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50+ Android Phones Expected In Near Future
wiseandroid writes "It's not even a year ago that the HTC Dream G1 became the first Android enabled phone to be released publicly (on October 22nd, 2008) and now we have listed more than 50 Android phones expected in the near future." Of the 51 phones on this list, 12 (from nine manufacturers) are currently available.
Seriously. Why do Android phones seem to ignore the camera? I'd really like to see one with a very good camera, something like an Android version of the N86
Will take time till Android matches the market share of IPhone that way.
I have had a BB Storm for a few months I like a few features and loathe a few others.
Likes:
- Easy web page viewing most anywhere
- BB Messenger is good and beats SMS/MMS anyday (plus its cost is included in my plan unlike SMS)
Hates:
- Speed of the device (it feels slower now than when I first got the device and can take a few seconds now to come from locked screen to usable mode)
- Battery life ( I don't know how any of the Androids stack up here)
I have briefly used a G1 and I thought it was a nice device. The touchscreen keyboard on the Storm is ok, but when typing quickly it lags several keys behind. I did not experience that on the G1, plus with a physical keyboard you can type without looking at the phone.
Cheers,
the_crowbar
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there is not enough information released as of yet, but i really hope for a greater diversity of features and hardware. i really want a better (sturdier) piece of hardware than the G1 that has a keyboard and an SD slot. (or 2!)
i googled the ones on the list that were bold (which apparently indicates they are currently for sale) and i didn't see any that had a keyboard. they all appeared superficially similar in design: touchscreen iphone lookalikes. that is really too bad, i like keyboards.
I was just reading the press release for Alex from Spring Design. This is still vapor ware, but if they don't make it to market someone else will. It is a dual screen e-reader running Android. If I were going to be rolling out any device that was going to sport the kind of connectivity that people are coming to suspect, Android would have to be in the running as a free, open platform. So I think along with a lot of new Android phones, we will be seeing a lot of Android devices in general.
The Economist did a special report last month on mobile tech in emerging markets. They say in 5-10 years everyone in the world that wants a phone will have one, and the service to use it. I think that is totally amazing. At the same time I've been working with some research folks at the University of Central Florida and they think smartphones will become the norm in the next 5 years or so. I think this all combines to paint a picture that gives Android a bright outlook. I don't think it's inevitable but I do think the odds are good that Android will be massive. On a side note, the UCF folks are doing education software for smart phones. They started with iPhone and Android as their platforms but they've dropped iPhone and moved purely to Android.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
This is one of the biggest ways that Android and the iPhone differ. With the iPhone, you have one phone, and one OS. With Android, you have one OS but many different phones. While the iPhone already has a huge number of apps available for their one device, not everyone wants a big touchscreen for a phone. Appealing to a broader audience by letting people choose their phone with a broad range of prices and features could be the most effective way for Android to compete. Smartphones are still only used by a small percentage all mobile phone users--it's still a growing market. It seems that Google is using this opportunity to make smart phones more accessible and more affordable. I think this is a far more sustainable strategy than Apple's one phone philosophy.
...I saw the Android TV ad last night. I think it's the only time seeing an advertisement for something has make me verbally cheer.
It lampooned the Apple ad format, complete with the black text on white and indie music listing off stuff the iPhone can't do, then making a sharp cut to an android logo with a URL.
I really hope to see more well-coordinated advertising like this for OSS! This is the first, maybe the second time in my memory that any OSS has had any kind of TV spot, and this one was really solid.
If you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention.
It seems the momentum is with Android for "OEM handsets", the handsets that would previously have used Windows Mobile have migrated en-mass to a cheaper, more modern, sellable phone OS.
It just convinces me that Windows Mobile 6.5 is too little, too late, and it doesn't offer much anyway. Windows Mobile 7 - presumably their next-generation mobile OS - is horribly delayed and will be feature-poor (generation 1) in comparison to Android, WebOS and iPhone OS. Maemo is on the sidelines too, for Nokia.
When I see any of these, I say to myself $1000/yr. Thats what these things cost, a vacation to Mexico!
I entered the ADC2, and if you took a poll, you would find that 1/2 of the entrants don't actually own an Android (including me), because its financially unjustified.
IMHO, Three things are needed, one of which has almost occurred.
1. A superbabe (not Whoopi sorry) needs to hold an Android on T-Mobile site.
2. Skype or such needs to work as well as T-Mobile voice, better would be nice.
3. The phone must cost US$99.
Back-Seat-Driver
I mean, I'm all for choice, but why so many? Why, in particular, are a few manufacturers in particular releasing so many models? Half of the phones (25 out of 51) come from just three companies--HTC (9), Motorola (9), and Samsung (7). I can see why a manufacturer would want some variety in general--slider, bar, flip; big with good battery life or small and thin and light--but aren't all Android phones big, touchscreen smartphones? I don't want to start googling every name (hasn't wiseandroid.com ever heard of links?) so can anyone clue me in on the differences?
I like Apple's stuff and you might call me a "fanboi" but you have to admit they've made some good decisions in the past decade, especially with regard to simplifying their product lines. The stereotypical Slashdotter hates having their choices limited but everyone in sales, marketing, and product development should know about the disadvantages to offering too many options. Make one phone with as many or as few features as you care to cram into it and the choice becomes a simple one--take it or leave it. Start offering them with minor differences--this one has WiFi but no GPS, this one has GPS but no WiFi, etc.--and people will start to say "screw it, what else is there?" Plus every time you offer more models you're increasing the cost of your R&D but with less and less improvement in sales.
If anything, we should see more Android devices--Android technology without the phone, like the iPod touch. Clearly there's a market there, and you get around the whole pesky "tied to the carrier you hate" issue.
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To me, this is why an Android phone will never take the #1 sales slot. Android, as a platform may quickly rise in dominance, but the competition, just amongst Android phones, will prevent an individual phone from taking a dominant position. When there's 51 possible choices for someone who's interested in an Android phone, it will result in diluted sales for all 51 phones. That's not to say that some of the better phones won't enjoy strong sales - I'm sure several will - but it is to say that I don't believe they'll compete, on an individual basis, with Blackberry's best sellers nor the iPhone. This, of course, is regardless of the quality of the phones - it's purely an opinion about market forces and the resulting outcome...
