Slashdot Mirror


Details of Android 3.0, SIP, Video Chat

dkd903 was one of several folks to note that a bunch of details about Google's Android 3.0 are beginning to leak out. The platform is codenamed Gingerbread; it includes video chat to compete with the iPhone, and a graphical overhaul to try to make it look a bit better compared to its rivals.

46 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by Pojut · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I gotta say, after messing around with Sense, I can't freakin' STAND the stock Android OS look. I'm currently running xtrSense on my Eris, which is a freakin' GREAT rom...but yeah, stock Android is just fugly.

    Looking forward to a system-wide visual update.

    1. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by catbutt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Aside from the end user experience, as an Android developer (in the process of porting iphone apps) I can tell you that android sure makes it difficult to do the slick effects that on iPhone are practically free. For instance, the transitional animations that make the iPhone seem so slick are a nightmare to accomplish on Android. I hope they do a lot of work in this area.

    2. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by AuMatar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As someone who uses his phone and complains about the battery life constantly- I'd rather that any dev who thinks these are a good idea gets his hands smashed with a hammer so he can never code again.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    3. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 2, Informative

      bitblit operations and other 2D graphical effects are nearly free in terms of CPU and battery life.

      or should be, at any rate.

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    4. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by phil4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sense is slick - but I switched to CM6 ( Cyanogen Mod 6.00, an Android Open Source Project based rom ) and was surprised that I didn't really miss anything that Sense had given me. I had already switched away from the very nice weather/clock widget because its weather was not very current and everything else is nearly equivalent. ( Sprint HTC Hero, not the newest/fastest phone but very snappy with CM6 and only slight overclocking )

    5. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by shmlco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People don't get it. UI animations -- done correctly -- aren't just bling. They tell people what happened, where things went, and where they're at in the application. The classic example is minimizing a window to an icon in the dock. The zooming rects reinforce what happened, where the window went, and where to find it again.

      On the iPhone such things are implemented as GPU effects, with a totally insignificant impact on battery life. If you're on Android, firing up the 3G radios for a single background check on Twitter posts burns through more power than all the daily UI animations on your phone combined.

      And if your battery life is really that bad, then buy a better phone next time...

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    6. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by imgod2u · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I believe, as a developer of apps, he means the API's he has available to use those effects in *his app*. Not just the UI overlay that Samsung or HTC provides.

      But go on knee-jerking.

    7. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by binary+paladin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No. They're not. Those visual cues are important to A LOT of people.

      Of course, you're probably the kind of person who shuts off text anti-aliasing too.

    8. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by shmlco · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you're all that, perhaps I can interest you in Microsoft's new MS-DOS Command Line phone?

      No graphics whatsoever.

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    9. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by Fast+Thick+Pants · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ah, fond memories of ECHO ATDP 63489 > COM1...

      (Greybeard three-fer: Dialing from the MS-DOS command prompt, pulse dialing no less, and, God as my witness, I actually used to be able to dial my uncle by using only five digits.)

      (Holy crap, I just remembered that my first modem was an acoustic coupler job that couldn't even dial, and I used to hand-dial into the BBS using a rotary phone. And for kicks I practiced pulse dialing by rapidly clicking the receiver button. I guess it's about time I got a lawn...)

    10. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by mrawhimskell · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We know you know and we acknowledge your geekiness. But I believe we are referring to the general populace which may not be as enlightened as you are. Give noobs a chance

    11. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by Oscar_Wilde · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I know what happens when I minimize a window.

      You, sir, are not a typical user then. I know us geeks like to think we are a huge market segment that can dictate how things should be done but that is fantasy.

      Alas! We nerds are but a small pimple on the market's arse.

    12. Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way by markkezner · · Score: 2, Informative

      You don't normally have to do anything to write an arbitrary app for an Andriod phone that happens to have Sense. You just write your app using the regular Android SDK and don't worry about it. Sense and other skins are just not relevant factors for almost any app you would want to write.

      --
      Dangerous, sexy, turing complete: Femme Bots
  2. Video chat to compete with the iPhone by TheKidWho · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about video chat that works with the iPhone as well?

    Would be nice to use my Epic to video chat with a friends iPhone.

    1. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by froggymana · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would like to know if the video chat for android will actually work over 3G (or 4G) then in comparison to the iPhone only working over wifi.

      --
      "To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
    2. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by Jugalator · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How about video chat that works with the iPhone as well?

      I hope so too, but I fear that there's a penis size contest about to begin here. :-(

      I'm afraid Google would feel that following the FaceTime standard would risk giving away users to Apple.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    3. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      How about video chat that works with the iPhone as well?

