Android 1.5 Gives G1 with Google a Feature Boost

After much waiting, I was able to pull down the update from the System Update tool. The download of Version 1.5 took about 15 minutes over the air, while the update itself took another 10 minutes. I did experience one scary lockup during the upgrade, but all turned out OK.

Version 1.5 sports a slightly modified splash screen (as seen on right).

The Cupcake update upgrades the firmware to Version 1.5, as well as the baseband and kernel.

Android 1.5 modifies the built-in Google search box to include voice-enabled search. Users can also access the voice search from the application menu.

Users can now utilize the touch-screen keyboard, which can be configured with associated sound or haptic feedback. The on-screen keyboard is supposedly available in both portrait and landscape modes, but I could never get it to appear on the G1 in landscape (with keypad slider open)–but why would I want that, anyway?

When the G1 first launched, Android’s Bluetooth capabilities were somewhat crippled. But now, with Version 1.5, I could pair with a device easily and take advantage of the new Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) support.

Android extends the visibility of Google Chat presence to Contacts (seen here), Gmail, e-mail or SMS applications.

Updated to support the latest version of Webkit, the Android browser now supports cut and paste.

Android now offers a tabbed view of the browser’s bookmarks, separating out views for Most Visited and History.

The updated browser now offers a nice “find on page” tool.

,br/>Cupcake turns the G1’s still camera into a video camera, and the device now supports playback of MPEG4 and 3GP video formats.

,br/>Not fixing one of my least favorite aspects of the original G1, Cupcake does nothing to improve attachment view, modification or save capabilities in the POP3/IMAP client (left).