The main thing the iPhone's got going for it in my view is the enormous amount of application available for the platform. Android has the same potential with a nice centralized distribution channel, while allowing more open development. It would seem to make sense that this will result in many more Android apps in the future, but I wonder if the huge amount of different phones will be of any help at this or maybe in fact create a barrier for developers.
It seems to me that one of the reasons there aren't as many apps out there for Symbian or WinMo is the fact that the hardware which runs these operating systems is so incredibly diverse that it's almost impossible to create an app which runs on everything. Some phones offer multitouch, other's don't. Some phones offer an accelerometer, other's don't. The same goes for pretty much every feature... recording video, a second camera, GPS, you name it. Not to mention the different screen sizes and different UI widgets. These differences make it more difficult for a developer to create an app for these platforms, resulting in fewer apps on these platforms.
Now I know Android doesn't suffer from all of these difficulties... but still I think 50 different phones make it harder to create an app for Android than for the iPhone, where basically only 1 model exists (although in 3 versions).
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Android:iPhone::Linux:OSX would be more appropriate. personally I think android > iPhone OS. iPhone hardware is probably better than any existing android phones thought (for the time being).
Wired had a great article on this a year ago or so. Every carrier was afraid of touching Android. They said if they used a common OS between phones, they were afraid they would become dumb carriers, and it would remove the potential to advertise each network provider having unique phones.
In reality, today providers PAY to put Blackberry OS, Web OS, the iPhone OS, and Windows Mobile on their phones. They can't customize the OS. So buying a Blackberry on Verizon is no different from buying a Blackberry on AT&T. Google offers up Android for free, and tells networks that they can even customize the software so AT&T's build of Android is unique, and they reject Android. It makes zero sense.
I desperately wanted and Android phone. I contacted customer support for several providers telling them they could have my business if they put out an Android phone. (T-Mobile basically has no coverage in Omaha, so they weren't an option). I waited an year. No Android phones came out.
So instead, I bought an iPhone. I'm not terribly happy that I have an iPhone as opposed to an Android phone. I'm not terribly happy I ended up with AT&T. But honestly, it seems like providers really didn't want my business. For all their supposed desire to find an iPhone-killer, they're ignoring the FREE iPhone-killer right infront of them.
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They all have a lowercase i in them.
NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
Could be, but I'm inclined not to think so. Linux came around long after Windows had already ingrained itself in the market and in the consumer consciousness, and even then after more than fifteen years it's still rougher around the edges than it's proprietary contemporaries as far as user-friendliness goes. Arguably this is just from the difference in design philosophy forcing new users to learn a new way of working with thier computer, but I digress.
The iPhone has only been around a few years, and it's really the first mobile that's truly comparible to a desktop or laptop's functionality (Browser, media players, apps, etc). The great divide between them is that the iPhone places very hard restrictions on not only what software you can get, but what software can be developed. This may be invisible to the user, but once Android builds up momentum I hold out hope that it will have a true explosion of apps available for it, most of them free (true to it's OSS license!).
iPhone isn't an implacable competitor, it's only been in the market a few years. Android, if it's name is given strong presence in the mind of the consumer, has a chance to do very well comparatively, maybe even match it.
Obviously, I may have a bit of a bias here, I'm not exactly a scientific researcher here, but I'm optimistic.
If you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention.
The question: Is Android trying to dethrone Symbian or Apple?
If the goal is Symbian, this is a good thing: An OS thats customed by the handset deliverer with development being secondary, because the platform ends up grossly fragmented (different screens, capabilities, processing power, UI presentation, storage, etc...)
If the goal is Apple, this is a horrid thing: Apple's huge lock is the ecosystem, with all the developers. Which would you rather develop for, a platform which has everything being the same capability, or one with a grossly fragmented market where screens, UI conventions, etc are all different?
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iirc, Rogers in Canada uses the same spectrum allocation as at&t here in the US. Thus you could get a G1/G2 unlocked from Canada and use it on at&t's network.
A decent processor!
I think the current available phones have a 520mhz processor. The Android software seems to run at an accetptable speed (since the os was updated to 1.5?) but I imagine any apps would be limited by the speed of the processor.
I know this will change with newer phones - Acer are develping an android phone with 1ghz processor.
A camera flash!
I do not understand why many of the phones contain a 3 or 5 megapixel camera but no flash! Maybe it is related to cost/component size but come on! - this was acceptable with older phones but today I would like to think it is essential.
A physical keyboard!
I know this will add bulk to the phone but considering what android's potential can be (with the right hardware) this will make the phone much more versatile. What about a detachable keyboard?
More memory?
The os runs in a java-like virtual machine. If it has any relation to Java does this mean it will exhibit memory consumption similar to Java? I also understand there is an API to bypass the vm and use native code.
As it stands I will be ordering the Nokia N900 at the end of October and cannot wait for the hardware to improve. Despite the hype I think the N900 will eventualy become a "niche" product.
On the other hand, the development of Android phones is great and appears it will dominate the mobile phone market. Hopefully it will drive competition and lead to the reduction of iphone obsession.
Speaking of iphones does the Android phones have a "Big Red Kill" switch too?
This is exactly how Apple lost the PC war
Apple had one computer with one operating system (the mac) vs one operating system (MS-DOS and later Windows) running on hundreds of different clones.
Eventually, the clones competed fiercely on price and features and ate away most of the market share. This happens even as apple had an arguably better product.
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link for the lazy
I've been wondering when the counter-apple advertising would kick in, the "only on iphone" tagline is just a bit too cocky and deserves to get demolished. I think the advertising of andriod/android phones will be key because, the SW is better than the iphone's, the HW varies but if your looking for any particular feature there will probably be an android mobile that beats the iphone, but the advertising (so far) is what android has lacked.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
I'm sorry, that slot is reserved for Maemo. Until the community has real influence on the path Android takes, it's not nearly as open.
