• Universal-ish search with an updated "Quick Search" box

• Much fast camera performance, with a refreshed interface, and easier switching between video/still modes

• Support for VPNs, corporate or otherwise

• A battery monitoring center that lets you see what apps are sucking inordinate amounts of power, and also lets you kill them.

• Multiple resolution support, for all the wild'n'crazy Android devices coming down the pike

• A new Market UI, with app screenshots

• Text-to-speech for any app that wants it, built into the main search widget by default

• A gesture framework for developers

• CDMA support, because, you know, Hero.

Let us know when your updates hit in the comments; reports are thin for now, but I have a feeling the floodgates are about to open. [CNET]

All you have to do is type KICKOFF24 in the promotion box when you order and bada bing—50% discount. Seriously, Oprah is worth watching if only for the stuff she gives away. [T-Mobile via Engadget]

RyeBrye has pieced together an Android app that does all the rooting legwork, a process that used to range from mildly intimidating to headache-inducing. In either case, the prospect was always daunting for the mainstream, which kept the joys of an unbound Android from most G1 and MyTouch owners. With this app, here's the new, streamlined procedure:

• Download "Recovery Flasher" From the Android Market (or sideload it)
• Run it
• Tap "Back up recovery image"
• Tap "Flash Cyanogen Recovery 1.4"

Seriously, that's it. Now your Android phone is splayed wide open, and ready for you to have your way with it. But, uh, what does that mean, exactly?

Plenty of things! The biggest draw to rooting is the ability to install a new ROM—in other words, replace the operating system on your phone. There are two ways to go with this, both equally awesome. The first is to go with a super-customized community ROM. These are tweaked and enhanced versions of the phone's default software, often grafted with pieces of Google's forthcoming updates to Android, some near, some far, and all dessert-themed. Practically, this means multitouch—since the G1 and MyTouch already support this on the hardware side—app storage on SD cards, tethering, more home screens, new system keyboards, and perhaps most importantly, vastly improved performance. A lot of users say using one of these is a night-and-day difference, and given the kinds of things the HTC ROM community has done with Windows Mobile phones, I'm inclined to believe them.

Your second path is to go full Hero—in other words, to install the HTC Hero's heavily customized OS, which is nothing short of fantastic, and about to get even better. This is a full phone conversion, and even in its current, slightly precarious state, well worth it.

In either case, you're going to need to choose a ROM, download it, and put it on your phone's SD card. You can select from an expansive list here—for reference, the MyTouch 3G is also known as the Magic 32B—but as far as non-Hero ROMs go, your best bet is the near-legendary, well-supported CyanogenMod. The newest release, out just two days ago, is fully compatible with the G1 and MyTouch. But don't stress too much over which ROM to choose, since changing them over is a breeze now that you're fully unlocked. An overview from Android and Me:

• Power off your phone.
• Boot into recovery mode. Press and hold the Home key, then hit the power button.
• Before you flash a rom file, perform a wipe. Press Alt+W to wipe the data and cache folders. You must wipe when going form different builds of Android.
• Wait for the wipe to finish and the recovery image to display again, then select "apply any zip from sd". Flash the zip file of your choice.
• After flashing any zip you should be able to reboot your system and watch it load to the home screen.

You'll want to read their full rooting and flashing guide for caveats, but that easy little list there is about the size of it.

A few more reasons to root that don't involve totally flashing your phone:

• Full backups to SD cards
• Wi-Fi tethering!
• Autorotation for all apps
• Install apps to an SD card

This alongside a treasure trove of smaller tweaks and tricks you can find at the every-active XDA forums. And of course, it should go without saying: this is potentially risky, and could brick your phone. The rooting process is almost foolproof, but before you jump in, make sure you've got the right hardware (American MyTouch 3Gs and G1s only) and have backed up any important data. Happy hacking! [RyeBrye, AndroidAndMe]

To be fair, we should have expected this: Back in June, there were reports that HTC representatives had been talking about a licensing issue that would keep any proprietary modifications off of phones with "With Google" branding. Sense is all HTC, and the MyTouch 3G is slapped with a Google logo, so this forthcoming update, which was announced at a press conference in Taiwan and will be available from HTC's website at some point in the near future, sounds like a distinctly foreign interest.

