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HTC Dream (Android) Video Emerges
Barence writes "A video purporting to show the new Android-based handset from HTC has surfaced online. The video claims to show the HTC Dream, with its orientation sensor in action, automatically flipping the screen as the user changes from holding it horizontally to vertically. HTC announced earlier this month that it would be ready to release an Android handset before the end of the year, with speculation that this referred to the Dream handset."
Yay, it can do what other smartphones have been doing for years.
Android is like Slashdot ... bringing you yesterday's stuff, today!
However I hope that it is good and hence successful, because nothing could be better than getting rid of the travesty of a mobile operating system that is Windows Mobile.
I still think that everyone is fighting around in a 2007-esque mobile phone marketplace, whilst Apple is providing a 2008-esque experience (with functionality holes, yes, but overall).
I get the message that the video in the URL is no longer available. Happens almost all the time when linked from /. :-(
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I own an iPhone. I don't think it's very good. At least until it's jailbroken, whereupon it becomes pretty damn cool. Or, at least, useful. Call me when Apple finally realizes that they can't pull a 'razorblade business model' with MobileMe, when the data that is being sync'd is likely proprietary to a business customer or under grant of 'attorney-client privilege.' I'd also like to know when they'll get back to selling utility and functionality instead of flash and show.
In all the coverage that I have seen, they keep talking about the phone itself. In my opinion, the reason the ipod was so successful was not as much because of the device, but rather on the integration of an easy to use platform of services for consumers. The ease of use App Store for the iPhone is a great example of this, but is only a small piece long term. In Apple's case, you can bet they have big integration plans for their OSX/iPod/iTunes/iTV product lines.
Meaning, I really question is the industry can effectively challenge Apple in a long term sense without the full underpinning support of Microsoft and eventually the Linux community... I guess we will see, though...
Hey, I'm excited about Android, but that is one lousy video with illegible screen text and fuzzy icons.
"automatically flipping the screen as the user changes from holding it horizontally to vertically."???? It shows the user opening the phone and the oriententation changes!!!! Current HTC phones do that!!!! Where the "WOW" factor?
So is the Android Dream capable of generating Electric Sheep?
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
Did you watch the same video I did? The phone definitely has a touch screen.
I want to make love to this handset.
The touchscreen looks solid, plus there's a full, slide-out keyboard. Beautiful.
It's an open architecture, so there's none of this "sorry, we'll let this guy sell his 'I'm An Idiot' app for $1,000, but if you try to port a web browser over, we'll murder your children" crap.
It runs Java, so there's none of this "you can program in any language you want, as long as your one of the ten people in the universe that uses Objective-C" crap.
Please, Google, *please* don't screw this up. Cool it with the "for your eyes only" SDK shenanigans. Get a decent build out the door, and start getting some handset makers in the game.
Give me something better than an iPhone.
Thomas Galvin
The iPhone SDK does let you develop your own applications.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Both the Boy Genius Report and Engadget are fairly skeptical that this is the "final" Dream, mostly because the phone in this video isn't nearly as attractive as HTC's other recent phones.
I hope it's not final. Why would HTC release something that looks like the generic phone in this video for their first android handset when the company is perfectly capable of making something as attractive as the Touch Diamond?
Also, I know that Youtube comments are generally about as useful as catshit, but the uploader claims in the comments below his video, "i Think Semi-final but not Sure. And there is a black one. i'll upload the live demo of it."
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
I'd also like to know when they'll get back to selling utility and functionality instead of flash and show.
This is apple. They've ALWAYS neglected "utility and functionality" to favor "Flash and show."
Remember the old joke about OSes as cars. "You have the prettiest car on the lot, but you can only drive on 5% of roads"
Folks, folks, the REAL news here is that the word iPhone doesn't appear in the article. We've reached a point where a phone w/ new technology (Android, in this case) can be mentioned without the comparison being made. I don't know if it was an oversight by the author, or if iPhones have passed the hype-cusp or what, but this is a big day for cell phone news.
I loves my iPhone, btw, but I'm not a fanboi that thinks that it has an inherent greatness because of its origins. The most exciting thing to me about the iPhone is the effect it's having on the rest of the industry. Competition makes things better, and if future phones make serious inroads to usability of the caliber the iPhone did, then we're in for some great stuff.
