Android attack makes mobile inroads
FOR the best part of a year, Google has been telling us all that its open-source Android operating system is going to change the world of mobile phones.
It is open-source, freely available and highly customisable.
And since anyone can license it, we should see them flooding on to the market: each one gorgeous, exciting and different.
The ultimate iPhone killer, how could Apple hope to compete with such a flood of innovation?
Well, one year on, the iPhone remains a phenomenon, selling by the millions worldwide.
You see people pulling them out everywhere.
Apple’s online App Store, where iPhone users can get free or dirt-cheap software, has a claimed 100,000 applications available for downloading. Google’s Android Market has about 8000.
Meanwhile, Android’s promised flood has been a trickle.
In Australia, there have been a couple of Android-powered phones from Taiwanese maker HTC: the G1 Dream marketed by Optus, and the all-white Magic from Vodafone.
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They’re both good phones, but they have not been able to make much of a dent in iPhone sales.
Then there’s Samsung’s Galaxy Icon, a good looker hampered by poor battery life (as is the iPhone) and a meagre 8GB of storage. At least 16GB is needed for apps, not to mention photos and music.
All three are further hampered by the lack of really good Android software games.
But things are finally stirring in the Android world because Google has launched a powerful new version of the operating system that could get software developers flocking to it.
As well, genuinely innovative models from makers new to the Android world appears to be just around the corner.
The new version on Android is 2.0, also known in Googleland as Eclair (the 1.5 version on the Dream, Magic and Galaxy Icon was called Cupcake), which comes with a fast browser, better Facebook support, text-to-speech facilities, exchange support to attract business users, multitouch, video and support for a turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation program from Google Maps.
All this has been included in the Droid, a new Android 2.0-powered mobile phone that made its debut in the US last week to rave reviews and was accompanied by a clever advertising campaign that homed in on some of the iPhone’s failings.
The ads stressed the word iDon’t to emphasise these missing bits.
For instance: iDon’t have a real keyboard, iDon’t run simultaneous apps, iDon’t take five-megapixel pictures and iDon’t have interchangeable batteries. All of which the Droid does have.
Apple fans counter that what the iPhone does have is a terrific, consistent interface. Android interfaces differ from maker to maker. And of course there’s those 100,000 apps.
But iPhone users get only one keyboard (a virtual one), whereas the Droid comes with two (an illuminated slideout physical board, or an onscreen version like the iPhone’s). No one knows for sure if the Droid will be available in Australia, least of all Motorola, which has been largely out of the local market in recent years.
The US model would not suit our 3G networks, but the word is a 3G version is under development.
Also due early next year is an Android phone from Sony Ericsson called the Xperia X10, to be powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, much faster than chips used in current Android phones or the iPhone.
It will have a 4in screen, bigger than either the Droid (3.7in) or iPhone (3.2in), and an 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus, image stabilisation, smile detection and touch focusing.
If you can’t wait for the Droid or the X10, HTC has another Android phone on the way: the Hero, which will be here before the end of the year. It looks slightly futuristic with a jutting “chin” an HTC trademark and a brilliant screen.
You get HTC’s customised Sense interface, a good web browser with touchscreen operation and a bundle of widgets.