As of yesterday (06/05/09), the Android 1.5 software update was made available for download. After looking at some of the new features (by virtue of a friend’s G1), I have compiled a list of some of the new features, along with my impressions of them.
Android 1.5 contains several user interface updates. The unlock screen now has the users wallpaper in the background. Although this isn’t exactly groundbreaking, it’s quite a pleasant addition. Window transitions have been added, which are quite aesthetically pleasing. Some native apps have added support for accelerometer based screen rotation, once again, despite being a small change, this is a worthy benefit.

The Camera is an area which has been changed the most. The biggest change for the camera is the addition of video recording. Despite the quality of the video being relatively poor, it is definitely better than not having the ability to record video at all. The start up time of the camera as well as the time taken to take a picture has been greatly improved, making the camera altogether a lot more usable.
There are also some general feature additions in 1.5. One of these is an on screen keyboard. However, this is by no means an alternative to the physical keyboard of the G1, it seems at times unresponsive, and overall use is just rather clunky. It is an obvious must for future android devices such as the HTC Magic which will have not a physical keyboard. The ability to upload photos to picasa and video’s to youtube has also been added. Whilst the former could prove very useful, the latter will only be of use to those who like to upload very poor quality camera-phone video’s. Possibly the best feature of 1.5 is the addition of native video playback, something Android definitely lacked previously.
The browser also has several useful additions thanks to 1.5.  One of these additions is the ability to search within pages, useful for pin-pointing particular details in text-hevy web pages. The browser now boasts a unified search and ‘go to url’ box, similar to that which is found in Google Chrome. If what you type ends in .com, .co.uk, .net etc. you will be taken to that page, otherwise it will search for whatever you have typed.

Overall, 1.5 is a solid update. Several key features have been added, as well as  some smaller, yet very nice ones. This update has helped to show the potential of the Android platform, and I believe that this success will be built upon in consequent updates.