The challenge for Android seems to be making it compelling for the user. The news I've read and documents I've reviewed suggest that the emphasis is on the developers, making it powerful to code on and providing a heavy duty framework. The UI demos I've seen so far have left me cold, though, and remind me more of Windows Mobile.
Anyhow, I digress. No mention of iPhone: Good. Not because I hate the iPhone (I loves it), but because I think the focus should be on the user, not on one specific device.
The App Store will need considerable improvement if Apple is to keep up. There were early attempts to game Apple's system, and the number of apps is getting to "daunting" levels.
I'm kind of curious -- now that the App Store is ramping up with useful stuff (there are, for example, at least two SSH apps posted now, with more to come), what's the compelling reason to jailbreak? Is it just tethering?
And I don't get what "attorney-client privilege" has to do with MobileMe... surely a law firm would run something like Exchange and use the iPhone's ActiveSync support, or alternately, Lotus Notes with the upcoming Notes client for the iPhone? It's not as if Apple's model suggests that enterprise business customers would use MobileMe.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
No, I don't remember that at all. And I've been using Apple products since 1977.
That's because you're a zealot. :)
I'm not seeing the orientation change when he tilts from from landscape to portrait and back. The only change I witness coincides with sliding out the keyboard; guess what, an actual switch - such as that on the HTC Wizard (I have one) - will do that much.
But even if it had a proper orientation sensor - so what. This is a blurry video of a seemingly rather ugly flimsy (saw that slide-out wiggle? yikes) device that has trouble registering taps (see beginning of video).
I know that Android is a platform, not a phone - but for the sake of the platform, I hope this device (whatever it is - I have a hard time believing it's an HTC product... even a model study) is not what is going to be associated with it.
My Nokia N82 does that. The phone in the video seems to flip the screen as the guy pulls out the keyboard.
Error 001
Security Scan and Virus Detection do not work with your operating system.
This opportunity already exists when you get a phone with Symbian or Windows Mobile. It's only Apple that hates your freedom.
By the way, it should go without saying that when you write applications for Android, you are still tied to one company... Google. Just as, say, if you write for iPhone you are chained to Apple, and if you write for WinMo you are chained to Microsoft. And I'm not convinced that Google is any less evil than the above.
And this requires an approval process, and even then Apple can remotely decide it doesn't want you to run it.
If you want to develop apps for your own phone using Java you can already do that on many many phones already available.
If your account number were 2000 units lower, I'd ask you to return your geek card.
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
Thank you for providing "iPhone" content
--- What?
Android apparently runs a load of Apache and GPL licensed stuff - so where's the source guys?
I want to run it on my Neo Freerunner as it's not looking like the openmoko guys are going to be geting a solid phone platform available any time soon...
If they have researched well, they could figure Symbian devices having motion sensor (yes, they exist) already have gesture based control via 3rd party Application.
Funny and sad thing is, the biggest player of market gets such an interesting application but only place you will hear about it is Symbian news sites.
http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/008/05/hi_n_bye_gesture_controll_for_your_phone_is_out.htm
Also I think Android isn't getting some real feedback from IT sites since they are afraid from Google. Lack of negative feedback will really hurt it. I still don't get the point after a)Java is GPL/J2ME soon (obvious) b) Symbian goes opensource. I can understand regular american users have never seen the true power of J2ME/Symbian because of telecom dictatorship but it is Google, they should know what is possible already.
Anyhow, I digress. No mention of iPhone: Good. Not because I hate the iPhone (I loves it), but because I think the focus should be on the user, not on one specific device.
I certainly understand where you're coming from, but I also understand why the iPhone is so often mentioned in comparison to Android and similar products: the iPhone is the "reference build" of a smart phone.
Your phone has a touch screen? Cool; is it as responsive as the iPhone? Your phone has email? Nice; is it as well integrated as the iPhone? You have turn-by-turn navigation? Nice, is it... wait a minute, you don't have that on the iPhone? Wow...
iPhone is the product to meet and beat, so comparisons are inevitable, just like FireFox was always compared to IE, when it was first getting its footing. Now that FireFox is largely seen as "as good as" IE, and in many cases superior, the comparisons are less frequent.
Thomas Galvin
"By the end of the year" is too late. My Verizon phone broke and the iphone 3g + my Verizon early termination is affordable.
