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Sep. 17, 2009

Google has released its newest version of its Android OS, dubbed Donut, the new v1.6 Software Developer Kit (SDK).

Donut is an upgrade from its previous Cupcake version, the previous v1.5 SDK.

Android's new Donut SDK offers mobile application developers access to a whole new range of new APIs. The SDK features support for additional screen resolutions, including QVGA and WVGA, as well as gesture APIs and a text-to-speech function.

On Sep. 9, Sprint announced that it will begin offering the Android-based HTC Hero handset on Oct. 11. Not surprisingly, developers can now expect to see devices running the Donut as early as next month.

Things are really moving fast in the mobile apps development segment, and Google is making sure that the trend continues. As they say, the trend is your friend... Nowhere is this a true statement than in the field of wireless.

The new Android Donut SDK even supports both GSM and CDMA cellular technologies. Cupcake only allowed for GSM. Opening up CDMA support hastens the inevitable – the arrival of more Android devices on Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

LTE 'Donut' coming soon, anybody?

Until Sprint made its announcement last week, T-Mobile USA was the lone pioneer of Android in the U.S., taking on the first device based on Google's open-source platform in the form of the HTC-built G1.

T-Mobile currently offers both the G1 and its successor, the myTouch 3G.

For its part, Motorola unveiled its version of the Android handset last week, in the form of the Motorola Cliq. That device will also be offered exclusively by T-Mobile USA.

Google is firing on all cylinders with its Android initiative. There's no question anymore that the Android open source project is rapidly gaining a lot of traction in the wireless segment.

It will be worthwhile to see how other players in this industry change their plans (if they will) and to see at which rate of speed they will adopt Android.

When Google announced its Android OS about a year ago, many eyebrows were raised and a few skeptics said the project would never fly. Some said Google had no experience in building an operating system, let alone one in an industry it knew almost nothing about.

How easy it is to forget that Google's search engine relies on about 25,000 Linux servers spread across the globe in providing fast and reliable search results. The whole search platform was built on Linux, about the most stable and most dependable operating system there is. And yes, it IS open source.

Those skeptics have obviously been proven wrong since. Now let's all see how the new Donut SDK is received in the mobile developer community.

We will keep you posted.

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Source: Google.