The Android Wars: The Battle for Smartphone Users Begins!

[Rocco Augusto]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1219137354.usr8.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As I am sure all of you have heard the release of Google's open source operating system is right around the corner. As Jon posted <a href="http://smartphonethoughts.com/news/show/90295/pre-order-a-dream-on-september-17.html">yesterday</a>, T-Mobile is having some weird special event pre-sale to kick off the release of the first Android device, the HTC Dream, and T-Mobile subscribers can expect to pick up this new handset for a mere $150USD. This is an amazing price for a touch screen smartphone. <br /><br />As some of you have probably heard me say before, as of the last Android SDK release, the operating system felt more like a collection of stuff rather than a useable mobile platform. With the recent release of the Android SDK we can see a lot of that "hobbyist" feel that usually accompanies most things open source start to peel away from the device as Google shapes Android up to a viable iPhone killer.<MORE /><br /><br />Now I know what you guys are thinking, "<em>Geez, here we go again! Once more we're talking about something other than Windows Mobile!</em>" You know what? I totally feel your pain and you're right. Unfortunately Microsoft is still being incredibly tight lipped about the successor to our current generation of mobile operating system and everyone is getting antsy; especially me. I don&rsquo;t know if you guys have realized this, but I&rsquo;m pretty impatient. It isn&rsquo;t just me either, lately I could just feel the anxiety in the air as we all sit around hoping that someone up there in the land of Redmond is taking notes and listening. And while it is fun to sit around with a head full of wishful thinking while we keep our fingers crossed and wait for better days, there are two very important things wrong with having crossed fingers all the time.</p><ol><li>Crossed fingers make it harder to type&hellip; a lot harder.</li><li>Crossed fingers do not make very entertaining news stories.</li></ol><p><br />So since we are hearing nothing from the Microsoft camp at the moment about what to expect of the future of our favorite operating system, I decided it would be a great idea to at least take a look at where the future of mobile devices are headed. Some could argue that the future of mobile devices came around with the release of the iPhone, and you would be totally right, but the truth is Apple has always been a closed ecosystem and there is too much control wrapped up in the hardware and software that as a consumer you will never really have "choice". You either get what Apple says you want or you get nothing and lets face it, as long as Apple has a stranglehold on the iPhone, it can never go head to head with any mobile operating system. Google offers us something completely different while giving us an open source operating system that will encourage its users to tinker and innovate and this operating system can - and will - be installed on a slew of handsets similar to what we see now in the Windows Mobile world. If there was any operating system that posed a serious threat to Windows Mobile or even Symbian, it is Android.<br /><br />Will Google's operating system be good enough to eat into the consumer base of Microsoft's Windows Mobile or even Apple's iPhone platform? That remains to be seen. So while we all sit around and wait for something exciting to happen, and for the love of all things mobile and good I hope that it happens soon, I threw together this little video of me dinking around with the Android emulator. As always let us know what you think about this new fandangled operating system. Enjoy!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HDF4KjvPWs" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HDF4KjvPWs"></embed></object></p>

[bleeman]

Rocco,

I too am interested to see what Android will bring to the table, but this post brings up another issue that I have been wondering about lately with regards to the "Thoughts" forums in general. I received this post in my RSS Feeds for Digital Home Thoughts, PocketPC Thoughts, SmartPhone Thoughts, and Zune Thoughts. Now interestingly enough when I clicked on each of the "View Article" links it brought me here to SmartPhone Thoughts. What I wanted to know is are you guys now cross-posting to all 4 sites with the link taking us back to the appropriate forum, is there something wrong with my RSS reader (I'm using Outlook 2007), or is there something wrong with your RSS feed?

I have noticed this pattern a lot lately and to be quite frank was seriously considering dropping all my feeds as I have been getting tired of reading the same posts over and over on each site. I signed up with all four as I do have an interest in topics specific to each area. I also realize at times it makes sense for some duplication especially between PocketPC and SmartPhone Thoughts. However, I am hard pressed to see what a mobile phone has to do with a Zune :D

Not trying to pick on you, it just so happened that I opened my reader this morning and saw a new post in all 4 feeds and they were all this one.

UPDATE:

After posting my response I noticed that this apparently was posted across all 4 sites as I see it in the "feeds list" at the top of the pages for the other sites. I don't know how others feel about this, but I would like to say to all of you on the Thoughts team please stop. I would much rather have no news than duplication across all 4 sites. Yes, I know I can just delete the duplicates, but it gets old, and lately I have been noticing this is happening a lot more. As I mentioned above, I follow each site for topics specific to them not to see the same article 4 times.

Thanks for considering this and thanks too for all the hard work you all put in on our behalf as I do appreciate it.

[onlydarksets]

UPDATE:

After posting my response I noticed that this apparently was posted across all 4 sites as I see it in the "feeds list" at the top of the pages for the other sites. I don't know how others feel about this, but I would like to say to all of you on the Thoughts team please stop. I would much rather have no news than duplication across all 4 sites. Yes, I know I can just delete the duplicates, but it gets old, and lately I have been noticing this is happening a lot more. As I mentioned above, I follow each site for topics specific to them not to see the same article 4 times.