I already waited six months for Android and I can't wait another six months. Maybe I can spring for an Android phone in two years when my AT&T contract runs out.
..provided you don't actually want to do anything interesting with the phone.
And even if you do get past the SDK nazis at apple they can pull your app without warning.
By the way, it should go without saying that when you write applications for Android, you are still tied to one company... Google.
The Android web site:
The Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, is developing Android: the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.
I sense an inconsistency here. Care to explain?
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
It's also impossible to open source an application you write for the iPhone.
By what name do you wish to be mourned?
Distributing through their app store requires approval. (Getting a story posted on slashdot requires approval, too). Developing doesn't require approval. Ad-hoc distributing doesn't require approval.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
For the most part the experience is pretty slick. Coming from using the iPhone for a year now some of the navigation paradigms seemed foreign so it took a little getting used to.
For one thing, the screen rotation is not detected but dependent on whether or not the screen is slid out. When the handset is closed the screen is in a vertical orientation and when the handset is open and the keyboard is exposed the screen is in a horizontal orientation.
There is no onscreen keyboard so the only way to actually do input is with the screen open. It's kind of annoying because you might be using it with one hand in vertical mode and come to a point where you have to type in something so you have to stop, rotate the device, open the screen and then start typing.
One big feature it has over the iPhone is copy/paste. It only works on input fields but at least you've got something.
The google maps street view compass thing was pretty slick and worked just as I had seen demoed. Overall I think it will be some good healthy competition and hopefully force Apple to open up their platform a little more.
As far as development goes there's no approval process or dictator mandating unpublished UI rules. You can download the eclipse IDE, plug in the phone via USB and deploy apps right to the phone or publish a file that can be downloaded and installed.
For people who require a physical keyboard, this will be the phone to have.
For the average consumer they don't need to mention the iPhone. I was at a bar last week and there was a TV on. Several times there was a commercial for a phone that wasn't the iPhone (but had a touch screen motion sensing, etc.) and twice I heard people make comments on the iPhone when they saw the ad. The iPhone has such huge mindshare that even an ad selling something similar to an iPhone is selling the iPhone.
If anyone is going to really compete with the iPhone in the next several years they're going to have to reuse the old Honneywell slogan: The other touchscreen phone.
beware the comical video quality. as pointed out in the comments it sounds like Darth Vader was testing it.
"*whooosh* *huff* *whooosh* *huff* *whooosh* *huff* the force is strong with this phone."
cure toy, but I'll reserve judgment until I see a more professional video of it - even for youtube that's bad.
Score 4: Insightful for basically saying that MobileMe isn't suitable for business use. I get -1: Troll for dissing Windows Mobile and not getting excited by an accelerometer rotating the display. What's going on with Slashdot?
Anyway, no shit sherlock re MobileMe's unsuitability for business use.
Why wouldn't you use the Exchange capability, presuming the phone had passed your companies compliance testing to be offered as an alternative to a Blackberry?
It's not like MobileMe is mandatory. It's an option, for consumers. It's push email for consumers, which is a major step forward for them.
At least remote wipe on an iPhone will wipe all the on-board memory of that proprietary data. Windows Mobile remote wipe? What, your data was on a memory card, and that card was removed from the device? Oh no!
I still jailbreak mine, even though the big reason was ssh. The remaining reasons that keep me doing it:
1. Customizing the interface (i.e. personalizing the graphics & such).
2. SSH daemon on the phone itself, something Apple will never allow on App Store.
3. 'Cause I can
So they've got some OEMs onboard. That doesn't mean that Google isn't the one behind it.
1. Some types of apps will never be in the App Store, including those that do any background work, those that Apple sees as threatening the security of the device, or those that may threaten Apple's business model in any way.
2. As far as I know there's no way to put music on the un-jailbroken iPhone without using iTunes, which leaves Linux users out in the cold. (Don't bother with Wine.)
My most-used jailbreak apps include: a full-text copy of Wikipedia, a tool to sync to Google Calendar, an alternate UI for the music player, a live Last.fm scrobbler, a way to play arbitrary videos copied from my computer, a detailed wi-fi detector, and a podcast downloader/player. Most of those wouldn't be allowed on the App Store.
The one AppStore-only app that interests me is Pandora.
They've always been like that indeed.
