Hugh Pickens writes "Andy Rubin, senior director for Mobile Platforms for Google, has announced that by the end of the year there will be 18 to 20 phones using the Android OS made by 8 or 9 different manufacturers. Google will offer three different versions of Android OS: a completely free and generic flavor with no pre-loaded Google applications; a slightly customized version that comes pre-loaded with Google apps like Gmail and Google Calendar; and a completely 'Google-fied' Android OS bearing all sorts of Google branding and integration with Google's services. Will Park reports that the expectation is that 12 to 14 of the upcoming Android phones will use the slightly-customized version of Google's Android OS requiring the manufacturer to agree to a distribution deal with Google that would allow the handsets to come pre-installed with Google-ware. The remaining 5 or 6 Android phones will come to market completely decked out with 'The Google Experience' and a Google logo on the phone. This third option provides risk and reward opportunities because the openness of the store could be a hit with consumers, but could also lead to poorly constructed or offensive applications that could give Google a taint. When it comes to apps, Rubin says: 'We want to abide by the law, but not rule with an open fist.'" Yes, it seems he really said "open fist," though he probably meant "iron fist."
Personally I think google can either epically win or fail with this move. One thing I see as very important is making sure not all of the phones are smartphones. The article suggests that several service providers will be in on the deal (already a step above apple in my opinion), however, if every phone delivered is a smartphone, much of the market will be lost. Not everyone can afford the expenses of internet and email that come with a smartphone. I would get the phone simply because it was running Andriod even if it weren't a smartphone.
You can have a smartphone without internet access. Arguably, every fucking phone is a smartphone these days; My stupid MOTO RAZR V3i has a datebook, voice records, text/video/image notes, and my contacts; finally, it can sync to Lookout. The additional features are still useful; especially if you have an alternate way to get software onto the phone.
If the phone has a unified data store and the ability to run arbitrary programs loaded into memory, it's a smartphone. Well, so long as it has enough screen to interface with the user. The Siemens S55 qualifies, for example, and it's a classic little suppository-shaped black and white phone... but it would run java applets, and it had a reminder system and some other PDA features. It was a free phone "back in the day". There are countless other examples, it's just the most pathetic I have ever owned. It doe
A non-smart Android phone seems a bit like an oxymoron. I think that for people who don't want a smartphone and just want to make phone calls, Android isn't the right solution.
That said, for people like you who want Android but don't want a phone, the future looks fairly bright, with Android being ported to netbooks and probably all sorts of other devices (I'd expect an iPod-touch competitor at some point).
All mobile phones are becoming smartphones. Google (and Apple, and everybody) don't care for "normal" mobiles, in a few years you will be able to buy androids/iphones for very low prices.
One thing I see as very important is making sure not all of the phones are smartphones.
Every phone is a smartphone. At this point, the distinction is as meaningless as the distinction between smartphone and PDA five years ago, when people were making noise about the supposed "death" of the PDA. It is all marketing gibberish. And in another five years, you'll have to go out of your way to not get a data plan.
What matters now is what platform the phone runs, and whether it allows the installation of applications from anywhere, or only from a centralized store and blessed by the manufacturer, or only from a centralized store and blessed by the carrier, or not at all. Google is putting a stake in the ground for the first category, the open category, the one that resembles computers as we all know them. Apple and the carriers want to turn phones into consoles.
One thing I see as very important is making sure not all of the phones are smartphones....Not everyone can afford the expenses of internet and email that come with a smartphone.
Smartphones don't have to be "expensive". Personally I'm looking for one that has WiFi so I can avoid data plans completely. IMO android on a dumb phone sorta misses the point. If you're after a dumb phone any proprietary OS should treat you right...or right enough.
I can putty with mine fine. Not felt the need to use VoIP yet, I'm struggling to get through the contract-bundled minutes at the minute. Aside from T-Mobile arbitrarily sticking a net-nanny on it, and then revoking it after a brief phone call, I've not found any restrictions on the connectivity yet.
LOL I'm sure you are just trolling, but I guess I'll bite anyway... so far every carrier effort to lock down the platform has failed because engineering bootloaders and rooting processes are widely known and available. It'll be interesting to see what happens the first time a device hits the market without the equivalent development device available. My guess is the phones that can't be rooted will barely sell next to their extensible counterparts. Remember - at the end of the day this thing is just a linux bo
A fist is still curving your fingers around to match your palm. If we open that up a little, you make a fist and open it slightly... I hope that's not what he's talking about.
So they can try to bitch slap the iPhone!
Also - how does one 'pre-install' web based apps? I suppose you can have a special mobile client app, but all you need is a browser.
