Android 1.6 is out

GOOGLE HAS RELEASED the next version of its Android operating system for mobile phones, "Donut".

Having a look at the promo video, Android 1.6 brings support for CDMA phones, more screen resolutions, more APIs, better camera software and improved search.

The addition of CDMA support means that the HTC Hero, which should be at Sprint's US offices next month, will have to have Android 1.6.

For the rest of the add-ons, we are talking multiple screen resolutions, adding QVGA and WVGA support, gesture APIs and a new text-to-speech engine.

Android 1.6 includes a redesigned search framework that provides better search across multiple sources - such as browser bookmarks, history, contacts and the web - directly from the home screen.

The new search function learns which search results are more relevant based on what is clicked. So popular contacts or apps that have previously been picked will bubble up to the top when a user types the first few letters.

The interface provides an integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery. Users can quickly toggle between still and video capture.

The camera is apparently 39 per cent faster and there is a 28 per cent reduction in the time it takes to get from one shot to another.

A new Virtual Private Network (VPN) control panel allows users to configure and connect to L2TP/IPsec pre-shared key based, L2TP/IPsec certificate based and L2TP point-to-point protocol VPNs

There is also a battery usage screen that lets users see which apps and services are consuming battery power. µ