HTC G1 Update: Cloudy With Little Chance Of DonutHTC G1 Update: Cloudy With Little Chance Of Donut

Some bickering has sprung up recently about what software updates will be made available to the HTC G1 and myTouch 3G, the two Android phones available from T-Mobile. Developers are saying one thing, HTC is saying another, and T-Mobile is sticking to a third version of reality. Who's saying what to whom and why does it matter: The HTC G1 may be incompatible with future versions of Android.This is how the story goes.

The whole episode started when a few Android developers expressed concern of the G1's future. Android software engineer Dave Sparks said, "There will come a time in the near future when we won't be able to fit the latest release on the G1 internal flash." You see, the G1 has but 256MB of space for the Android operating system and any applications that are downloaded by end users. That's not a whole lot of wiggle room. According to the Android developers, the team struggled to fit the Android 1.5 "Cupcake" update into the G1 as it is.

Another Android engineer tweeted: "As much as I'm hoping that it'll be possible to somehow continue updating the G1, I can't promise anything."

These comments have set off a firestorm of speculation about the G1's future, and whether or not it will truly be able to support future versions of Android. Donut, Eclair and Flan have been named by Google as the next updates in line for the platform.

When queried about the situation, T-Mobile issued a bland, boring statement that doesn't really answer anything. T-Mobile said, "We plan to continue working with Google to introduce future software updates to the T-Mobile G1. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate."

When asked to define what "future software updates" really means, T-Mobile declined to answer and said, "We don't have any additional info to share right now regarding G1 updates, beyond the statement that [was] provided."

The undefined "future software updates" could be anything from minor bug fixes up to and including full support for future versions of Android. Which is it? T-Mobile won't say.

Unfortunately, this leaves G1 owners in the dark. Sure, T-Mobile will continue to support the device, it has to. But it appears that G1 owners could quite easily find themselves left out of the Android party as it moves on from Cupcake to Donut and beyond.

What about HTC? Well, it is caught in the middle here a little bit on more than one issue. Obviously HTC will support its own devices and offer what fixes/improvements are necessary to make the G1 and myTouch the best devices they can be. At this point, though, there's nothing that can be done about the G1's internal memory, which is the root of the problem.

There's another issue at hand, as well. HTC's Taiwan presence has indicated to its local wireless telecom partner Chunghua that it will provide the Sense user interface (developed for the Hero) to the HTC Magic smartphone. The Magic is available in European markets as well as in Asian markets. The Magic and the myTouch 3G are one in the same (mostly). Owners of the new myTouch 3G were excited about the possibility that their devices would be able to take advantage of and use this new user interface from HTC. It ain't gonna happen.

The G1 and myTouch are both branded "with Google". Those devices have strict rules placed on them with respect to any customization of the user interface. In other words, Sense UI is not going to be available for the G1 nor the myTouch.