I own a G1 and it already is "... pre-loaded with Google apps like Gmail and Google Calendar" so my first thought is are they going to try and sell what I already have for more money and sell one with less features for the price of mine? If so that won't go over well. I mean $300 is great for a open source phone that I can write my own apps for like I currently have. However, if they go changing the recipe too much then they might screw it up!
No, I think what the article is saying is that Google is offering scaled-back versions of Android, I'm guessing, so that more carriers will snap them up. Some carriers don't and won't want to offer phones with Google branding, pre-loaded Google applications, etc., since they want more 'control' over handsets than what Google was previously providing.
Of course since these are all ultimately android phones people will be making custom builds adding the features back and removing the carrier branding...
Alternatives to Apple's store are looking better and better. Sure, the company-branded software will be there, but being able to compete(!) gives Google a significant incentive to provide continually more functionality in its own software.
Comparing Apple(s) to (google) Oranges isn't always easy though... mostly because the gphones haven't been made publicly available. Time will tell, and it's my opinion that Google is going about this in a fairly well thought out manner.
Seriously good point! While people are always bitching about Apple "lock-in", you can't deny that Apple's "lock-in" drives innovation from competitors. In the end, everyone wins.
It's not apple's "lock-in" that drives innovation.. it's apples success in a certain new area of the market, that makes other players want their share of the pie.
The whole "open" and "free" talk from google is mostly marketing. I won't believe for a second that google went into the phone market out of ideology or the urge to make a "free" and "open" phone platform. They have a business model behind every move they make - and they are moving one step closer to having complete surveillance over their users.
Well you would hope that Google has a business model behind it, anyway. It's always hard to tell with Google whether they actually have a plan to make money or they're just doing it because they feel like it. I mean, there's no other company that I can think of at that size which latches on to things like this and you can't tell for sure why they are doing it.
Google makes a crapload of money, but that money is still mostly its search business, and so attributing business sense to Google on things other th
I was looking at a Chinese iphone knockoff, thinking that the hardware seems decent, but I wouldn't trust the knockoff operating system. With Android, though, the cheap knockoff can legally have the very same operating system, since they don't have to pay license fees. This means that if Samsung or whoever come up with a neato handset that makes them lots of money, three months later a Chinese factory will be making identical-looking knockoffs with the same Google-made software. This might even be legal! If I were a handset manufacturer, I'd be very scared of the openness of Android, but as a consumer, I would seriously take a second look at those Chinese knockoffs that will soon come our way.
Maybe in China it could be. There is still the issue of copying the hardware which no doubt has trademarks and patents covering various portions of it.
I was looking at a Chinese iphone knockoff, thinking that the hardware seems decent, but I wouldn't trust the knockoff operating system. With Android, though, the cheap knockoff can legally have the very same operating system, since they don't have to pay license fees.
Indeed; a lot of the Chinese family-industry phones are technically fascinating (and quite cheap). Having a real OS would make them much more attractive.
Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy --- remember that Android is designed for a two-chip system, where one processor runs the user apps (and is the one running Android), and another processor running a quite different operating system handles the GSM stack. On the G1, for example, there's a massive 20MB-or-so operating system image for the radio processor. This usually runs some embedded OS like Nucleus, and is highly proprietary, signed to be tamper-proof, and is deeply regulated; in most countries, tinkering with the radio image will cause your local telecommunications regulator to slap you round the face with lawsuits before you can blink.
I don't know where the Chinese knockoffs get their GSM stack but it's probably ripped off from a commercial product --- copyright doesn't mean much there. Which means they're probably not properly licensed by the GSM people, which means that it's very unlikely you'll be able to legally operate them in other countries. They may work, but that doesn't guarantee anything --- and if the device has a bug in its GSM stack which causes a local outage, you'll be in a world of legal pain.
Given the fact that Android updates (well, the one update) thus far have been free (the G1 update to Cupcake), how are the carriers going to encourage people to buy new handsets every 18 months?
Obviously there can be things like improve cameras, sexier designs, bigger screens, faster processors etc, but I can see a lot of people sticking with what they've got for longer if the experience when using the phone is exactly the same.
Obviously the carriers could also try rather artificial things like tying new services with new contracts etc, but I don't see that being so successful.
People got rid of perfectly fine-working good-reception Mototola V555s to get Motorola RAZRs with half the battery life and maybe half the reception. They bought the phone on the basis of fashion. There's no reason to believe that trend will stop any time soon. Fuck, people buy new toasters because the old one doesn't match their new food processor and shit, they'll definitely buy a new phone. Also, the phones die! It's not like they're built to last. If you can get a replacement two-year-old phone for your insurance deductible of $40 or sign a new contract and get a shiny new phone that flashes colored lights when it plays your mp3 ringtones for $100... Well, you might get a refurb oldie, but most people will take the "upgrade".