      I hope so too, but I fear that there's a penis size contest about to begin here. :-(

      I'm afraid Google would feel that following the FaceTime standard would risk giving away users to Apple.

      How the fuck is FaceTime a standard? It was first mentioned on June 7, 2010. I've been using Skype to video chat on my N900 for about a year. And people in Europe have been video chatting using some other Nokia thingamajig for a year or two before that. May have been using Gizmo or something.

      Really. Apple didn't do anything impressive with FaceTime. Just use the Google Voice or Skype apps to video chat. They've been around long enough to be mentioned as a standard without people laughing in your face.

    4. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by Fast+Thick+Pants · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just use the Google Voice or Skype apps to video chat. They've been around long enough to be mentioned as a standard without people laughing in your face.

      Presumably you mean Google Talk, which uses the Jabber/XMPP messaging standard. The Skype protocol is spooky and mysterious, but I guess it's a defacto standard. FaceTime on the other hand is such a non-standard that it doesn't even work on Macs yet.

    5. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Presumably you mean Google Talk, which uses the Jabber/XMPP messaging standard.

      Specifically, it uses Jingle for voice and video. Jingle originated at Google, but they published it as a standard (actually, a family of standards), in the form of a set of XEPs. In contrast, Steve Jobs said that FaceTime would be published as a standard, but I have yet to see any documentation of the protocol from Apple.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Interesting

      FaceTime is using open, unencrypted protocols and is looking to share it and make it interoperate with others. Skype is proprietary closed-source that blocks competitors (like Fring).

      FaceTime uses H.264, AAC, SIP, STUN, TURN, ICE, RTP, and SRTP. All open standard protocols that someone could make work with iPhones/iPods. I'm surprised nobody put together a Windows app to connect to them. Imagine how popular Oovoo would be against Skype if they had this feature

    7. Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone by mr100percent · · Score: 2, Informative

      Apple showed the list of protocols in FaceTime during the keynote.

      • H.264 and AAC, its ISO/MPEG video and audio codecs (just like iChat).
      • SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), the open IETF signaling protocol for VoIP used by iChat AV.
      • STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT), an IETF standard for dealing with lots of different kinds of NAT.
      • TURN (Traversal Using Relay NAT), an IETF standard for allowing a client behind NAT to receive incoming requests like a server.
      • ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) an IETF standard which helps set up connections through NAT firewalls.
      • RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), an iETF standard for delivering media streams in VoIP.
      • SRTP (Secure RTP) an IETF standard designed to provide encryption, message authentication and integrity for the data streams.

      They said they want it to be an open standard. It's not an encrypted protocol.

  3. Re:Open System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Everyone who was smart enough to get a Nexus One rather than locked down Motorola garbage.

  4. We already have video chat by Superken7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but google wants to compete with google talk video chat with the rest of video providers.

    They better have API support for front cameras and all that new stuff, because thats something that is clearly missing in todays API, while there are already several phones with front-facing cameras in the market.
    Its possible to interact with them by setting the appropiate parameters in the API, but those parameters are not consistent across devices.

    Overall, I think the biggest 3.0 change should be look&feel.

    And I hope they don't just overhaul the UI and write beautiful google apps. I hope they do a complete UI tools overhaul so develpers can effortlessly create beautiful apps. Im not buying any of that fragmentation nonsense crap. The real issue is a lack of a "Interface builer" so we can build beautiful apps with no extra effort.
    Combine a really good "interface builder", "default layout settings" or whatever it might be with Android's customization and we got a clear winner in the UI and UX space.

    Thats my 2c

    1. Re:We already have video chat by Superken7 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Speaking of effortless nice Android UIs:

      In an effort to make creating a nice Android UI less painful I started this small project called Android Theme Samples.

      Its just like the Android Samples, where many examples are combined into a single downloadable app so you can browse it, try it and get those parts that better fit your own app.

      Its up in github for anyone to take and contribute: http://github.com/pllopis/AndroidThemeSamples

      I just got started and only a "light" theme and an "Action Bar" UI pattern are included. (Mind the design, I am not a designer).
      Would be really great if others contributed their own design :)

    2. Re:We already have video chat by robmv · · Score: 2, Informative

      Android UI Utilities, it is no interface builder but good for prototyping before building the XML UIs

    3. Re:We already have video chat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why not contribute to the existing project instead of making your own?