Now just wait for the "I'm an iPhone, and I'm a Android phone" TV ads, where they'll make fun of stuff that's a total non-issue, and make iPhone users seem like retarded morons. I'm sure it'll sell lore more of Steve's iTrash :)
Installing it on your fucking iphone requires approval, dickhead. That's one thing some of us find unacceptable.
with Andriod, you already *can* develop your own apps.....there was a whole competition sponsored by Google for it. For that matter, you can develop your own apps for Windows Mobile, too....and Blackberry....and Symbian...and even the *gasp* iPhone.....
Android SDK - http://code.google.com/android/download.html
Windows Mobile (Compact Framework) SDK - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497273.aspx
Blackberry SDK - http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/
Symbian OS SDK - http://www.symbian.com/developer/techlib/v8.1adocs/doc_source/index.html
iPhone SDK - http://developer.apple.com/iphone/
Let us know when you've developed something cool. Maybe even post a Slashvertisement.
Layne
I can't wait to see all of the VoIP clients in the app store!
how to invest, a novice's guide
It's not Open Source. Open Source is a development model, and they are not doing that; they are "cathedral."
Once released, it (or at least most of it) will be Free Software, and because of that, some Open Source community may end up forking and developing it.
Its disappointing that the rotation lacks the aesthetically pleasing value of the visually rotating window on an iPhone.
I'm still very skeptical of on-screen keyboards. The iPhone keyboard is alright, but it's not quite as easy to use as most would like it. The OpenMoko's keyboard is terrible, and can only really be used with a stylus.
How's the keyboard on the HTC models?
I'm getting a new phone in October, and I've not yet decided between the iPhone, OpenMoko, HTC, or whatever is the successor to the Nokia E70 that Maddox so enjoys (Google "maddox iphone").
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
I would say one reason to jailbreak is so that you don't have to pay for every single app you want to use. The iPhone and accompanying service plans are already pretty expensive. Why would I want to add another $100 of applications? Also, can iPhone apps be moved to a newer iPhone model? I know for sure that if I buy an app for my iPod nano, that I can't move it to a different iPod if I get a new one. I would guess, although I could be wrong, that the iPhone also doesn't allow you transfer apps to new devices. Let's also no forget that it's not just tethering, but a lot of other functionality that has been locked out to developers of the iPhone.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Did anyone else notice that the screen changes layout based on the opening of the keyboard, not orientation. I can understand not reading the article, but not taking the time to watch a video is just sad.
When I get one I plan on jailbreaking it for my own stuff. If you want to write a personal use app the current system is onerous and expensive. Add in the fact that if I pay all the fees and obtain permission then one year later I want to fix something or add a feature I must re-up the $$$
Will Android support all the 2D/3D graphics/video decoding functions supported by the Qualcomm chips in the HTC phones? I currently have an AT&T HTC Tilt and it is mediocre at best, with unbelievably buggy software and complete lack of graphics acceleration support. Any future HTC phone is going to have to be AMAZING and nearly perfect to buy HTC again.
Not true. However, it is impossible to use the GPL and probably (I'd have to reread the license to be sure) any LGPL libraries. It's also stretching the definition of open source slightly when you need $100 of tools to compile the source, but no more than the early Free Software tools that required a commercial C compiler, or software written for Windows needing MSVC++ (before they released the free version).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
While it's nice to see a proper device in action, it's not really of much use unless they're using a camera dedicated to this sort of thing.
They're better off using video recorded from a device emulator if they dont have a decent camera.
It's also impossible to open source an application you write for the iPhone.
AFAIK Atleast one application on iPhone has their source code under GPL: http://iphone.trac.wordpress.org/browser you can open source the app you write or the iPhone
Vijay Kiran
I blog, therefore I am.
I think Apple is afraid of a scenario like this:
1) Normal person (non-tech-minded) tries to install unsupported software and screws up Iphone
2) Normal person now has a broken Iphone and calls Apple tech support.
3) Apple tells them that they don't support that software nor the problems that can occur with it.
4) Normal person is frustrated and thinks that Apple should support him (even though realistically they can't) and thus is pissed, giving out bad word-of-mouth.
I'm kind of curious -- now that the App Store is ramping up with useful stuff (there are, for example, at least two SSH apps posted now, with more to come), what's the compelling reason to jailbreak? Is it just tethering?
