Developers praise Android at Google I/O

[SteveW]

Developers praise Android at Google I/O

Mobile platform's flexibility and potential, especially in comparison to the Apple iPhone's, touted by developers at Google conference

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
May 29, 2008

Developers praised the programming experience and the potential of Google's Android mobile platform at the Google I/O conference as the company emphasized its flexibility and showed cool new features.

There was a lot of buzz around Android at the conference, which covers all areas of Google development, and an "Introduction to Android" session was full. Google wants the technology to open up the mobile industry, where developers have faced hurdles getting applications ported to many different operating systems and approved by carriers. But Android will enter the fray as just one mobile platform among many, including the Apple iPhone SDK.

The latest prototype version of Android drew comparisons to the iPhone after it was demonstrated during a keynote session Wednesday morning. Google showed a home screen with colorful widgets similar to the Apple iPhone's, plus a compass and a status bar that can be pulled down in any application to view messages. The compass, which could be built into a handset along with an accelerometer, would be able to orient maps according to which way the user was facing. As demonstrated with Google Maps Street View, it could show the exact view that a user was looking at, with street-name and address information built in to the map. Videos of the demonstrations were posted by the Android Community blog.

Aside from features on high-end phones, Android will reach far more people than the iPhone platform, if it meets its potential, said Atif Iqbal Chaudhry, a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who attended the conference. The platform could be extended to inexpensive phones with a smaller set of capabilities for average consumers, he said.

Google expects the first Android-based devices to hit the market in the second half of this year and will make the finished software platform available to developers after that, so anyone can create their own phone platform, Chen said. The core elements of it will be released under the Apache open source license.

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SW

[RJB]

I for one and very excited for android I think it has a lot of potential.

[SteveW]

...I think it has a lot of potential.

It seems that it's going to take companies with powerful user and developer communities to take away some control from the carriers. No company will give up their user lock-in or revenue sources willingly. Apple started it with the iPhone, which meets many people's needs well, but apparently is still a pretty closed system. Although there is now an iPhone SDK, all applications have to be registered and re-distributed by Apple, as I understand it. Now I'm an Apple fan, but this is not an open marketplace.

Android could really open up phone software and increase flexibility and choice for consumers. I think it's significant that Google, a company with lots of cash and cachet, has the market ability to change the game. Of course, they also need to have a monetary interest in changing the game, which they do.


SW

[SmArTeStChIlD421]

i think that the beauty of Android is that its not a closed in development. Its left with so many frayed ends that anyone can do anything they want with............tthe developers limits are the hardware specifications of their device..........if it can be coded then the sky is the limit...

[M in LA]

Developers praise Android at Google I/O

Mobile platform's flexibility and potential, especially in comparison to the Apple iPhone's, touted by developers at Google conference

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
May 29, 2008

Developers praised the programming experience and the potential of Google's Android mobile platform at the Google I/O conference as the company emphasized its flexibility and showed cool new features.

There was a lot of buzz around Android at the conference, which covers all areas of Google development, and an "Introduction to Android" session was full. Google wants the technology to open up the mobile industry, where developers have faced hurdles getting applications ported to many different operating systems and approved by carriers. But Android will enter the fray as just one mobile platform among many, including the Apple iPhone SDK.

The latest prototype version of Android drew comparisons to the iPhone after it was demonstrated during a keynote session Wednesday morning. Google showed a home screen with colorful widgets similar to the Apple iPhone's, plus a compass and a status bar that can be pulled down in any application to view messages. The compass, which could be built into a handset along with an accelerometer, would be able to orient maps according to which way the user was facing. As demonstrated with Google Maps Street View, it could show the exact view that a user was looking at, with street-name and address information built in to the map. Videos of the demonstrations were posted by the Android Community blog.

Aside from features on high-end phones, Android will reach far more people than the iPhone platform, if it meets its potential, said Atif Iqbal Chaudhry, a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who attended the conference. The platform could be extended to inexpensive phones with a smaller set of capabilities for average consumers, he said.

Google expects the first Android-based devices to hit the market in the second half of this year and will make the finished software platform available to developers after that, so anyone can create their own phone platform, Chen said. The core elements of it will be released under the Apache open source license.

More...


SW

This is a good sign. Looking forward to it.