      I think this is where Android is failing, developers ego's

  5. Maemo by bcmm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maemo already does SIP calls and video chat.

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  6. Encryption please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Waiting for manageable full disk encryption, plus capability to encrypt the SD card. Android will never be fully accepted into the enterprise if this doesn't happen. Touchdown is ok, but doesn't really scale well across a huge client base.

  7. SIP would be great by jonescb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unfortunately, I think SIP support in Google Voice is going to be gutted in the US like how the Skype app works. I'm sure everybody in Europe will be free to make calls over SIP, but all us Americans will be stuck with Wifi only. Even if we could make calls over 3G, it's fairly difficult to find a carrier that will sell you only a data plan at a reasonable rate. For example, Sprint will sell you a 3G plan, but it's $50 a month, which is only $10 a month less than the data+voice bundle.

    1. Re:SIP would be great by priegog · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What I'm really looking forward about this is that the current (to my knowledge) most battery efficient app on the market today (Sipdroid) absolutely DEVOURS my battery, making it impossible for me to leave it running in the background. I'd really love a completely "virtual" phone in the sense that I could use it as a full time SIP phone, but so far, it's either take a charger everywhere I go or just use it for outgoing calls. Hopefully (probably?) Google will make an awesome app that doesn't use a lot of battery, making it usable.

      Google providing a SIP account would be great too. One less thing to configure.

      And yes, I'm in Europe, and yes I pay less than 15 Euro/month for my calls + internet. It's even a prepaid "plan", so I didn't sign anything. /bragging (I DID however have to pay 150 Euro for my free {as in freedom} HTC Magic {yay eBay!}.)

  8. OpenVPN without root by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The only thing that I need is to be able to connect to my office OpenVPN without having to root the freakin' phone.

    My N900 does it, but I'm stuck with IPSec on the Desire which fails completely because of damnable NAT from the telco (Vodafone and O2 in my case!)

    Our sales droids would love to have an Android!

  9. Catch up by DeionXxX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's disappointing that they are now playing catchup again. How about some features that the iPhone doesn't have that it would want to copy? Android may have some great devs behind it but they surely don't seem to have anyone that is trying to come up with new and interesting things to put on the Android (like some sort of "idea man"). Everything they seem to do is to make it more and more commoditized and more generic. I'm not saying they shouldn't work on things like Video Chat, but I think they should also try to come up with that one "great new shiny thing" at least once a release. Flash was a complete bomb since it took months and months for it to roll out to everyone and then it was super buggy and slow. Pretty soon, phone manufacturers aren't even going to advertise "This phone is using Android"... because there's no buzz about it anymore. Consumers could hardly care less about building in "me too" features 6-12 months after a competitor's phone has it.

    This is from a long time Android user.

    1. Re:Catch up by tknd · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't think they're playing catchup. They've already described some of the upcoming features like C2MD (cloud to mobile device) and there are a lot of things in iOS land that don't exist in Android land. For example bluetooth file transfers are enabled in 2.x androids while iOS doesn't have it. Similarly Android still has a lot of design that hasn't been copied by iOS (yet) like fully replaceable components such as keyboards and clients (SMS, email, etc). Multitasking still makes more sense in Android from a dev viewpoint and the notification bar actually is useful as it prevents a lot of unnecessary popups that steal attention or focus.

      There's only a few areas that I think are actually important/useful in iOS that Android is still lacking: hardware graphics acceleration (by default), screenshots, a certain missing UI widgets (for developers).

      That doesn't mean there are things I wish android had. One of them is bluetooth HID in the stock firmware for connecting keyboards and other input devices. But will iOS ever support this? If Jobs had his way, it wouldn't ever support that because that would mean random company or business making crap hardware for his products without paying royalties or being blessed by Apple first.

      Here's some other things that android has that iOS still doesn't have:

      • 3rd party application installs (without a market)
      • built-in wifi hotspot
      • home-screen widgets
      • 3rd party home-screen/launcher customization
      • emulation
      • Google Voice integration
      • hardware keyboard models
  10. "video chat to compete with the iPhone" by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Funny

    includes video chat to compete with the iPhone

    Great! So Google intends to release a completely proprietary chat application that only supports WiFi and only works with people who have the same exact model phone as you? Oh wait, this is Google... Hmmmm.... somehow, I don't think that's what they will do...

  11. Try Google App Inventor by IYagami · · Score: 4, Informative

    > The real issue is a lack of a "Interface builer" so we can build beautiful apps with no extra effort.
    > Combine a really good "interface builder", "default layout settings" or whatever it might be with
    > Android's customization and we got a clear winner in the UI and UX space.