It's sad that the N900 doesn't get as much attention as all the Android based phones, what with it being considerably more open and based on existing open frameworks.
Not necessarily. I don't think your analogy to Linux works quite the same. It would be more like someone walking up and finding 50 different versions of Ubuntu (for example). They all can run the same code, same programs. They might have buttons placed in a different place, different colors or wallpaper, maybe even a slightly different desktop experience (different/more widgets) but they are all running the same basic codebase. From what we've seen with HTC's Sense and Motorola's MOTOBLUR, there will be differentiation, but all apps will still run the same. Especially at the moment since they all have the same processor. HTC has their own on-screen keyboard, for example, but there are no compatibility problems (yet) with Android across multiple phones. Realistically, the changes between the phones are relatively small (qwerty vs t9 vs no keyboard, capacitive vs resistive touchscreen, camera autofocus and megapixels, etc). These changes don't really affect how the platform runs, just specific aspects of it. The goal of Android was to create a strong, common base where many apps can run, and I think they have done that so far. When phones start differentiating on CPU and RAM, we may see some apps which don't perform similarly across all Android phones, but Apple is already having to deal with something similar between it's own versions of iPhone models, so it basically is not inevitable. Phones will get faster and have more RAM as time goes on. I think Android really is going in the right direction, and the more models that are available, the better. A 'universal' app store under Android in my mind is much better than an app store for every phone.
I wonder if the free market will help naturally select Android phones with features that are popular among the most users, with possible niche phones serving niche markets (like that fellow up there who doesn't want a camera on his phone)
:(){
It would be nice if some of the items made sense. Now, I'm speaking from the consumer perspective here and not someone who reads technology sites daily:
For example, what does ability to run "widgets" really mean? I think most people get "applications" and know that Apple iPhone has a ton of them...so what is this?
What exactly is open development to the average user? Again, I can get lots of applications from Apple so what is this specifically saying to me the consumer?
I think most people will get what's the point of 5 Meg Pixel camera (for most bigger is better, right). keyboard and replaceable battery are probably dead on for a segment of the audience. Personally, I like soft keyboards and never have changed my battery. However, I think it makes a key differentiating feature highly visible.
I have an iPhone and it is a nice device and I don't get the seething hate of Apple products. However, something better comes along, I'll consider it.
Now as an aside...I really don't like the generate "hype" ads that don't really say anything about the product before release. I remember the G commercials for Gatorade last year. Is it a new sport clothing line, shoe, what...then turns out to be just a sports drink. Seen these for cars, perfume, etc. and I think they are counter productive for most viewers (bigger hype, bigger disappointment).
I love the sound of distortion in the morning -- webcommando
stop drinking the kool aid (or anti kool aide or w/e)
it's still rougher around the edges than it's proprietary contemporaries as far as user-friendliness goes
This is true of desktop distros*, however for embedded devices & phones, it's unfounded.
The iPhone has only been around a few years, and it's really the first mobile that's truly comparible to a desktop or laptop's functionality (Browser, media players, apps, etc)
Apart from all the smartphones that came before it, from 2002 there have been "smartphones" that could compete with laptop functionality and by 2007 most had 3rd party apps, 3G and bluetooth. The iPhone is good but it wasn't the first at anything.
iPhone isn't an implacable competitor,
Indeed it's the blackberry that's the real #1 smartphone, but the real mistake is thinking that the smartphone market is "full" and to get users you have to take them off the competition, in reality it is an emerging market, you just need to sell your product to people who were previously happy with "dumbphones" (or if your nokia, get the phone companies to upgrade thier existing users to your smarphones for you)
*i think mint and distros specialised in being user friendly address most of the issues
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
You are thinking smart-phones, but the day you have 50+ models, they are just regular phones. So people will look at external design and at the bundled applications and that's it.
You have the same thing with Symbian. People don't say: "I am going to buy a symbian phone". They just look at the phone hardware and bundled apps and mostly forget about the OS.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
I have the HTC Dream, and the biggest problem with it is that the battery life is so bad, there is no way I could use it for my main phone. Even with light usage and bluetooth and wifi turned off, the thing is dead in 6 hours or less. If I turn on and use wifi, it gets a lot less. Maybe 2 hours or 3.
It a nearly 500€ phone and it can't make it through a whole day without recharging. The camera isn't great either, but that isn't a big deal. The battery problem is a HUGE deal. However at a recent conference, I saw that the iPhone users had the same problem with battery life.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
My G1 lasts for like 3 days idling... I keep GPS/Wifi/Bluetooth turned off unless I need them, but toggling them is easy with the new update (add widget > power control.) GPS sucks up the battery really fast though, are you keeping that off as well?
Package upgrade on Android... For starters, the "My Downloads" list is not ordered alphabetically nor in any apparently meaningful order. Then for each upgradeable package, one must first browse to the package, then manually trigger the upgrade package, then acknowledge system privileges the upgraded package and finally clear the download notification and the update notification. Is this a joke ? This almost matches the tediousness of upgrading Windows software - an impressive feat considering that the foundations of Android package management seem serious enough. Where is my APT ?
worst thing that could happen for the Android platform
Errrr, no. This is the best thing to happen to Android. It's about choice. Different manufacturers competing against each other to produce the "best" Android phone is a "good thing".
Imagine what would a PC user who wants to try Linux reacts if he sees 50+ different distributions...He would be confused and do not know how to choose.
Errrr,no. Generally people buy phones on call/usage charges, contract term, phone features and network coverage. There is already a diverse choice of phone os - e.g. symbian, blackberry's os, iphone os, microsoft... - as well as many manufacturers.
sorting out the features of different phones and the compatibility/usability of different apps among them... It would be worst than try to figure out if a given PC game can run properly on your home PC.
This is called "choice" and encourages manufacturers to observe market requirements(e.g. listen to customer) and hopefully drive down prices(unlikely). Whoever get closest to this wins. The main point of Android are these types of "compatibilty" problems (in theory) should go away. When you decide to buy or upgrade to another Android phone you can take all your donwloaded software with you. You do not have to start again and buy your apps all over again.
