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Google Unveils First Android Phone
danieltdp writes "Google finally officially launched the first Android-enabled mobile device to hit the market. As expected, the first Android phone will be the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1), a device with a large touchscreen and a slide-out physical keypad that will run Google's new mobile platform." You might also not be at all surprised to know that Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store.
I am in the market for a new phone now and have been eagerly awaiting this first Android phone for some time. Whilst the G1 looked pretty clunky to me from leaked shots I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. However, based on today's presentation, I think I am going to wait and see.
My main issues:
1. Unless I misheard, this phone will require a gmail account to actually use it - even if you don't use their mail, calendar and chat apps. Call me paranoid, but I have no intention of giving Google even more info about me. If you need to register/log in using gmail before the phone becomes usable then that is a dealbreaker for me.
2. It also really bugs me that they haven't used a standard headphone jack. I know this is not a problem unique to this handset, but it annoys the hell out of me that manufacturers can't just use the standard jack size. I don't want multiple different headphones, one for each device, I want one set which I can use with all of them.
3. No Exchange support, tethering, desktop sync, video or Skype. Some or all of these would be nice at launch but I assume they will be added fairly quickly by others though given it is an open-source platform.
I think, on balance, I am going to wait until Android is available on other handsets or can be downloaded onto a handset of my choosing. The potential is still very much there with Android itself, but this version ain't it (at least for me). It is a shame really since I had such high hopes for the G1.
Actually, we fanbois hope that this announcement will jar Apple out of its iPhone SDK NDA foolishness, since Apple will now have to compete with a platform that actually allows people to write programming books on it and lets its programmers to ask each other for help without fear of impending lawsuit.
It bugs me that it even seeped into the summary.
"Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store."
Haven't pretty much ALL phone companies had a store to download shit from for a looooooooong time before iphone or even ipod? Seriously you might as well say they are taking a page from microsofts book because they have a download store too. Come on now don't fall into this trap of thinking Apple did everything first (re. level sensing laptops).
Everyone is comparing this new offering to the iPhone. But the interesting thing is that virtually no one compares it to the Blackberry - the new "has-been" of the so-called "Smart phone" industry.
It isn't like the Blackberry hasn't had any warning - the iPhone was announced more than 18 months ago, and there have been rumors about the Google-driven offering for nearly as long. How the shareholders of RIM can merely watch their company rest on its laurels is beyond me. RIM's death will be when Microsoft tries to acquire it.
In the 1980's, WANG was in nearly every office in America. They rested during the PC revolution, and within a couple years they were as good as dead. RIM has entered that territory. Yes, Blackberrys are still selling to corporate clients, who are traditionally slow to embrace new technologies. But other than the slow-movers out there, everyone can clearly see two very high-profile competitors - Apple and Google.
Looks bad for RIM.
Sure, $74/month may seem a little steep, but isn't it worth it to get a FREE phone?
Though sarcastic, you might not realize how accurately you've hit the nail...
In the US, we pretty much don't buy phones by themselves. The vast majority of people get them for "free" (or a penny, or $19.99-after-rebate, or some apparent pittance like that) bundled with a 2-year contract for service.
So, while Apple prohibited AT&T from giving the iPhone away with service, Google allowing T-Mobile and the like to bundle them means regular everyday people, rather than just Apple fans, may actually get one of these.
If it can run SSH, whether native or third party, and if there is some way to verify it's a real SSH, not infested by DHS or other snoops, that would be great.
Infuriate left and right
Windows Mobile IS a disaster.
Lalala
Why would Android have to keep handsets happy? Android is a platform, which a manufacturer decides to build a handset around. It is not a OS that will be shoe-horned into existing devices.
In other words, the manufacturer gets to decide whether or not Android will be a good fit. Assuming rational decision-makers, only appropriate handsets will be produced to use it.
Windows IS a disaster(reveal Apple "fanboi").
I watched an interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in which he said that the license for Android means that Yahoo could, for example, create their own version. (In the same interview, he said he would be happy if Microsoft built the next version of IE on Chrome).
Hopefully future vendors will drop the Google account requirement. There are rumors of a Sprint android phone, and AT&T has commented that they are considering it, for whatever that is worth.
Better would be to see something like OpenAndroid spring up to succeed where OpenMoko has so far failed.
s/apple/xerox/g
Check out my sysadmin blog!
Psst: there's more than one moderator! There are, in fact, thousands of them! To expect them all to behave the same is, well, rather silly. To get upset about a single moderation to your post here is, well, rather sad.
everything in moderation
So what you're saying is that iPhone security is so poor they *have* to bind it up for our protection. They could call it the iPwn.
Its a good thing there's not a "mobile windows" or it would be the end of cellular service as we know it!
this will be like PC vs Mac in the 90's the open platform will attract more developers, more manufacturers and eventually more users. the closed platform will be buried.
This program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite, and viewers like you.
Even if you could put a VoIP app on your phone,
The explorer turns to his trusty native guide, and points dramatically into the distance, and asks "what's that"... and from then on the mountain he was pointing at is known as "Mt YourFingerYouFool" in the local language...
The point isn't "you can't run Skype". That's just the finger. The mountain is "you can't just install anything you want on your open source Android phone".
>> To expect them all to behave the same is, well, rather silly.
Arrgh, silly but happens all the time around here.
It never fails. In every thread about Phones, There's always some Asshat that shows up that wants "Just a Phone" without the bells and whistles of whatever device is being talked about.
Never mind the fact is these devices exist and can be found easily. They still gripe, and more often than not, get modded up.