    Try Google App Inventor, an official tool from Google itself

    http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

    1. Re:Try Google App Inventor by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As someone who just started using App Inventor, it's AWESOME. For someone who doesn't have time to learn how to code Android deep down, it works wonders.

  12. Re:Audio Pipeline API!! by Chees0rz · · Score: 2, Funny

    I to hope your post has effected the masses to provide a positive affect on they're children in relaying this all to important information that will someday determine weather or not there SAT scores will be effected.

  13. This irks me by stimpleton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a Samsung Galaxy S (Epic, Fascinate in some markets) which it a top of the range phone. It has broken GPS (like most every other Galaxy S owner) and no official Samsung Android Froyo 2.2 update is forthcoming, and 3.0 is leaking?

    I feel aggrieved to be honest. I suspect this isnt a software problem and it may be hardware now.

    I was visiting another town the other day, and collegues from another org, were giving me gip as they all had IPhones and merrily pointed out locations, as mine couldnt get a lock at all. "Well, you have your Live Wallpaper. I guess thats something."

    If you like a bit of corporate show boating I would advise against a Samsung Galaxy S.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
    1. Re:This irks me by imgod2u · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is Samsung in this case. Most if not all HTC and Motorola high-end phones have 2.2 already and have no GPS issues.

      I agree with a lot of the Android criticism but those issues you listed are specific to Samsung.

    2. Re:This irks me by stimpleton · · Score: 2, Informative

      Galaxy S GPS-Gate: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/17/samsung-galaxy-s-gps-gate-two-problems-not-one-and-what-to-do/

      Wikipedia entry(under Issues): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_i9000_Galaxy_S

      YouTube(dozens, if not hundreds of videos): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmIx6SR9lXo

      The EPIC issue: http://www.gadgetvenue.com/galaxy-gps-problems-fixed-samsung-epic-4g-08190515/

      I could paste links till my 6gb ram is full but just google "Galaxy S GPS problems"

      Oh yes, plenty of "A fix in september" rumors" but the originator was from a samsung forum post on Samsung India website. No official statement to date.

      --

      In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
    3. Re:This irks me by mrawhimskell · · Score: 2, Insightful

      hmm. keyword:"most of the time" - I for one wouldn't like something like my brakes to work "most of the time" Just thought i'd chip that in. while i'm a huge fan of android. I think we have to grow up from the geeky mentality and deliver solutions that are excellent, stable and consistent. People want stuff that works. period.

  14. Re:What The Fuck Are You Babbling About? by FauxPasIII · · Score: 2, Informative

    So it's not like people are picking between Droid and iPhone so it's apples to apples... it's more like iPhone 4 vs Crappy $50 Android Phone. Those aren't technically direct competitors.

    If you're an app developer and your app isn't CPU or GPU intensive, the "crappy" $50 Android phone is just as much another potential customer as someone with an Evo or Epic or Droid is.

    --
    25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
  15. Re:Open System by Drathos · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My Motorola Droid isn't locked down. I probably would have gotten a Nexus One if it had made it to Verizon, but it didn't. And switching to AT&T or T-Mobile wasn't an option, since Verizon is the only network with halfway decent coverage where I spend most of my time.

    Unless things change drastically, however, my next phone will not be a Motorola.

    --
    End of line..
  16. It's an option by Namarrgon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Android has an All/Some/None setting to turn off UI animations, in Settings/Display/Animation, so once again it gives people the choice.

    It's been there since 1.6 at least.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  17. Re:What The Fuck Are You Babbling About? by DeionXxX · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dwireless-phones&field-keywords=android&x=0&y=0

    A bunch of phones are on that list and under $50.

    When I got my phone, my wife got hers (Droid Eris) for free. There were a bunch of other promotions like buy a Droid X and get any other phone for free etc... It's stuff like this that inflates the numbers. My wife probably wouldn't have gotten an Android based phone and she doesn't download apps in the marketplace or anything like that. So I don't think developers are benefiting from these low-end android phones.

  18. DONT FIX. THE. FUCKING. DATEPICKER.. by mjwx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    +/- keys are a lot better then pull down menus and dials will get ridiculously annoying with 30 days in a month, 24 hours a day and 60 minutes in an hour.

    +/- is very scalable, if I want the count to go faster I just hold the button down, moving your thumb around in a circle is a very unnatural motion even for someone who's been playing video-games for 25 years. The wheel interface needs to die.

    Further more, if the +/- arent up to the task, I'll just type in the fucking date/time.

    If Google want to improve it, I'd suggest adding a few buttons for common usages or perhaps even a dial-pad (12 key interchangeable between 0-9 and months). On 800x400 screens, this should be easily doable.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.