Android v2.0 'Donut' Outed

While Android v1.5 - Cupcake as it is more widely known - is only now being distributed to G1 customers there's already something newer and altogether snazzier to get excited about...

Keeping up the adorable/bizarre food theme is 'Donut' the codename for the HTC Hero build which is expected to eventually become Android v2.0'. Excitingly, not only has it suddenly broken cover but there's even a hands on video now leaked to the Web.

Xda-developers forum guru Haykuro - who lives up to every middle aged person's hacker stereotype by being 17 - has followed up his outing of Cupcake by showing off Donut after getting a leaked ROM up and running on a developer edition G1. The big news: it's pretty!

Yep, Google has finally seen the need to add some much needed slap to Android's rather bare bones and Donut brings smooth animations, slick transitions, a swanky calendar redesign and a completely rejigged multimedia player which sports a look to make Apple proud. The browser gets full treatment too with animated tab switching, a more subtle progress bar and there's translucent goodness everywhere. Social networking apps are reworked as well with what appears to be native Facebook, Flickr and Twitter clients.

Just as pleasing (at least for me) is the whole walkthrough has been set to Mum's rather wonderful track 'Green Grass of Tunnel' from the 2002 masterpiece 'Finally We Are No One' but I digress.

The bad news? With the Cupcake OTA release only recently being sent to consumers I can't see Donut following any time soon. That said, when it does appear it should add a professional gloss to the highly versatile OS which may well attract a whole new audience of developers and customers.

It's also going to look mighty fine on the Samsung I7500...

Source: http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-phones/news/2009/05/19/Android-v2-0--Donut--Leaks/p1