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.

Comments

Re:Open System

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way

[catbutt]

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.

We already have video chat

[Superken7]

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

Re:We already have video chat

[Superken7]

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 :)

Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way

[shmlco]

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...

Try Google App Inventor

[IYagami]

> 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/

This irks me

[stimpleton]

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.

Re:This irks me

[imgod2u]

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.

Re:Video chat to compete with the iPhone

[TheRaven64]

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.

Re:Sense (or Sense inspired) all the way

[Fast Thick Pants]

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...)

It's an option

[Namarrgon]

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.