Gallery: HTC's Magic Cupcake

Taking a look at the handset also provided an opportunity to try out the functionality of version 1.5 — also known as Cupcake — of the Android platform. The second version of the Google-led platform, also rolling out from Tuesday for T-Mobile UK's G1 users, shows significant enhancements over the first, as demonstrated over the following pages.

For more check out Ed Burnette's 2nd generation Android phones battle it out with iPhone and Matthew Miller's Clash of the Touch Titans; iPhone 3G 3.0 vs HTC Magic Google Android.

The Magic measures 113x55x13.65mm, while its predecessor measures 117.7x55.7x17.1mm. The Magic is also lighter than the G1, at 118.5g with battery to the G1's 158g.

That difference is largely attributable to the lack of a physical slide-out keyboard in the Magic, which is replaced by a virtual on-screen keyboard similar to that of the iPhone.

The Magic (left) retains the same mini-USB data and headset connector as that found on the G1, as well as the same slight upturn at the bottom of the device. A converter is provided in the box to allow the use of standard headphones with the Magic.

The most notable change in this regard is the addition among the main buttons of a search key, marked by a magnifying glass. This was part of the slide-open physical keyboard on the G1, but as it triggers phone behaviour from the home screen — pulling up Google Search — it needs to be available even when the new virtual keyboard is hidden.

This virtual keyboard is one of the major upgrades that Cupcake brought to the Android platform, and can be used in portrait or landscape mode. G1 users will be able to use a virtual keyboard to avoid having to open their phone, once they are sent the upgrade over the air.

As with all mobile-phone keyboards, however, its size limitations can lead to the odd mistake.

However, as demonstrated on the following page, the Magic's updated Android operating system offers more tightly integrated photo-sharing capabilities than those found in the first version of Android.

Once a photo has been taken on the Magic, the menus offer easy access to upload services such as Picasa, Google's photo-sharing website, or for applications such as Twidroid, a popular Android Twitter client.

While it is easy in theory to upload a photo from the Magic to Picasa, however, that functionality failed in the demonstration given to ZDNet UK on Tuesday.

A significant upgrade in version 1.5 of Android is the ability to shoot video, as demonstrated in the above picture. This is currently not available in Android's main competitor, the iPhone, although there are confident predictions of a June update that adds this feature.

Once a video has been shot on the Magic, the menus make it simple to upload that video to YouTube, which, like Picasa, is a Google property.

The picture above shows how Latitude, Google's friend-finding location-based service, has been incorporated into Google Maps on the Magic.

Street View was launched in the UK in mid-March and so far its functionality works only for major city centres. However, Google camera-cars have been spotted in the provinces.

The accelerometers built into the Magic allow the perspective shown in Street View to change with a subtle tilt of the handset.

The Qype application shown in the above shot is a location-based service that is integrated with Google Maps. It allows the user to search for nearby shops and entertainment venues, providing relevant ratings and pinpointing those locations on the map.

While the G1 could use a free scanner from the Market applications store, the one in the Cupcake-equipped Magic provides more extensive and useful results. In the example pictured above, the phone is scanning the barcode on a book. The result is pictured on the following page...

The book was quickly identified by the application, which then automatically displayed the best available prices for that book on the web, as well as the book's price at various nearby bookstores. A single tap of the finger then showed those bookstores pinpointed on Google Maps.

Pictured above is a fun, if pointless, iPhone-esque application that lets the user hit virtual drums using the handset's touchscreen.

The HTC Magic will be made available exclusively through Vodafone in the UK on 5 May.