Thanks for considering this and thanks too for all the hard work you all put in on our behalf as I do appreciate it.
There's only one post. The feeds all link to this post.

[PdaAddict]

The design looks pretty promising. Does anyone know the detailed specs, such as screen resolution, CPU type/speed, Ram/Rom, MicroSDHC?

[Rocco Augusto]

...I have been wondering about lately with regards to the "Thoughts" forums in general. I received this post in my RSS Feeds for Digital Home Thoughts, PocketPC Thoughts, SmartPhone Thoughts, and Zune Thoughts. Now interestingly enough when I clicked on each of the "View Article" links it brought me here to SmartPhone Thoughts. What I wanted to know is are you guys now cross-posting to all 4 sites with the link taking us back to the appropriate forum, is there something wrong with my RSS reader (I'm using Outlook 2007), or is there something wrong with your RSS feed?

You know, when I posted this at 2am I had a valid thought process for why I included it in all of our sites but for the life of me I cannot remember it. I guess this is why you shouldn't work after midnight... or feed magwai. :)

To answer your question though our current news posting system allows us to take a central post to one forums, such as this, and hot link it to our sister sites when the post is relevant or we have an announcement that we want everyone to hear.

I understand your frustration with the feeds, I have the same frustration but we have a lot of Thoughts Media users that only parse one site and not all of them so if we only had the item show up no the 'home base' feed and not the other feeds, those users would miss out. I have had an few ideas that could help eliminate this frustration, that I am happy I am not the only one that whom has it, and hopefully I can sit down with Jason and go over those ideas soon.

So I guess what I'm trying to say bleeman is don't give up on the feeds just yet. They problem is fresh in my mind and I'm trying to think of an elegant solution for individual such as ourselves who parse the whole kitchen caboodle. :)

Thanks for considering this and thanks too for all the hard work you all put in on our behalf as I do appreciate it.

And thank you for continuing to come back to our sites. Without our readers us editors wouldn't have much to do :D

[Jason Dunn]

I received this post in my RSS Feeds for Digital Home Thoughts, PocketPC Thoughts, SmartPhone Thoughts, and Zune Thoughts.

It's very, very rare that we have something that goes across to all four sites - perhaps something memory-related, or some "big news" that impacts all users. I've changed the post to only show up on Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts. I'll ask Rocco why his 2 AM brain thought it was on-topic for Digital Home Thoughts and Zune Thoughts. :D

After posting my response I noticed that this apparently was posted across all 4 sites as I see it in the "feeds list" at the top of the pages for the other sites. I don't know how others feel about this, but I would like to say to all of you on the Thoughts team please stop. I would much rather have no news than duplication across all 4 sites.

Bill, you're a long time reader, and I respect your opinion, but don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit? If you happen to see the same headline more than once, all you have to do it click onto the next item - it's not like you have to stop to read it. Although you mentioned deleting your RSS posts, so it seems like you're managing them like email - which isn't usually the way RSS is managed. We'll try to keep the duplicate posts under control, but given how rare they are, I think you're protesting just a wee bit too much. :o

[Jason Dunn]

The design looks pretty promising. Does anyone know the detailed specs, such as screen resolution, CPU type/speed, Ram/Rom, MicroSDHC?

This is just the software in an emulator - there's no physical phone here. Android phones are going to be coming from HTC, Motorola, and other phone makers.

[PdaAddict]

This is just the software in an emulator - there's no physical phone here. Android phones are going to be coming from HTC, Motorola, and other phone makers.


Thanks, Jason. Do you know anything about the HTC Dream specs?

[ctitanic]

I read that Google will offer discounts to users that agree to receive adds in their Androide phone. The discounts are against your phone purchase and your service plan.

[Rocco Augusto]

Thanks, Jason. Do you know anything about the HTC Dream specs?

Here are some specs I grabbed off of a few different websites:


528MHz Qualcomm MSM7201ACPU
GSM/HSDPA (3.6Mbps)
128MB RAM
256MB ROM
Large touchscreen with haptic feedback
Full QWERTY keypad
5 inches long and 3 inches wide
Keypad that either slides or swivels for easy typing/texting
Internet navigation controls below the touchscreen display

[PdaAddict]

Here are some specs I grabbed off of a few different websites:


528MHz Qualcomm MSM7201ACPU
GSM/HSDPA (3.6Mbps)
128MB RAM
256MB ROM
Large touchscreen with haptic feedback
Full QWERTY keypad
5 inches long and 3 inches wide
Keypad that either slides or swivels for easy typing/texting
Internet navigation controls below the touchscreen display


Nice! Thanks!

[natestera]

Is the emulator part of the SDK?

[Rocco Augusto]

Is the emulator part of the SDK?

It is, though making a virtual SD card and connecting to the device and then pushing files to it is a little bit time consuming (and maybe tricky if you're not familiar with the almighty command line)