With Google’s recent announcement of Android 2.0 support in the Android SDK, the mobile phone open-source platform got a much-needed boost. The key for Android 2.0 are multiple new “feature” updates. It has an improved Web-Kit powered browser, which sports an updated user interface. Bookmarks that have thumbnails of web pages, double tapping to zoom in on content and instant searches by simply tapping on the address bar are just a few these user-interface updates.

In readiness for building next generation apps, Google has included support for HTML5 API’s. Some of these API’s are the Geolocation API to provide location information, the Database API for managing client-side SQL databases and Application cache support for off-line applications. Support for HTML5’s <video> tag is also present, making full screen video possible without installing any plug-ins.

In other features, Android 2.0 supports adding multiple accounts for e-mail and contact synchronization with a one-touch access point for communicating with a friend, called Quick Contact. Simply tap on a contact’s picture and you have instant access to view information, call, SMS, or e-mail that person. Version 2.0 also introduces a search function that works across all saved text messages and multimedia messages. It also has Auto delete, which deletes the oldest message in a conversation thread based on a user-defined limit.

The Camera has received a boost with support for Built-in flash, Digital zoom, Scene mode, White balance, Color effect and Macro focus. An improved virtual keyboard includes a better layout and much needed multitouch support. There is also a smarter dictionary, which now learns from previous word use.

The Android mobile operating system is growing in strength and flavor. Time will tell if individual carriers and vendors will use these new features in future Smartphone lineups.