It's worth holding out for possible "clarifications" on this one—please, HTC, Google, or both, say something! Soothe us!—but this hemisphere's outlook isn't so great. Enjoy turning your Magics into Heroes for free, Eurojerks. At least we've got our homebrew.

Update: Another possible issue: The MyTouch 3G and Vodafone-labeled Magics have slightly less RAM than their HTC-branded counterparts, which means even the best hacked Hero ROMs don't run especially well. Yeah, not looking so great for ol' MyTouch here. [ePrice—Thanks, Taknarosh and Nick!]

In real terms, this means you'll be able to port the Hero's fantastic Sense UI to your MyTouch, as people have been doing on the G1 and the virtually identical HTC Magic for months. Mandatory disclaimer: this could brick your phone, so tread carefully. [HTCPedia via Crunchgear]

Done? Good. This phone is exactly the same, except that the myTouch has a slightly different finish, and T-Mobile released an App Pack filled with two handfuls of essential apps on the Android Marketplace for it. That's what we're going to review today. Also, keep in mind that this is running on T-Mobile's 3G network, which isn't quite as good as if you imported the device and used it on, say, AT&T's 3G network, which has more coverage.

FreshFace: A theming app for your Android. It has the ability to add small widgets like an RSS reader and a notepad onto your desktop. The FreshFace desktop pretty much takes over your real desktop, which is good, because FreshFace offers five pages of apps instead of three, but bad, because it's buggy.

Adds a little bit more functionality and theming, including new icons

Themes are mediocre

Occasionally buggy

imeem Mobile: Free streaming internet radio.

Decent enough for a free app, but not outstanding, considering Pandora and LastFM do this kind of thing much better.

T-Mobile Mobile Backup: A free contact list backup service from T-Mobile. Kind of unnecessary, since your phone already syncs with your Google account.

Not really sure what this app does that your Google account syncing doesn't already do. Maybe if you want to switch to another phone that's not an Android phone?

Movies by Flixter: A movie showtimes app that also lets you watch trailers, read reviews and browse DVD catalogs.

Pretty decent movie catalog app that does as much as you'd expect

T-Mobile My Account: Quick and easy access to all your phone's account info, including your activity billing, your plan and any alerts you may have. For some reason this only works over your cellular connection, so you'll have to shut off Wi-Fi.

Easier than loading up the T-Mobile site

Phonebook by Voxmobili: A replacement phonebook that sorts your contacts into a more usable manner. Plus, it's colorful.

Better, in many ways, than the official Android dialer. Definitely replace your contact list with this

Sherpa: A fancy Yelp-like app that can help you find local shops (eateries, theaters, cafes, grocery stores) using your phone's GPS.

It's just like Yelp, and quite useful if you're trying to find stuff within walking distance

Visual Voicemail: It's visual voicemail.

It's visual voicemail.

WorldTour: Periodically sets your wallpaper to live webcams around the world, like Paris

A little bit goofy. Would be better if the wallpapers were higher quality

The battery extender plugs into the bottom of the phone via miniUSB, and gives you 50% more talk time and supposedly works with "most" HTC phones. The docking station also works the same, but has a built-in mic for speakerphone and a 3.5mm jack to output sound.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

It's basically the same specs as we've seen in other incarnations, and it'll work with T-Mobile's 3G frequencies. We'll take a look at what customizations T-Mobile has put on the phone, but for a general idea of what to expect of this one over the original T-Mobile G1, take a look at our review of the Google Ion.

The Wall Street Journal, which we'd say is a reasonably respectable publication, has it on good authority that the newest Android handset to hit our shores will be announced next week. This lines up nicely with what we've heard from T-Mobile's CTO, so we think it's pretty credible. Of course, who knows what "this summer" means; it could be next month, or it could be late September. We'll find out more from the rumored announcement next week. You can check out our review of the variably-named phone here if you want to find out the ins and outs of this latest Android offering. [Wall Street Journal]