It's all about the hardware, not the software. iPhone firmware updates are free too, but people will still upgrade from 2G to 3G to the 3.0 hardware to be released later this year.
For me, I upgraded when WinMo devices moved to having built-in GPS, and I will upgrade my HTC Magic when my contract runs out to get a faster, lighter device with a longer-lasting battery, better (OLED?) screen, 3D projector, built in zero-gravity travel device, etc etc etc.
People upgrade because they want new shiny toys. A ne
For years I upgraded the OS on my HTC Blue Angel. WM2003 -> WM5 -> WM6 -> WM6.1. When I upgraded from my still working perfectly Blue Angel to HTC Diamond, it was to get the built in GPS and the same power in a much smaller form factor.
Okay, I do genuinely realize that flavor in this context is actually being used as a synonym for "version", but considering the general shape and size of cell phones these days, did anyone else think that the notion of cell phones having flavors might be just a little bit... ummm.... kinky?
Now if only Sprint would get off their butt and release their phone. I really want an Android phone but not willing to switch over to T-Mobile just for the phone.
Couldn't you just buy an Android dev phone now and swap the SIM out of your Sprint phone?
More money up front, of course, but no contract obligation and you have root access to the phone.
Disclaimer: I haven't received my dev phone yet (it's supposed to arrive today!), so I'm not certain this will work. I'm planning to toss in the SIM card out of a Walmart Special prepaid phone I have hanging around, but that's a T-Mobile unit.
Couldn't you just buy an Android dev phone now and swap the SIM out of your Sprint phone?
More money up front, of course, but no contract obligation and you have root access to the phone.
Disclaimer: I haven't received my dev phone yet (it's supposed to arrive today!), so I'm not certain this will work. I'm planning to toss in the SIM card out of a Walmart Special prepaid phone I have hanging around, but that's a T-Mobile unit.
Wifi (Must be able to connect to my home network at home)
SIP Client (Must be able to connect to my Asterisk server at home)
Bluetooth tethering for a MacBook Pro (For those rare times when I'm not near a wifi access point.)
A few years back I bought an unlocked Nokia E70 and that provided all this functionality, but T-Mobile kept breaking the data plan so I couldn't use the phone with my notebook. This rendered the data plan pretty much worthless, since doing anything on its postage-stamp-sized screen pretty much sucked. The battery life also wasn't that great, though you're never going to get awesome battery life doing what I was doing with it.
An unlocked Android phone would be capable of doing all that stuff but probably not on a 3G network. Nokia's E90 communicator also has all the features I want, a bigger screen than the E70 and a beefed up battery. I'd probably have to import one again, though. And I'd need to find a provider the phone is compatible with who allows tethering.
A good half of my cell phone woes are due to cell company suckage here in the states. The features I'm after have been widely available in Europe for ages now and we can't even manage them here even with the iPhone forcing things forward.
A Suggestion (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A Suggestion (Score:4, Interesting)
You can have a smartphone without internet access. Arguably, every fucking phone is a smartphone these days; My stupid MOTO RAZR V3i has a datebook, voice records, text/video/image notes, and my contacts; finally, it can sync to Lookout. The additional features are still useful; especially if you have an alternate way to get software onto the phone.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
If the phone has a unified data store and the ability to run arbitrary programs loaded into memory, it's a smartphone. Well, so long as it has enough screen to interface with the user. The Siemens S55 qualifies, for example, and it's a classic little suppository-shaped black and white phone... but it would run java applets, and it had a reminder system and some other PDA features. It was a free phone "back in the day". There are countless other examples, it's just the most pathetic I have ever owned. It doe
Re:A Suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
All mobile phones are becoming smartphones. Google (and Apple, and everybody) don't care for "normal" mobiles, in a few years you will be able to buy androids/iphones for very low prices.
Re:A Suggestion (Score:5, Insightful)
One thing I see as very important is making sure not all of the phones are smartphones.
Every phone is a smartphone. At this point, the distinction is as meaningless as the distinction between smartphone and PDA five years ago, when people were making noise about the supposed "death" of the PDA. It is all marketing gibberish. And in another five years, you'll have to go out of your way to not get a data plan.
What matters now is what platform the phone runs, and whether it allows the installation of applications from anywhere, or only from a centralized store and blessed by the manufacturer, or only from a centralized store and blessed by the carrier, or not at all. Google is putting a stake in the ground for the first category, the open category, the one that resembles computers as we all know them. Apple and the carriers want to turn phones into consoles.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
One thing I see as very important is making sure not all of the phones are smartphones....Not everyone can afford the expenses of internet and email that come with a smartphone.