Having 100+ models works for ordinary mobile phones, as you mostly do not expect to install any extra software other than which comes with the phone. With a "smartphone" (I hate the term) that is practically a mini-PC, there is value in keeping a small set of uniform performance/feature profile. It is the same trade-off between PC gaming vs console gaming
This is usually called "progress" and "innovation". As devices become more sophisticated people want to do more with them - it's only natural. For example, "Non-smartphones" have smaller screens, no touchscreen and limited cpus - installing extra software is impractical. The iphone was the first mainstream mobile phone to make this easier - by your definition the iphone app store is an epic fail.
Oh and Android is Open-source, shouldn't we support it rather than put it down. Not just because it's open-source but as a product is well implemented and deserves some support.
I got a My Touch 3G for $99 on the "Oprah sale" about a month ago, I live in podunk and as such have yet to see a 3G connection... I 'opted out' of the data plan, so my TCO is currently much lower than the normal smart phone user. Why would I dumb down my smart phone, it has wifi... around here just about every public building has a public wifi access point (even the grocery store), I don't use my phone while I'm driving... so it has entirely been a non-issue. It is a good phone, a definite upgrade from my old flip phone. Even the weakest aspect of the phone (the camera) is an upgrade from my old phone... I got the phone before the 1.6 update was rolled out and the improvement going from 1.5 to 1.6 was significant. If that is any indication of what is in store when 2.0 is released, I'm flat out excited. Oh and the toys, the google star map alone is worth the price of admission... I have never been so impressed with a portable device, and I've had all sorts of smartphones shoved down my throat by employers (Windows Mobile and Blackberries mostly I guess, I've only played with friends iPhones and have yet to see any new palm devices). So I for one hope that Android really does take off, I know it has impressed me.
But, that *is* how it's like. There really are 50+ distributions of Linux out there. DistroWatch is proof enough of that.
I have to say that I feel like you've got it a little bit backwards. It's more like the 50+ *brands* of PCs out there running Windows. That's to say many different brands of hardware, but they're all running the same OS. Granted they've all got their own tweaks and slight differences depending on how the manufacturer configures the software, but anyone used to using Windows on a Dell isn't going to have much trouble using Windows on an HP. This is more or less what Android is doing for the handheld market. Folks that have gotten used to the G1 are going to feel well enough at home on a Samsung Moment or HTC Hero.
The differences between Android installations are about the same as differences between Windows installations, not Linux distros. HTC's game-changing reworking of Android 1.6 contains... a new skin, and some widgets. Compared to the machine-to-machine variation in pre-installed crap I see on Vista Home Basic boxes, it's nothing. Everyone else's customisations are even more minor. Essentially, Android is Android.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Not being used by Android because it being Linux is purely immaterial.
If you want a phone with APT, you need to look at Nokia's Maemo offering.
Right now there is one rule for Android software:
* Every app works on every handset.
That's it. That's the whole thing. All Android devices have AGPS with a compass, and an HVGA display. On-screen or hardware keyboard input is passed to apps the same way, so it doesn't matter which a device has. Likewise, access points are passed to apps according to the SDK, so it doesn't matter what kind of network access the device actually uses. GPS and AGPS with a compass is mandatory, so any app which runs on an Android handset can expect those features.
With 1.6, they'll diversify by adding an option in the SDK for two different screen sizes, one smaller and one larger than existing HVGA devices. The store automatically filters according to what resolution the device supports: higher resolution devices can run lower-resolution apps in compatability mode, but not vice versa. With the new devices, the new rule is:
* If you don't have a QVGA device, then every app works.
* If you have a QVGA device, then you can run any app you see on the store.
Now, you tell me how that's "worst than try to figure out if a given PC game can run properly on your home PC"
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I'd think that it would take more than 50 phones to get very big in the cell phone business. I'm sure that apple sells more than 50 phones per day. These must be very expensive units to recoup the development costs with that few being sold.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Right. Just like more choices among PC hardware has led to it having the smallest number of available applications
It's pretty obvious you've not done much mobile development.
Developing for PC hardware, you can expect:
Minimum expected screen resolution large enough to do just about anything with (1024x768 these days)
Keyboard
Mouse
Disc with lots of space
Now look at the mobile space. Screen size is far more constrained so every pixel counts - but you have varying screen sizes and pixel counts. You can't be sure there is a real keyboard or not. You can't be sure there is multi-touch or not. You can't be sure if the device has a lot of space to keep your application executable or not.
When you test on one PC with Windows, unless you are testing something that relies heavily on specific hardware you can pretty much say if it works on one system it's going to work on all of them about the same. You cannot so easily do that with mobile devices, if nothing else performance characteristics mean you have to test on a few devices. In practice Android developers will probably have to have about four to five test units to cover the most popular phones and range of abilities.
Think of it this way - where are all the games that use my SpaceOrb? That was a nice controller for the PC, but there were many different 3D controllers out around that time and the market fragmented, then they all died. I'm not saying, at all, that is what will happen to Android. I am saying that the development issues are not as similar as you make them out to be nor is the base platform you are targeting as homogenous as you make out.
I have the same issue right now in considering how to port an app to the Blackberry, and that doesn't have nearly so many devices...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
...like he explained, not that there's any way to prove it.
So then you are wrong until you can prove otherwise. If we can't find them, how are consumers supposed to?
Honestly, try to find even 10k apps on any Blackberry or Windows Mobile compilation list (which is where you would look to for proof of app count since anyone who had developed an app to sell would at minimum seek to be on one of those lists). They just are not there, development for those platforms was always very niche with a pretty small number of developers - mostly because there was very little market. You casually toss aside the 85k app number as insignificant, but that took tens of thousands of developers to produce in such a short timespan.
This is also borne out from experience, Windows Mobile users I knew purchased about one or two apps (Goodmail, and perhaps Opera) and that was it. Blackberry owners has the pleasure of owning a phone where you didn't need to buy applications to replace core features of the phone - and besides, they were too busy answering work email to buy anything anyway.
