A brief follow-up from the Webinar, word from The Wall Street Journal that HP may be working on using Android officially for an upcoming netbook. VP of the PC division Satjiv Chahil’s is quoted as saying they’re in the process of assessing its capabilities, so don’t get your hopes up anytime soon. Also mentioned is Asus, from back in February. And the report also mentions that Dell’s been working with the software for use in multiple devices due out this year, including a MID and possibly a long-rumored smartphone.

Android Cupcake (1.5 SDK) – Here are some of the recent conclusions about the new release:

• The on screen keyboard is a nice for inputs, anything of length I would continue to use the full keyboard of the G1
• The widgets are a nice add on as the current public demand is for more widget customization and theme skinning. This will work well with manufactures
• Long awaited stereo Bluetooth works
• Browser improvements
• Battery life seems marginally improved

The main improvements contained within the Android 1.5 CupCake Release include:

• New Linux kernel version 2.6.27
• System wide refinement of all core user interface elements
• Animated window transitions
• Accelerometer based application rotations
• Faster camera startup and image capturing
• Direct upload of photo to Picasa
• Faster acquisition of GPS location
• On-screen soft keyboard
• Home screen widgets
• Live folders
• Video recording & playback in MPEG-4 or 3GP formats
• Direct upload of videos to YouTube
• Stereo Bluetooth support of both A2DP & AVCRP profiles plus auto-pairing
• Faster browser with the latest Webkit & Squirrelfish Javascript engine
• Copy & Paste within the browser
• Specific Date & Time stamp in call log

Of course most important is WHEN it will be released as an OTA update for the current G1 owners as my sense is it will be late April or early May.