by Charles Fawkes

Created on: October 23, 2009

Android OS 2.0 Leak Shows New Features

For those of you who don't know, Android OS is a smartphone operating system. It is developed by Google and ran on many mobile devices across the globe.

I just had my T-Mobile myTouch 3G updated to Android 1.6 a few days ago and there are already screenshots of Android 2.0 floating around the Internet. The Android world is moving at lightspeed, with new handsets featuring the OS popping up everywhere. And now the next full version step is being examined by Android fans.

The upcoming Android 2.0 is codenamed Eclair, continuing Google's love of pastries (1.6 was Donut and 1.5 was Cupcake). The newly leaked Android 2.0 has numerous new features that propel the fledgling operating system even further along its promising track.

One new feature that will be in Eclair is native Microsoft Exchange support. Right now, Android 1.6 supports fetching new mail from a Microsoft Exchange account, but you cannot sync your contacts and other information. With Android 2.0 Eclair, this will change. And this is great news for those business-minded users that need to connect better with a company owned Microsoft Exchange account.

Another feature in the early build of Android 2.0 Eclair is a native Facebook client. With the social network site becoming more and more important to us, this is a great feature. Currently, Android users access Facebook through an application. And it's a pretty sorry app, to be honest with you. But Android 2.0 Eclair will bring a native client that will even sync your Facebook friends' phone numbers with you Android phonebook.

A third, and perhaps most important to me, feature in Android 2.0 is a better browser. Android's browser is great right now, but not the best. I will readily tell you that the iPhone has a better web browser. However, word is that Android 2.0 will change this. The new browser will have a "double tap to zoom" feature that will help many people out. It is also much faster, according to the leakers (Boy Genius Report was the first place I heard of the leak). A smoother, faster web browser is perhaps what I am looking forward to the most in Android 2.0 Eclair.

A few other features coming in the new version are a unified email inbox, a new updated Google Maps app, and a newly redesigned user interface across the OS. And this is just from an early build that was leaked out. Perhaps there will be even more updates before the Eclair is fully baked! You can check out screenshots of Android 2.0 here.

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