05-28-2008, 10:05 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Android Impresses at Google I/O
"As our exclusive demo videos show, the Android team have been putting in some long hours bringing the user interface up to the standard people expect. The iPhone sets the bar high, and leftfield rivals like Samsung’s TouchWiz GUI really pile on the pressure. What they’ve given us is, at first glance, a blend of the successful parts of each of those, together with a dose of Google’s own minimalist aesthetic. Hopefully you’ll agree with us, once you’ve looked through the photos and watched the video, that the design is a winner."
Android has certainly come a long way! Just check out the video above, and the rest of the eye-candy over at Android Community. There's a level of innovation here that we've not seen in the mobile industry for quite some time, and it should offer some healthy competition for Microsoft, Apple, and all the other major players.
Is there anything in the demos that's tickled your fancy? Perhaps the pattern-based unlock system or Street View with a built-in compass? Drop your thoughts in this thread.
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05-29-2008, 12:07 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Aww nuts. I was hoping Android was going to be mostly hype, but there's some cool stuff in there - Google did some good work...which sort of surprises me, Google does search really well, but when it comes do their offline applications, they're much less impressive. Looks like Android's the real deal - though the exact hardware will matter too, we'll have to see what HTC and the others come up with.
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05-29-2008, 08:58 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 865
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Pretty slick!
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05-29-2008, 11:05 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 740
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Aww nuts. I was hoping Android was going to be mostly hype, but there's some cool stuff in there - Google did some good work...which sort of surprises me, Google does search really well, but when it comes do their offline applications, they're much less impressive. Looks like Android's the real deal - though the exact hardware will matter too, we'll have to see what HTC and the others come up with.
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Eh, eh did not you know that "money push water uphill"?
Google and other capital ventures are luring programmers to work on android pouring a lot of money in the project.
Maybe MS should do something similar and get WM 7 out in few months instead of next year.
Also note that with "out" I mean in the hand of buyers not hardware manifacturers;and btw this is another sore point of WM: the entire process of making not only new releases of the OS but even simple updates available is too slow.
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05-29-2008, 01:39 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 676
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cool stuff
Anyone else think this looks a lot like the iPhone? From the homescreen icons to the dock at the bottom to the left-right homescreen page scrolling. Still good stuff and they came up with a couple nice UI innovations like pulling down the status bar to get immediate access to call info from anywhere with a single swipe.
I also can't help thinking that the touch-UI looks miles better than the HTC's Touch 3D. True, the Touch 3D has impressive eye candy (like the weather app), but there was a very noticeable lag between gestures and their response in the HTC Diamond videos whereas in Google Android the screen seems to respond instantly to your swipes- like on the iPhone or in Minority Report.
I'm so glad Apple and then Google have come along to shake up the smartphone industry. I was getting pretty bored with what Palm, Microsoft, and RIM have been doing (or not doing) for the past 4 years.
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64 GB iPad 2 WiFi, Apple TV 2, 32 GB iPhone 4
Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (dual boot with Windows 7), Early 2009 Mac Mini
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05-29-2008, 08:38 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dyvim
I'm so glad Apple and then Google have come along to shake up the smartphone industry. I was getting pretty bored with what Palm, Microsoft, and RIM have been doing (or not doing) for the past 4 years.
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could not have said it better myself.
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05-30-2008, 03:25 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frankie1
could not have said it better myself.
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AMEN to that!!!
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05-30-2008, 01:35 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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Compatibility?
Have they said what devices it will support?
What I really want to know is will it run on my imate 6150? 
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05-30-2008, 07:16 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vector
Have they said what devices it will support? What I really want to know is will it run on my imate 6150? |
You misunderstand what Android is - it's an OS that will ship on new hardware from partners such as HTC, Motorola, etc. It's not something that you can just install on your iMate...although you never know what the hackers will be able to come up with. 
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05-31-2008, 01:32 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 238
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Although I agree it's time for change in the PDA/handheld market. It's a wonder that no one is concerned with Google's motivation. Nothing in life is free and certainly, everything from Google comes at a cost. This is a company that has made it's billions by snooping on people while they surf the web. Are you shocked? surprised? I wonder how many people really understand what Google does to make money. At first they were monitoring people's searches to see what they were interested in. If a large number of people went for a certain topic, they invested in it. The greater the interest the more they made. Now they watch what you do where ever you go so they can push advertising to you. Every web site with Google Ads is another tentacle of Google out to see what you are doing. But advertising is not all they do. They save all this information and keep it in a form that makes _you_ readily identifiable. What do they do with all this information? No one but Google really knows, at this point.
And now they want to _give_ me a phone. Why are they so magnanimous?
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Bill B
Zune Tag - therealstlbud
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