Do not read this
Unless you get third-party software, which is the whole selling point of this phone. How about this?
Android QuickOffice
Or you can write your own app to do that, which is the whole selling point of this phone.
If this phone/OS lives up to the hype, all these kinds of comments that we normally make about phones will become irrelevant. You don't complain that your new computer can't open a certain doctype; you just get the right software to do that. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the walled-garden era on cell phones.
Come on now don't fall into this trap of thinking Apple did everything first (re. level sensing laptops).
Nah, they just built the first one people actually use.
Higher Logics: where programming meets science.
People PAY for ringtones?
People PAY for mobile applications?
WTF?
If I'm not mistaken, multi-touch technology is so wrapped up in patents right now (everything from the screens themselves to the gestures you use to perform certain actions) that it's difficult to implement in anything that will actually make it to market without getting a bunch of lawsuits thrown at you. (Or paying out half your device cost in royalties.)
Second, multi-touch really isn't all that ground-breaking. I see it as similar to mouse gestures. Sure, both speed up certain actions but they don't give you anything that you can't do by making your UI a little better. Mouse gestures were once claimed to be the Next Big Thing, but hardly anyone actually uses them because it's just a novel way to make things slightly easier at the expense of committing to learn the gestures, some of which are not especially intuitive. The only multi-touch thing I actually ever see people do on the iPhone is zoom in and out to read web pages, which you really can't avoid because there's no other way to zoom.
As as exception to this, though, multi-touch does have loads of potential for digital artists in the fields of graphics design, computer animation, and music. (I'd love to get my hands on one of these.)
Our small startup was going to do iPhone apps with a nice chunk of funding from some venture capital types.
Android was a bit under the radar for awhile and the other people I am working with were caught up in the Apple marketing hype. But then more and more developer nightmare stories about dealing with Apple kept coming up. And these were above and beyond the absurd NDA crap and other secrecy Apple holds to with their product plans raised all sorts of alarms. Even the money guys were getting worried that they were going to dump all this cash into projects that were completely at the mercy and whim of Apple.
We were about to go out and waste money on expensive Macs for everyone - one of our guys was insisting on some 4 grand Mac laptop.
All those plans are now scrapped. We are all working on Android by simply downloading the free SDK and eclipse IDE and up and running on our own PCs. We don't have to waste time learning damn Objective-C that no one outside of the niche Mac dev community has any experience with and instead were able to jump right in with our existing Java skills.
The sky is the limit for Android. Solid technology base that is completely open. All the benefits of open source Linux without all the useless development and API fragmentation. The amount of interest from cellphone makers and people beyond the cellphone market in leveraging Android for their devices makes it clear that the huge amount of developer interest is just going to continue to grow rapidly.
Anything a user wants will be appearing on Android. It's so easy to modify for whatever end users need and desire.
Bye bye Apple and iPhone. Hello Android. Google really came through big time with this platform.
Okay. So how much more money are you going to make selling apps for Android over Apple? This is a serious question. For all of the nicities surrounding Android from a dev point of view, what are they doing to make your venture capitalists happy?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, all the Ron Paul supporters I know are more intelligent and informed than your average voter. By the GP's definition of fanboi, you'll definitely find a higher proportion supporting the two majors.
~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
Will really come out of the woodwork on this one :-)
Did you notice that you wanted to talk about Apple before anyone else did? Instead of talking about the benefits or drawbacks of Android, you wanted to troll about Apple. Think about it.
My impression of the android platform was that all apps were equal. If that's the case, is there anything stopping you from stripping off the google ones and replacing them?
If all the google apps turn out to be open source (which it sounded like they were going to do) then that'd be even easier.
Except that the concept of the limited company dates back at least to renaissance Europe, and probably earlier.
Still, anti-corporate rants are very much in vogue, so don't let anything trivial like facts stand in your way.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I don't have an MBA, and even if I did it would be worth far less than 4 digit ID, but isn't that a good thing?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
What's good for the developer is good for the customer, if it leads to a thriving marketplace.
What the App Store has done is given people with technical skills but no MBA (like myself) an opportunity to get paid for implementing their ideas.
What remains to be seen is whether the chaff will drown out the wheat in the Android Market without the auditing process of the iTunes Store. Ratings are all well and good on YouTube, but viral videos aren't viruses. Android prides itself on not being locked down, but you can't have it both ways...
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
I love how people defend the abusive practices of google, apple, tmobile, etc. "But, but, theyre watching out for us. Clearly you cant have VoIP over a cell data network!"
Let's think about this. Apple and Google allow VoIP applications. Customers are happier and buy more phones and both companies make more money. Sounds like a win except, neither company has a cell pone network so they have to sell the idea to a partner like AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile who currently make more money charging exorbitant sums of money for regular voice calls.
Look, I think locking down phones like this sucks as much as the next guy, but seriously, this is on the cell network operators, not the phone/OS makers like Google and Apple who have to kowtow in order to even get into the game. Put the blame where it belongs on the cell phone companies and on the FCC for their irresponsible handling of the spectrum.
You need to put down the eggs youve been counting dude.... The apple app store is /already established/ and successful. the android store is not. it remains to be seen how successful it will be.
The apple store is also catering to the /non/ cellular market. theres a huge market of ipod owners for your software as well.
Im not saying there wont be money to be made on the android platform, but im glad i didnt invest in your company. just think, if youd developed for "iphones" you could already be making money!
P.S. I would love to hear about this $4000 apple laptop. I cant seem to find it on their site.