Cupcake sweetens T-Mobile's Android with virtual keyboards

T-Mobile will push out a major firmware update to users of the G1 Android handset in April, the mobile operator has said.

The update will introduce features such as virtual keyboards and stereo Bluetooth support, as well as an upgrade of the underlying Linux kernel. A number of bugs in the Android operating system will also be fixed. The browser enhancements include upgrades to the latest version of the Webkit core and the addition of cut-and-paste. The browser is also getting support for the new SquirrelFish JavaScript engine.

The contents of the update come from Cupcake, a read-only mirror of a private development branch within the wider Android development effort. According to the Android development website, the changes introduced in the Cupcake branch have now been merged into the master branch, as part of the gradual open-sourcing of what started out as a Google project.

A spokesperson for T-Mobile could not give a precise date for the release. "Google control the update as to when it goes out. The only thing T-Mobile knows is [the update will come out] next month," the spokesperson told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK on Thursday.

A Google spokesperson could not give a more specific release date. "We're not confirming the timing on when Cupcake will be ready," the spokesperson said. "We'll push it as soon as it's ready."

T-Mobile's G1 is the first, and currently the only, handset to use the Android mobile stack. The second is likely to be Vodafone's Magic handset, which is also manufactured by HTC.

Original article: T-Mobile's G1 Android to get new features from ZDNet UK