Well, a terminal with all that Unix goodness under the hood could be a reason. Why have a SSH app if you can have ssh and everything else, too?
Secrets to Slashdot success # 177: If your post is modded down then don't cry about it in a later post because it, too, will be modded down unless you post as AC.
Not Apple. I mean, wouldn't you prefer writing Z-80 assembly to 6502? I sure did.
Did you watch the same video I did? The phone definitely has a touch screen.
It has a touch screen but no onscreen keyboard.
Yeah, that is why Apple products are easier to use and more functional than anything else around. And I don't even use them, but not for some made up stupid reason.
reboot your computer at least 3 times?
Where are the ssh apps? I can't find them. Only found a Telnet client.
Which part of ad-hoc distribution don't you understand? I'm guessing the part where you put the app on your iPhone without Apple's involvement.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You have an interesting definition of "functional."
They're brand new, just released. Head over to the App store and search in Utilities. I haven't bought one though because I'm pretty happy with MobileTerminal, sshd, and the local shell.
Right. There was a time when you couldn't boot an Apple II without calling up a ROM monitor and entering in and running a bootloader by hand. Not that I claim to be l33t. Because if you're calling yourself "l33t", you're anything but.
orientation changes when the keyboard is slid out.
It's also stretching the definition of open source slightly when you need $100 of tools to compile the source, but no more than the early Free Software tools that required a commercial C compiler, or software written for Windows needing MSVC++ (before they released the free version).
Remember: open source has nothing to do with price, so "$100 of tools to compile the source" is irrelevant. That the tools required to compile the source are proprietary also does not affect the ability for you to open source your code (though it's still not good for open source developers, but for different reasons).
However, the fact that their SDK license explicitly states that no part of their secret API may be revealed to anyone else kind of means that you cannot expose any code that you write that uses their API's (which is technically necessary if you want to write an app that actually does something). Of course, this is based on reading an article explaining how the license hinders open source software and not actually reading the license itself.
It was a really good paper.
Mobile Me is for home and family use. It doesn't even let you do the "google apps" model.
IPhone fully supports enforced VPN connecting against Exchange, which is what you should be doing if you're using it for business (and what hundreds of thousands of business users are doing).
My phone does that, the only reason the screen turns like that is because he pulled the keyboard out which tells the phone that it is going to be turned... When he put the keyboard back the phone screen also changed. If he didn't touch the keyboard and just flipped it the screen would have stayed the same.
And you had to go and ruin it by doing a comparison with your own iPhone! Way to go!
The phone itself is very nice. Everybody knows that Windows Mobile is crap, but the Dream will run Android...
Functional in that they do what they do very easily, they function very well. Sure, they can't do as many things as other products like the Nokia N800 or N95, but what they do, they do better and a lot easier.
What is your definition, or are you just being the classic anti-Apple wanker?
Nobody should use Exchange, whether in business or the "academic enterprise environment". Exchange is a mess. I'll take a UNIX solution, thank you.
Unfortunately, the GPL is incompatible with their SDK license. Someone should probably let the people that write that application know before Apple decides to sue them off the planet for exposing their super secret API.
By what name do you wish to be mourned?
What you describe as "functional" I describe as "usable." If they do something easily, they are usable. I was primarily speaking about their computers. The more things they do, the more "functional" they are. Apple may have "usable" down[0] but they are too crippled to be "functional".
iPods are fairly functional, but not what I consider "usable". They play music, but they don't let you just copy your music onto them via an MSD interface, instead having to use special software for it. This is why I till don't have one.
(I don't see it, but admittedly, my experience is limited to dicking with OS X on a display at CompUSA when I briefly toyed with the idea of adding a Mini to my stable.)
err... the parenthetical at the end is wrt the [0] footnote.
I'd also like to know when {Apple will} get back to selling utility and functionality instead of flash and show.
Probably never. Functionality doesn't sell. Look at Apple in the 1990s, brilliantly functional, head and shoulders over the turgid, crappy PC competition.
Look at the iMac that saved Apple. Showy, flashy, and only functional because it was using the the legacy of Mac OS
Apple's lesson was functionality isn't a saleable commodity. All new Apple products are vanilla-featured, inflexible and flashy looking. Whatever replaces Mac OS X when it's run its race will probably go this way, too.
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for, er... food." Col. Jack O'Neil, SG-1