Any way you do the math, there is simply no way the total of Blackberry and Windows Mobile apps COMBINED are near the iPhone count. You have to provide at least some evidence that would make it likely there could be that many apps for either platform, all evidence is against that being the case.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What are you talking about? It's been a few months since I last used mine, but I recall very regularly being notified of app updates without ever having to browse to the apps in the store, and I simply needed to approve the lot of them in one go. Maybe if you want the latest and greatest the moment it comes out, but a normal user would be fine with waiting until the automatic updates push it through...
Maybe they're not targeting only the "average user"? One big feature of the Android platform is exactly open development, so maybe they expect to attract new devs to the platform, while perhaps taking a jab at Apple's app approval process.
That doesn't make sense for an ad, at least not on any TV station. Do you think anyone remotely interested in mobile development does not already know Android has a more open development platform? That's not the kind of thing you really put out ads for, except possibly some extremely technical websites. You play it up in conferences or technical press and give a great deal of detail on your website so interested developers can learn more.
Heck, if that was the point why didn't they have any kind of link to why developers should try to target the Verizon Droid phone specifically? Not even a logoing program?
100% agreed. I have an Android phone and I believe that they have the right vision, but I hate these kinds of attack ads. You want to sell your product? Make it better than the competition
And show people how it works! It's insane to me that more companies have not copied the Apple ads in this singular respect, showing actual use of the phone. Yes it's sometimes time compressed and all that, but visually you can see basically what you are going to get.
That was a huge failing with the Palm ads I thought, that interface is really good but the ads are of little interest to anyone apart from fully-emo teens.
The point of a teaser like that should have been, to try as stop as many people as possible from leaving Verizon - either for an iPhone, or even for another Android phone on Sprint or wherever. If you were thinking about a Hero today would that ad have done anything to stop you, or would it just reinforce your feeling that Android is cool and make you buy now instead of later - on a non-Verizon network? They could have convinced a lot of people to stick with the network for just a few months more if they had something compelling. Not even an Enterprise-style beauty flyby.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Imagine what would a PC user who wants to try Linux reacts if he sees 50+ different distributions of Linux on the shelf! Each with different features, strengths and price (not free for the sake of analogy). He would be confused and do not know how to choose!
You're thinking of a wrong analogy.
Imagine what would a PC user think if he sees 50+ different hardware manufacturers that make PCs under different brands, with different designs and base hardware, but which all come with Windows preinstalled, and can all run the same software.
Oh, wait...
This is one of the biggest ways that Android and the iPhone differ. With the iPhone, you have one phone, and one OS.
There's a flipside to that, though, especially when it comes to the App market.
One of the iPhone's huge hidden advantages is that there is that there is only one UI to design for: every App has to work well with just a touchscreen and accelerometer if it is to succeed.
With a diversity of Android handsets appearing, how many developers will actually test their wares on every handset? Already, I've encountered some apps written for the G1 that don't work properly with the Hero's soft keyboard (e.g. most of the terminal emulators). Some games are unplayable because the "chin" buttons have been re-arranged. So far, most authors seem eager to address this, but when these problems are multiplied by 50, will they keep up?
Its not just physical differences: HTC have tinkered with the GUI quite a bit so (e.g.) alternative music players work fine, but don't integrate with the lock screen. Again - seems trivial, but multiply that by 50.
Operating systems for "full size" PCs don't have such a big issue: most variations will include a physical keyboard, a mouse and a decent-sized screen.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Not being used by Android because it being Linux is purely immaterial.
Of course - it could be any package management... Just something automated !
If you want a phone with APT, you need to look at Nokia's Maemo offering.
Yes, I have noticed it and I'll certainly give it a good look.
AT&T was supposed to release one(HTC Lancaster) at the end of July, but backed out with little fanfare. I dealt with a Blackberry with a non-working 0 for a month in order to get that one with my upgrade.... only to end up with another blackberry.
I wouldn't count on anything from AT&T until you can see it in the store.
... they mean in total! *badum-tish*
I'm here all night! Try the smørrebrød!
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
...try to prove to me that the majority of those 85k apps aren't iFart apps, and you'll have a point.
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
I have a bunch of applications in the "My downloads" menu, all with the "Update available" status... But they never upgrade automatically. The OS upgraded to Cupcake fine though. But I have never seen a single app upgrade notification come up without me having triggered the upgrade.
The smaller screen size (I think 3.2 inch is maximum) of android phones is what kept me stuck with my iphone until now. I think the iphone screen is just right: still not too big to carry arround, but just big enough for websites. I wouldn't settle for a 1/10th of an inch less, but move away from mac app-store and itunes close-in immediately.
Go to Market -> My Downloads, press the Menu button, select Notifications. Make sure "Notify me when items are updated" is selected. Hopefully you're not talking about silent updates, because that's just plain silly and a terrible idea.
With android, google has created Apple/RIM/Microsoft's worst nightmare. They make a robust, feature rich phone OS that easily competes with Apple's iPhone OS or Blackberry and seriously destroys anything Windows Phone related and essentially giving it away for free to all the generic phone manufacturers of the world like LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC. By doing this, they totally eliminate said generic phone companies' strongest disadvantage -- i.e lack of software and services expertise -- and they do not even have to spend any effort or R&D money on it! Besides, companies like HTC that make excellent phone hardware and was previously crippled by the sad state of windows mobile* or symbian can now offer a very competitive software-hardware package by choosing android.
Little wonder that apple asked google to not include multitouch in the first version of their OS. But why is google doing this? I find it hard to believe that their only reason is to increase the adoption of google services (not that they aren't doing a good job at it) Nevertheless, it is interesting to consider the disruption android has caused. Google killed the market for licensed phone OS, gave Motorola a reason to live, seriously dented Apple/RIM's chances to compete against generic manufacturers, and provided a good OS for geeks to play with, and to put on various random devices .
* I realize windows CE/mobile was a decent OS around 10 years ago, but there's no denying that microsoft let it stagnate for too long. Now it's just slow, bloated, not user friendly and ancient-looking.
Right now there are 100's of phones on the market, all running some sort of OS. Each of them appeal to different audiences, with different features, reliability, and carrier compatability.
The OEMs that support Android will continue to support the other OS's so this might compound that problem for average consumers.
