that here at iTwire we were reporting the imminent arrival of Cupcake, also known as Google Android 1.5?

With T-Mobile now having started rolling out the update over the air, we know that G1 users can enjoy a vibration feedback enhanced virtual QWERTY keyboard, application rotation, new home screen widgets and video recording.

But what comes next? The answer, as demonstrated by Google at its San Francisco I/O event, is Donut. Another silly name, but Android 2.0 looks far from being childish itself.

Features such as an improved universal search function, new text-to-speech API's, language translation and handwriting recognition are all on they way it would appear. Those text-so-speech APi's should allow Google Voice Search to be included in Android applications.

Talking of which, we know that Adobe is working hard to port Flash technology to Android and this will probably appear within Android 2, but also other smartphone platforms of course.

That's good news, especially as we understand that Donut will support resolutions up to WVGA which means 800 x 480 displays which is a nice jump up from, say, the HTC handsets with 320 x 480 res screens. Donut should also support QVGA and HVGA for flexibility.

As for the when, well that's the really good news. The pace of development is such that word on the Google grapevine is we can expect to see Android 2.0 arriving within six months, and possibly in as little as three.

Of course, there is the small matter of that Android trademark infringement to deal with, but it looks unlikely that even a $100 million lawsuit can derail this particular open source express train.