After the good news about the notorious Cupcake update coming to the T-Mobile G1 owners in the beginning of May, Android Dev Phone owners are already able to download an official version of the update. So, we can only hope now that Deutsche Telekom (parent company of T-Mobile USA) is to keep its word and will not delay the T-Mobile G1 update any longer, bringing important features like an on-screen QWERTY, video recording and A2DP to the users.

Now that we know Cupcake is finally ready, we guess that the development of the next set of new features for the Android OS is already underway.We hope that we would not have to wait for it as long as we had with Cupcake (since last December).

source: HTC via EngadgetMobile

T-Mobile Germany has posted on its G1 web page that a software upgrade will be coming in May for users of the device on its network. Among the features that will be added to the handset is a virtual keyboard, video capture and playback, stereo Bluetooth support and what appears to be an accelerometer (translated copy from German to English reads “Automatic Adjustment of the touchscreen when the G1 is horizontal or vertical hold”).

As far as a similar offering for all of those hungry U.S. G1 owners waiting for a cupcake of their own, we still have no idea of a date when it will happen, but with the apparent May release in Germany, the U.S. upgrade shouldn’t be too far away.

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Who said Cupcake is not released yet? Okay, it isn’t, but there is now a completely reliable way to get all those much-wanted goodies, such as an on-screen QWERTY, video recording, updated browser and more. The story is that a user, nicknamed haykuro, has managed to port the HTC Magic’s software, version 1.5, to the G1. Side by side with the folks at XDA forums, the advancement of the project continues with more bug fixes.

Here’s the moment to introduce you the two available versions of the port: the G line (meaning Google-sourced) and the H line (from HTC-sourced). What’s the difference? The biggest difference by now is the fact that Google has actually blocked the access to Android Market for the G ROMs. One theory is that the company has done this, because a G1 with the Android 1.5 version has been detected as an HTC Magic phone, so it wanted to limit such devices until the Magic has been officially released. Or… the other possibility that comes to our minds – the companies want to keep sales up. As the users have become tired of waiting for the promised Cupcake update, they have thought of their own ways to get the features, even push it one step further!

Then how come Google’s bunch of contributing developers was unable to deliver the much-needed features in such a long period of time? If these guys are so slow every time an update is needed, then this whole open-source initiative is totally senseless. Maybe we are just missing the idea – the companies might be as well holding Cupcake’s release until the Magic is finally on the market. Why? Well, what does the Magic have that the G1 doesn’t? On-screen QWERTY, video recording, updated browser… Exactly, the Magic will not offer almost anything new in terms of hardware. Even the QWERTY keyboard has been removed. That is why Google has decided to cut the access to Android Market for “rooted” G1s after a few days of usage – in order to give you a reason to buy the Magic. Users report that it is still possible to use the storefront with the H builds, so just go ahead and don’t forget that we would like to know what you guys are thinking on the matter.

You can download the latest version of the port here.

source: Haykuro’s Blog, xda-developers via BGR