Jealous of those Motorola (An)Droid owners and their Google Maps Navigation app? Ready to hack your older phone with an earlier version of Google’s Android operating system on it? Wait! Don’t touch that code! The Google announced via its Google Mobile blog that the free navigation app is now available for phones running with Android 1.6 (cute codename: Donut) and higher. That means all you T-Mobile myTouch and G1 owners (assuming you live in the United States) can now take advantage of it.

To wit (per The Google):

If you have a phone running Android 1.6, you can download an updated version of Google Maps from Android Market to use Navigation today. Google Maps Navigation is in beta and is currently available in the United States. Some features of Android 2.0 are not available on Android 1.6, for example, the ability to use the “navigate to” voice command as shown in our demo video. However, you can still create a shortcut that will allow you to launch Navigation and start getting directions to a specific place from your current location with just a single touch from your home screen.

If you haven’t been paying attention and wondering what all the fuss is, Google Maps Navigation is a beta version of an app that Google debuted to coincide with the introduction of Motorola’s Droid on Verizon Wireless; it’s the first phone to utilize the 2.0 version of Android. Naturally it didn’t take to long for the technically minded to begin hacking the Linux-based Android OS to get Google Maps Nav to work on phones with earlier versions.

A few short weeks later and here we are: Google Maps Navigation is now officially available for Android 1.6 and later versions. The beta app, however, is only for use in the United States; presumably Google will expand coverage down the road, so to speak.

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