Smartphones don't have to be "expensive". Personally I'm looking for one that has WiFi so I can avoid data plans completely. IMO android on a dumb phone sorta misses the point. If you're after a dumb phone any proprietary OS should treat you right...or right enough.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)
The world's a bit bigger than just the USA. Plenty of us have phones that can do VOIP already.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
..and putty [sourceforge.net].
Re: (Score:2)
LOL I'm sure you are just trolling, but I guess I'll bite anyway... so far every carrier effort
to lock down the platform has failed because engineering bootloaders and rooting processes
are widely known and available. It'll be interesting to see what happens the first time
a device hits the market without the equivalent development device available. My guess is
the phones that can't be rooted will barely sell next to their extensible counterparts. Remember -
at the end of the day this thing is just a linux bo
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Dream on. Android is the Obama of mobile operating systems.
So it is more intelligent, better than its predecessors, all in a sleek attractive package? Yeah, sounds about right to me.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't be, he made a negative comment about Obama. I don't know of any Apple freaks that speak ill of Obama.
The Open Fist? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe he was just trying to coin a new term. He was talking about bitch-slapping.
Re: (Score:2)
A fist is still curving your fingers around to match your palm. If we open that up a little, you make a fist and open it slightly... I hope that's not what he's talking about.
edition names? (Score:5, Funny)
Google Home Basic
Google Home Premium
Google Business
Google-fied Ultimate
You forgot ... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Open fist... (Score:2, Interesting)
Also - how does one 'pre-install' web based apps? I suppose you can have a special mobile client app, but all you need is a browser.
Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
No, I think what the article is saying is that Google is offering scaled-back versions of Android, I'm guessing, so that more carriers will snap them up. Some carriers don't and won't want to offer phones with Google branding, pre-loaded Google applications, etc., since they want more 'control' over handsets than what Google was previously providing.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course since these are all ultimately android phones people will be making custom builds adding the features back and removing the carrier branding...
Competition brings Innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
Alternatives to Apple's store are looking better and better. Sure, the company-branded software will be there, but being able to compete(!) gives Google a significant incentive to provide continually more functionality in its own software.
Comparing Apple(s) to (google) Oranges isn't always easy though... mostly because the gphones haven't been made publicly available. Time will tell, and it's my opinion that Google is going about this in a fairly well thought out manner.
Re:Competition brings Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Competition brings Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not apple's "lock-in" that drives innovation.. it's apples success in a certain new area of the market, that makes other players want their share of the pie.
The whole "open" and "free" talk from google is mostly marketing. I won't believe for a second that google went into the phone market out of ideology or the urge to make a "free" and "open" phone platform. They have a business model behind every move they make - and they are moving one step closer to having complete surveillance over their users.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Well you would hope that Google has a business model behind it, anyway. It's always hard to tell with Google whether they actually have a plan to make money or they're just doing it because they feel like it. I mean, there's no other company that I can think of at that size which latches on to things like this and you can't tell for sure why they are doing it.
Google makes a crapload of money, but that money is still mostly its search business, and so attributing business sense to Google on things other th
Android should scare mainstream phone makers (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
This might even be legal!
Maybe in China it could be. There is still the issue of copying the hardware which no doubt has trademarks and patents covering various portions of it.
Re:Android should scare mainstream phone makers (Score:5, Informative)
I was looking at a Chinese iphone knockoff, thinking that the hardware seems decent, but I wouldn't trust the knockoff operating system. With Android, though, the cheap knockoff can legally have the very same operating system, since they don't have to pay license fees.
Indeed; a lot of the Chinese family-industry phones are technically fascinating (and quite cheap). Having a real OS would make them much more attractive.
Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy --- remember that Android is designed for a two-chip system, where one processor runs the user apps (and is the one running Android), and another processor running a quite different operating system handles the GSM stack. On the G1, for example, there's a massive 20MB-or-so operating system image for the radio processor. This usually runs some embedded OS like Nucleus, and is highly proprietary, signed to be tamper-proof, and is deeply regulated; in most countries, tinkering with the radio image will cause your local telecommunications regulator to slap you round the face with lawsuits before you can blink.
I don't know where the Chinese knockoffs get their GSM stack but it's probably ripped off from a commercial product --- copyright doesn't mean much there. Which means they're probably not properly licensed by the GSM people, which means that it's very unlikely you'll be able to legally operate them in other countries. They may work, but that doesn't guarantee anything --- and if the device has a bug in its GSM stack which causes a local outage, you'll be in a world of legal pain.
