Google Revs Android, FCC Approves First Phone

Cycon writes "Google has announced, 'We're releasing a beta SDK. You can read about the new Android 0.9 SDK beta at the Android Developers' Site, or if you want to get straight to the bits, you can visit the download page.' A new Development Roadmap has also been released to help developers understand the direction the software is taking (as this is still only a Beta release). In addition, the FCC has approved the HTC Dream, and it is believed Google and T-Mobile will launch the phone in the US on November 10, since a confidentiality request attached to the application asks the FCC to keep details secret until that date."

Comments

iPhone appstore killer.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Compare the iPhone's walled garden approach to this:

All applications are equal

Android does not differentiate between the phone's basic and third-party applications -- even the dialer or home screen can be replaced.

Re:iPhone appstore killer.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to get troll-rated into oblivion for this, but how is it different from few dozen window mangers for Linux - arguably one of the main reasons why the community is so fragmented and the interface standard still lagging behind proprietary systems?

Choice is often overrated. A team of professional interface designers should make the choice for me instead of giving me tons of options to figure out.

Android is a cute gimmick that's going to make an initial splash and then fade away into obscurity. And knowing Google's mantra of perpetual beta products, I'm going to guess that the project will be kept on life support forever, eventually ending up on cellphones in developing nations.

Re:iPhone appstore killer.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Choice is often overrated. A team of professional interface designers should make the choice for me instead of giving me tons of options to figure out.

I couldn't agree with you more!

The choice between MS, Apple & Linux is superfluous. Let's go with the most popular choice - that way developers can concentrate on one platform.

The choice between Firefox & Safari on OSX is superfluous. Apple's team of professional interface designers should make the choice for us; all those OS X users using Firefox are just delusional.

Re:I think this stuff should all be spun off

[QuantumG]

Or you could choose not to use Google.

The rest of us shouldn't have to suffer for your paranoia.

Re:All in all, another brick outside The Wall

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the iPhone is not like the carefully cultivated gardens of botanical centers. It is like Monsanto(TM) corn that has been genetically modified to be sterile, and comes with a license agreement.

Re:many carries are open, Apple is not

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you saying that the carriers rejected the iPhone because they thought its closed nature would make it unsuccessful in the market? Or maybe they were making a moral stand for consumer openness?

Carriers rejected the iPhone because Apple wanted a monthly revenue sharing agreement.

Re:I think this stuff should all be spun off

[Ihmhi]

Pretty soon they'll know your current location, what you've been searching for all your life, who you've been talking to and what you had for breakfast, as well as the contents of your email and your various documents.

Good, maybe Google can help me find a girlfriend who isn't a crazy whore.

Re:Android will only run low res Java apps

[Cycon]

Consider the iPhone, which despite being so crippled, a developer can still create and compile some native application for it, and install it via iTunes store or jailbreak. Google has decided TO BAN ALL NATIVE APPLICATIONS for its Android phones, and only allow Java.

Surely we will end up seeing "jailbroken" Android phones. If you are willing to consider a jailbroken iPhone as a legitimate target platform, you should know that people are already working on (and have met some success with) building and executing C and C++ applications on the Android emulator.

Re:The new PC vs MAC

[Serious Callers Only]

Remember when MSFT was the one promoting openness, as compared to the evil Apple and IBM empires?

No, I don't.

I do remember how they screwed over their suppliers (QDOS), partners (IBM with OS 2, Sun with Java, PlaysForSure etc), and customers though(WinME, PlaysForSure). Also how they steamrollered the industry into the near monopoly monoculture we have today (Contracts forbidding BeOS or Linux on OEM machines, binary formats etc). Nice job rewriting history though.

Worked out well for them till people got tired of being screwed over and paying for mediocre knock-offs of other people's ideas.

A blessing for small manufacturers.. I can't wait.

[mrboyd]

I was roaming around electronic shops in Singapore a few months back and I've seen hundredth of Chinese iphone copies. Some of them even added nice features like FM radio and TV tuners on top of an already 3G phone. Some of them look really decent from a physical point of view but in all of them the operating system and interface seemed clumsy and literally rushed out of the door when compared to a UIQ, Windows Mobile or Iphone.

It's not that difficult to put together a physical phone since most chipsets are fully integrated little marvel. Building an operating system and all the applications a user expects takes a while. Polishing them until they shine, ala apple, takes even longer.

Now I am just wondering what will happen, if Google keep its promises, when those manufacturers will get access to the Android system for free. I saw at least 5 or 6 iclones that I would gladly use if the system was decent. It could very well be a revolution.

Re:The new PC vs MAC

[Chineseyes]

Is it American chauvinism that makes so many here discount RIM & Nokia?

How do people like this get modded insightful??

I can't speak about RIM but I have owned a dozen Nokia phones over the past 10 or so years and they sucked or were decent but nothing great. About six months ago I purchased an HTC tytn and it is leaps and bounds better than anything Nokia ever put out. I think the iphone is ridiculously overrated but I used one and it was still better than anything Nokia has put out yet. This has nothing to do with "American chauvanism" and it has everything to do with Nokia having a very long track record of putting out half ass products.