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The iPhone and the T-Mobile G1 are still vying for the limelight as smartphones of the year, and both their backers are preparing updates soon to boost their features.

Apple has sent out invitations for a special event, to be held on Tuesday at its California headquarters, to outline the iPhone 3.0 software and new software development kit. Although the company is cagey on details, hopes are high for major enhancements - last year the iPhone 2.0 event ushered in the first SDK and the App Store.

AT&T carried out a user survey last year to see which features customers wanted for the 3G iPhone, and some of these may be included in the new release. Prominent among them is cut and paste capability, while many are also hoping for true background processing - Apple had promised a feature that would support a quasi-version of this feature, but it never appeared, sparking speculation that Apple was readying the real thing. Some analysts are also looking for results from Apple's acquisition of chipmaker PA Semi a year ago, and a homescreen-based universal search function.

One thing everyone agrees on - the next generation iPhone handset itself will not be on show.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile is promising major firmware updates for the G1 Android-based phone, including virtual keyboards and stereo Bluetooth support, plus an upgrade of the underlying Linux kernel. Stealing a march on Apple, it will introduce cut and paste to the browser as well as supporting the latest iteration of the Webkit browser core, and adding support for the new Squirrelfish Javascript engine.

The updates, which will be available next month, are based on the 'Cupcake' changes to Android, which Google outlined last fall. The changes created in the Cupcake branch of Android development - an internal Google project - have now been merged into the master branch and so are open source, and should be supported in all the new Android-based devices that are expected to debut in the third quarter, and in the HTC Magic, due to launch at Vodafone soon. Google would not give a precise date for the release of Cupcake features.

Possibly eyeing the netbook market, and the ODMs that make midrange webphones, Google has set up a technical support team in Taiwan for Android. A Google statement said:

"Android was designed from the beginning to scale downward to featurephones and upward to MIDs (mobile Internet devices) and netbook-style devices. We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation, but we have nothing to announce at this time."

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