Today, Google bowed the next version of Android, its mobile operating system. "Donut" is the name given to this version of Android, which is otherwise known as 1.6. New features? You betcha. Android 1.6 brings support for CDMA phones, more screen resolutions, more APIs, better camera software and improved device search.Android 1.6 -- a.k.a. "Donut" -- is where things really start to get juicy. Google dropped Android 1.5. ("Cupcake") back in April. Donut brings a wealth of improvements to the Android fold.

The most notable change in this version of Android is that the platform now supports CDMA devices. Why is this important? It means the recently announced HTC Hero, which lands at Sprint next month, will have to have Android 1.6.

Other new features include support for multiple screen resolutions, adding QVGA and WVGA. This gives hardware makers a bit more flexibility when it comes to crafting Android hardware. Other new features include gesture APIs and a new text-to-speech engine.

Developers will get access to Android 1.6. today. The rest of the world needs to wait until October, which is when Google promises that Android 1.6 devices will be ready for the market.

The Android Developers site details some of the changes below:

Quick Search Box for Android

Android 1.6 includes a redesigned search framework that provides a quick, effective, and consistent way for users to search across multiple sources-such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, and the web-directly from the home screen.

The system constantly learns which search results are more relevant based on what is clicked. So popular contacts or apps that have previously been picked will bubble up to the top when a user types the first few letters of a relevant query.

The search framework also provides developers a way to easily expose relevant content from their applications in Quick Search Box.

Camera, Camcorder, and Gallery

An updated user interface provides an integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery experience. Users can quickly toggle between still and video capture modes. Additionally, the gallery enables users to select multiple photos for deletion.

Android 1.6 also provides a much faster camera experience. Compared to the previous release, launching the camera is now 39% faster, and there is a 28% improvement in the time from completing one shot to the next.

VPN, 802.1x

A new Virtual Private Network (VPN) control panel in Settings allows users to configure and connect to the following types of VPNs:

L2TP/IPSEC pre-shared key based VPN L2TP/IPsec certificate based VPN L2TP only VPN PPTP only VPN

Battery usage indicator

A new battery usage screen lets users see which apps and services are consuming battery power. If the user determines that a particular service or application is using too much power, they can take action to save the battery by adjusting settings, stopping the application, or uninstalling the application.

Accessibility

Users will be able to download new accessibility services built on the new accessibility framework and enable them in Settings.