Essentially, some of those 100's of current models are being replaced with models running Android. Android is an operating system, it does not define the device it runs upon. Just like I can run Linux using just a tty interface over a serial link, or I can run it with a 3d desktop across multiple screens; Android can be similarly used for different phones.
Yes and part of the problem are the devices that Android runs on. Another problem is the branding. If Android is just an OS it will not have the branding and luxury power of the IPhone. This may not matter to me but it will affect sales. This is great, but it is also a weakness when competing with a complete package like BB or IPhone.
The advantages of Android over existing phone OS's are threefold: 1. cost... there is no cost to the manufacturer of the phone or the carrier.
This is a benefit has not and probably will not be received by the consumer.
2. compatibility... applications for Android will be compatable with other manufacturers Android handsets,
Same thing with WinMo. But that doesn't really matter if you find Apple, Blackberry, or Nokia hardware more attractive.
so different manufacturers will compete on quality of their product rather than the amount of software available.
I don't see any indication that this is true. I wish it were true, that's the only reason it sounds good.
3. features... Android was developed to be very feature rich, of course manufacturers can disable features but if they want them it is trivial to enable them. If the public begins to demand additional features as ideas change, then Android can be upgraded to include those features.
Manufactures can and do enable disable features on WinMo easily. The problem is the driving forces behind this comes down to money. What the consumer wants is not always more profitable. Now giving this power to the consumer, in a user friendly manner would be a real benefit.
Essentially, there were no phone OS's that manufacturers could even purchase that would result in a product so refined that it could compete with Apple and Blackberry, and neither of them were licensing their code. Android changes that.
True, but the OEMs are running Android on hardware that isn't as refined and their OS customizations (ex HTC Home screens Today screens) drastically degrade performance. I think what people are failing to see is that Android has the same problems that WinMo and Symbian based OSs have. One is branding, the other is the hardware. The fact is there will always be a large portion of people who prefer an Apple or RIM device over and HTC or Samsung one, and it won't matter what features are involved. Many consumers, not the ones here, but ones that aren't as tech savvy are going to identify more with the hardware than the OS. In that case they often won't care or know which of the 3 OS's come on their new Samsung smartphone. Another thing you are forgetting is that the OEMs that make Android devices are the same ones iPhone and BB users are not satisfied with. Android will come with whatever weaknesses Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG etc introduce via hardware and even their own OEM OS customizations. I'm an Android user myself. The platform is great, but I think people are missing the marketing power of a complete package that has luxury appeal, and these are benefits that Android does not have.
I was just browsing the app store, looking at a few subcategories which seemed useful but niche to me, and likely would not contain complete crap such as fart generators... categories like "medicine", "education", "finance", "news", "reference", "sports", "productivity", "business" and "travel" and the app count was already over 24K.
Even without touching crapmagnets like "games", "entertainment", "services" or "lifestyle" you'll easily find more apps than there are out there for most other platforms in total.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Agreed on all counts. Only please understand that my justifications were more for the manufacturers than the consumers.
Essentially, if Android will do the same things as WinMo and Symbian, what incentive do manufacturers have to continue to invest money and energy in those products. I'm sure they won't disappear overnight, or even completely, but I have a feeling that Android is about to become far more popular that most people give it credit for, only because it will satisfy most users and it does it more cheaply than the competitors.
I am certain there will be some horrible implementations, as there have been with every OS. However if I made handsets and could standardize on a single OS that cost nothing and would run on every phone I produced, no matter how simple or complex that phone was I would use it. Oh and if I could sell mobile pc's running the same OS, and carputers, and GPS's, and.... you get my point.
Up until now, there wasn't an OS for low power embedded processors that specifically addressed small devices with a rich UI... at least not a free one. Sure Linux was there, but you needed to tweak the OS then write all of the presentation stuff, and finally develop an API if you wanted a community to develop around the product. Now all OEMs need to do is slap Android on there, customize it to their liking, maybe write a driver or two for custom hardware, and ship... no licensing, no contracts, no negotiations, and the customer will have a huge library of apps to run on it.
Ever since google formed the Android Handset Alliance, I knew they had revolutionized the portable electronics market... this is just the beginning.
Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.
Almost all security is security theater. It's there to make fearful people feel better, prevent good people from doing normal things, and does nothing to stop a sufficiently driven enemy from doing anything.
It's all a theater, and it works because people operate on perception, not reality. In truth, there is no security that can't be breached by somebody with enough determination. The idea of absolute security would be laughable if so many people didn't buy into it.
Most real security breaches are basically just retardedly stupid. Somebody left the backup tapes IN PLAIN SIGHT in the back seat of their UNLOCKED Ford Pinto when they went to the movies after work, and somebody else came along and swiped them. A simple factor such as throwing a jacket over the security tapes in the back seat would stop the vast majority of security breaches at this scale.
Here's another one: At large events, football games and such, the FAA issues a Temporary Flight Restriction around the stadium or whatever. Typical circumference is 5 miles. Sounds good, doesn't it - airplanes are prohibited from flying overhead. Except that a cheap, widely available Cessna 4-seater can cross the 2.5 mile radius in under a minute. Do you think jets are going to scram to stop a Cessna in less than 60 seconds? You've already spent more time than that reading my post, and that's barely enough time for ATC to notice and give a warning, if in fact they do! The net result of breaching such a flight restriction usually amounts to a slap on the back of the hand, and maybe a fine by the FAA.
Yet measures such as these serve not only to make the protected feel safer, but intimidate people who would try to circumvent them. People are social animals, and nearly everybody is, at some level, driven to be a "good boy" and protect society at large. And this protects people against a great many compromises that would otherwise happen, even if only out of convenience.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You know something like the iPod touch, but with android?
As I mentioned in another post, choice is over-rated for this sort of market. There's a billion "choices" in the Portable Media market that's not iPod: From Creative, to Sony, the korean brands Cowon and iRiver, Sansa, to the hundreds of shitty little chinese knock-offs, there's plenty of choice, all fighting to be a better iPod than iPod. And yet, iPod is still king. Even with the industry move to 256kb/s mp3s, with no DRM, why does iPod still hold sway over the market? I personally think my Cowon D2 is head and shoulders above the last gen iPod (when I purchased it) in terms of features, customization, and audio quality, but Cowon is a less than a niche brand here in America.
