Three months after Google released an "early look" at version 1.5 of its Android mobile operating system, a newer version has made its way into the eager hands of developers. Dubbed Donut, the new alpha version brings a raft of new features to 'Droiders. As demoed at the Google I/O conference back in May, when Donut is fully baked - or, more appropriately, deep-fried.

It will include system-wide search that can also be accessed by handwriting gestures, text-to-speech, and an API that supports integration with Google Voice Search. MobileCrunch also uncovered screenshots that appear to indicate CDMA and VPN support.

Upon its release, some observers dubbed Donut "Android 2.0." When The Reg asked Google whether this was, indeed, the case, a company spokesperson pointed us to a post on Google's Android Developer Group by Romain Guy, an Android framework engineer, who cleared up that misconception: "Donut is NOT Android 2.0," he wrote, adding "and there's no multi-touch support in Donut."

It remains unclear, however, as to whether multitouch support, rumored to be held back from Android 1.0 at Apple's request, will be included when Android 2.0 does appear. Google didn't respond to our request for clarification on this point, but multitouch or no, an Donut phone is scheduled to appear later this year from Sony Ericsson - possibly an updated Xperia - along with up to 20 other phones by year's end.