Parent
Slap! (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, it seems he really said "open fist," ..."
What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP! I'm Rick James, bitch!
Be careful... (Score:2, Funny)
If updates are free, why buy new phones? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:If updates are free, why buy new phones? (Score:4, Interesting)
People got rid of perfectly fine-working good-reception Mototola V555s to get Motorola RAZRs with half the battery life and maybe half the reception. They bought the phone on the basis of fashion. There's no reason to believe that trend will stop any time soon. Fuck, people buy new toasters because the old one doesn't match their new food processor and shit, they'll definitely buy a new phone. Also, the phones die! It's not like they're built to last. If you can get a replacement two-year-old phone for your insurance deductible of $40 or sign a new contract and get a shiny new phone that flashes colored lights when it plays your mp3 ringtones for $100... Well, you might get a refurb oldie, but most people will take the "upgrade".
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
For me, I upgraded when WinMo devices moved to having built-in GPS, and I will upgrade my HTC Magic when my contract runs out to get a faster, lighter device with a longer-lasting battery, better (OLED?) screen, 3D projector, built in zero-gravity travel device, etc etc etc.
People upgrade because they want new shiny toys. A ne
Exactly (Score:2)
Read closely... (Score:2, Insightful)
Rubin says: 'We want to abide by the law, but not rule with an open fist.'
I think he does mean to rule with an iron fist.
The headline causes one's mind to wander... (Score:2)
Sprint? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now if only Sprint would get off their butt and release their phone. I really want an Android phone but not willing to switch over to T-Mobile just for the phone.
Re: (Score:2)
Couldn't you just buy an Android dev phone now and swap the SIM out of your Sprint phone?
More money up front, of course, but no contract obligation and you have root access to the phone.
Disclaimer: I haven't received my dev phone yet (it's supposed to arrive today!), so I'm not certain this will work. I'm planning to toss in the SIM card out of a Walmart Special prepaid phone I have hanging around, but that's a T-Mobile unit.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Couldn't you just buy an Android dev phone now and swap the SIM out of your Sprint phone?
More money up front, of course, but no contract obligation and you have root access to the phone.
Disclaimer: I haven't received my dev phone yet (it's supposed to arrive today!), so I'm not certain this will work. I'm planning to toss in the SIM card out of a Walmart Special prepaid phone I have hanging around, but that's a T-Mobile unit.
Would work well if Sprint didn't use CDMA, which unfortunately precludes the use of SIM cards [yahoo.com].
Re: (Score:2)
PS. Every single prepaid phone that walmart sells uses CDMA as well, no SIM cards there either.
The one I have was definitely purchased at Walmart, definitely is a T-Mobile unit, and definitely has a SIM card.
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It looks like they have several models which use SIM cards. For example, this one [walmart.com].
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Same here. I'm tempted by the Pre, but this little voice in the back of my head says "Don't do it!"
I've been with Sprint since 2002 and have little to complain about, but they're takin' their sweet ass time with putting out an Android handset.
the goog abides (Score:2, Funny)
It's good to know that the Goog abides.
18-20 phones (Score:5, Funny)
...announced that by the end of the year there will be 18 to 20 phones using the Android OS...
Doesn't sound like awfully lot to me. That's like about 2 phones sold per month.
Features I'm Looking For in My Next Phone (Score:5, Interesting)
A few years back I bought an unlocked Nokia E70 and that provided all this functionality, but T-Mobile kept breaking the data plan so I couldn't use the phone with my notebook. This rendered the data plan pretty much worthless, since doing anything on its postage-stamp-sized screen pretty much sucked. The battery life also wasn't that great, though you're never going to get awesome battery life doing what I was doing with it.
An unlocked Android phone would be capable of doing all that stuff but probably not on a 3G network. Nokia's E90 communicator also has all the features I want, a bigger screen than the E70 and a beefed up battery. I'd probably have to import one again, though. And I'd need to find a provider the phone is compatible with who allows tethering.
A good half of my cell phone woes are due to cell company suckage here in the states. The features I'm after have been widely available in Europe for ages now and we can't even manage them here even with the iPhone forcing things forward.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Already possible, alas you need an unlocked G1 for the tethering:
- Wifi, already there
- Sip: http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/ [google.com]
- Bluetooth tether: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ [google.com]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's obviously Italian, idiota!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
kdawson, what does expectationi mean?
I wish I was so smart that one little typo was enough to prevent me from understanding what a word is.
Re: (Score:2)
How about you google it. (Hint: It already exists, see for example http://cdtdoug.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-android-time.html [blogspot.com])