Choice can hurt.
Start listing a giant checklist of features and most consumers' eyes just glaze over. Then they just go with the iPod.
Open-source is a non-issue, as well. Look how awesome it's done for Linux on the desktop. I.e., not at all. If anything, Open Source apps have done more to advance Open Source than Linux has, the OS is pretty much irrelevant (witness, say, Audacity's succes on Windows, OS X and Linux) to most consumers.
Don't get me wrong, I'm rooting for Android. I've got plans to pick up a next-gen Android phone (the G1 was lacking quite a bit when I was shopping for phones), and if I had to do any sort of phone dev right now, it'd be android over iphone. But never underestimate the power of having a single, controlled platform. Sometimes Freedom From Choice is a good thing, especially in the consumer market.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
The same way you always should have.
You stop assuming you can specify things in pixels. Only a very few things should directly map to physical pixels on the display, and icons, controls, text, and modal dialogs aren't on that list. Even raster images should only map to literal pixels under certain circumstances.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Apple is already having to deal with something similar between it's own versions of iPhone models, so it basically is not inevitable.
That is one of the problems, but Apple could still somewhat manage the issue as they are the sole source of new iPhone/iPod models. You can already see the problem for developers as some apps need to clarify exactly which model has been tested and which model will have missing features due to missing hardware (e.g. no compass in iPod).
With Android, no one could stop other manufacturer from make one with additional hardware (e.g. higher res, extra front facing camera) which could make some apps support additional function. While some would say this is a good thing. But from a marketing pov, too many choice is only going to confuse he average Joe, especially if the choices have real impact on his "user experience" (e.g. high screen res may make apps create for lower res look ugly, either due to scaling or smaller size). If he found a good app, he cannot automatically assume his friend's phone can run it as good.
I have seen this first hand on the Palm with Sony Clie series. A Palm app is no longer simply a Palm app, I have to look at the fine prints to see if it supports the Clie's resolution, and if it supports color, etc. For me, the user, the "Palm apps" space has fragmented into many small spaces, each for different hardware spec (160x160 mono, 160x160 color, 320x320 color, etc). I can imagine the pain it caused to the developers.
Similar problems with Java MIDP stuff. The core profile is so weak you can't much useful stuff there. Move up to higher profiles and you have to worry which phone actually supports the feature set you need. Too few phones and you got too small a market, too many phones and you got a huge testing effort.
What I see with the Android is the same thing happening.
Your scenario with 50+ ubuntu linux all capable of running most apps is the best case scenario, but I cannot find the same optimism from my past experience with the Palm platform and the Java MIDP platform.
Oliver.
Apart from all the smartphones that came before it, from 2002 there have been "smartphones" that could compete with laptop functionality and by 2007 most had 3rd party apps, 3G and bluetooth. The iPhone is good but it wasn't the first at anything.
It was the first to make browsing the web usable. I could browse the web on my Treo 600, but it was a joke, so I never used it. It was the same story for all of them. Having the technical functionality is just part of the story.
I've been reading about exciting devices that will be released with Android for quite some time now. I am a developer and I am more interested in the device as a developer than I am as an end user. iPhone has a lot of roadblocks for me, I need a Mac to develop on it, which is a huge cost for me at the moment. Apple's policy about publishing apps is another story which has been discussed a lot.
The problem is; even if Android is emphasizing openness, its development model seems to be "we know what is good for you". As far as I can see, there is no low level access to device for developers, and you are supposed to use Java, with some JNI capabilities for process intensive tasks. Native code can only be isolated chunks which still can't access device using C/C++.
This is most likely to ensure that code runs on all devices, but this is a choice that should be left to the developer, at least if you're claiming that your platform is open. If I decide to develop something on a particular phone, knowing that it may not work in the same way on other devices, this is my choice, and I should have this option.
For whatever reason I have, I want to have native apis for C/C++ and Android does not seem to offer this. Maybe my money is not that important, but for things like gaming, which will probably be huge on the iPhone quite soon, this will be a problem.
This is called "choice" and encourages manufacturers to observe market requirements(e.g. listen to customer) and hopefully drive down prices(unlikely). Whoever get closest to this wins.
Most of the businesses related to wireline/wireless are simply big to care and/or listen to their customers. And the market does NOT work because of all the proprietary hardware and proprietary software and proprietary networks, etc....
If the market was free and working as you, and many others hypothesis; than we would have fiber to our homes already. (Promised by telcos in 1990s in order to get tax dollars)
By 2000 we would have had 100Mbps / 100Mbps Internet access, for less than $55 per month, via that fiber connection to our homes.
By 2006 we would have had 1 Gbps / 1 Gbps Internet access for less than $52 per month via that same fiber connection.
The market has not and does not work. The companies that play in the space DO NOT listen to customers as RipOffReports.com proves. Enter the name of your provider and search on any term: fraud, problem, billing, and you will discover that your provider and all the other providers have hundreds if not thousands of reports. One or two you might dismiss as crack pots, but not the volume that is there. Also it is pretty obvious when you are reading a report if the person is being unreasonable or not. Sadly most are not, the customers are just not interested in providing service anymore.
If they listened to their customers, no one would get an inflated bill in the mail for any reason. Especially not for the company putting random charges on it. I personally experienced that from two different providers over a 10 year period before I left cellular forever.
I do not mind paying for what I use, but I will not pay for their mistakes or other peoples charges. Both times I had in excess of three years as a good customer with the provider (obviously one time was longer than just 3 years). If I had mattered as a customer, they would have removed the charges that I did not make and proved based on my multi-year calling pattern the first time and via their provisioning mistake the second time. Both times, both companies simply DID NOT CARE. Said pay up or else. Sorry but mob style tactics do not work on honest Americans.
I churned and am much happier for it. Skype is wonderful and if they went out or got bought out tomorrow, I would provision my own VoIP server (Linux of course), use it myself and sell to my friends. There is no way I would ever settle for a total cost of ownership of over $100 per year ever again. Especially not in this economy.
These customer-no-service-tactics are really stupid. They honestly believe you do not have a choice or they would not do it. Guess what, they are WRONG!
Sign me laughing all the way to the bank!
P.S. Only Greenlight in Wilson N.C. offers 100Mbps / 100Mbps Fiber connected to your home Internet access in the USA today. It will cost you $100 per month. When they started offering service, after being invited into the community by the local politicians to do so; the telcos / Cable companies responded by attempting to push legislature through the North Carolina legislature to stop them. Yea, thats a FREE market, NOT!
The markets have not been working since 1990. So wake up and see the reality of the situation, please, before it is too late.
Your scenario with 50+ ubuntu linux all capable of running most apps is the best case scenario, but I cannot find the same optimism from my past experience with the Palm platform and the Java MIDP platform.
I would not put Ubuntu or any full Linux distro on an embedded device, perhaps Lubuntu, but I have not looked into it. My guess is neither would you, so this post is more for others that do not know anything about Linux and not you specifically.
There are many wonderful Linux distros designed for these processors and less memory that would work just fine. However no one is going to go out of their way to tell you that you can save allot of money by using one. And that you will have more options with software to run.
I also would not load applications that require huge libraries to run...Java is among these. Sorry, but Java simply does NOT belong everywhere. There are multiple ways to approach embedded devices with less memory and slower processors. Many of these options have been working for well over 5 years now, some well over 10 years, its just that people do not know any better thanks to the lack of marketing and vendor lock in issues.
The truth is out there, but people have to be willing to look for it to find it. If they do not want to look for it, perhaps they should be left to pay inflated prices for their services. Call it a stupidity tax.
It seems you completely misunderstood my point, maybe my writing is too confusing.
What I mean is, you comparing the 50+ Android smartphones with 50 version of Ubuntu Linux, and I say that would be a true analogy only in the best case scenario. My past experience with the fragmentation of the Palm platform, and also the J2ME platform (which is unrelated to Palm), make me not as optimistic as you.
You might think paying more just so you don't have to look around is being stupid, it would be true if you have more time and interest than money. But when you earn enough money, with some to spare, but don't have as much time (due to work and family responsibilities) to compare the features of 10 or 20 similar smartphones, then you choice is (a) pick one at best guess and hope it works out, or (b) pay a premium for a brand name that you have confidence that it will work well.
Don't always discount people paying more for simple stupidity, not everyone has the time nor the interest to compare and weight the cost/benefit of slight technical details to save maybe 100 bucks (actually a comparable Android phone is not that much cheaper than iPhone anyway). The peace of mind and time saved would be easily worth ~20% of the price for many people, Apple understand this, and the huge sales of iPhone is a testament to it.
For owning an iPhone for 2 months, I have already bought maybe 20-30 USD worth of apps, and the process of buying apps is practically foolproof. My friend bought a HTC Magic, and he said when he tried to pay for an app he wanted, he found that he cannot pay because he is not living in the US! The payment system only works in some selected country (but not his), even though the HTC Magic is officially available where he lived! So basically he either has to not use the app, or he has to pirate the app, even though he intended to pay for it.
This is "user experience", it might not worth anything to you, but many people are willing to pay for it.
Oliver.
This is "user experience", it might not worth anything to you, but many people are willing to pay for it.
I understand all too well that Marketing most certainly works, which your example points out very well. I also understand that many people value their time more than their money. Though many might argue that point, I understand where you are coming from.
The fact is that today there are Linux options in every category that just work. Right out of the box, without the need to configure or change anything, they just work. Its just not advertised and marketed very well.
Of course if you prefer the Apple monopoly, they can turn off your phone or an app (Apple can deny you the use of an app) whether you like it or not. I have read multiple articles where they have done just that, the one that stood out was a very expensive app that pretty much did not do anything productive, yet people wanted it, bought it until Apple said No. I personally would not care for that no matter how much time or money I had. I can censor myself, thank you very much.
Or you can chose a platform like Symbian, but the apps have to be "signed" before you can use them and that pretty much limits choice doesn't it. That's no good either. Their BS excuse viruses, what a joke. If someone's usage habits invites viruses than its their problem, not mine as my usage habits (beginning with Linux, which can get viruses if users have sloppy usage habits) prevent them, making it a non-issue for me. Yet I am being limited, supposedly, (can you say FUD, I do), for other peoples poor choices. I don't like that either.
Let's see, if my options are tethering/limited via a Proprietary OS (Symbian, Apple or other Microsoft derivative (CE/Mobile) vs untethered/unlimited via Android/Maemo (Linux based OS) on an embedded device, well the decision is easy. I like having options. I also think that if you have either more money or more time; you should not be ashamed to buy a product that gives you more options, not less.
If you have money you can purchase/hire the expertise you need. So that argument is lame IMO.
If you have time you can research out the things you need and apply them (assuming the platform (hw/sw) allows you too! Oh that's right only a Linux derivative like Android/Mameo allows for that. Guess your decision will be the same as mine, but wait...
Marketing works....(very true!)
Is your Internet Throttled? Install DD-Wrt, OpenWRT or Tomato to learn the truth! Google: 1Gbps/1Gbps: 5 Communities
No silent updates of course - the user must always remain in control. I have seen the update notification setting - but don't I still have to act on each notification to perform each upgrade singly ? Updating all in a single action ala 'apt-get upgrade' would have been much nicer.
The reason it isn't set up that way is because you would have to implicitly trust every application developer. Unlike the Apple App Store, applications on the Android Market are not vetted by anyone. It isn't like a Linux distro package repository (which arguably the Apple App Store is). It is possible for a developer to have an application out, and then at some point add an unwanted feature. I had an app that started putting advertisements in places throughout the app after an update. Screw that. You could also have an application go rogue and become malicious. Would you want to blindly get the "delete all my stuff" update or the "send this girl's location to this weirdo developer because he's a creep" update? You have to act on each update notification individually for the sake of awareness of what is being put on your phone and security. I'm fine with that.