Android Arrives

24 September 2008, 9:52am

24 September 2008 - New York: At a press conference in New York today, Google and T-Mobile showed off the G1 smartphone that runs Google's Android operating system for mobile devices. The handset, priced at $179, will be available from T-Mobile on October 22. Some experts question whether Google's planned online store - the Android Market - scheme for delivering new applications for the phone could slow down mass adoption. The G1 has a touch screen and a pullout QWERTY keypad, making it thicker than the iPhone. It uses T-Mobile's faster 3G mobile network, and has built-in GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities. The G1 comes equipped with a 3.1 megapixel camera (no video), an accelerometer to measure motion of the device and orientation of the screen, and a Bluetooth receiver for hands-free devices. It also has a built-in compass that can determine the direction the phone is pointed.

Although the G1 hardware and functionality is not unique among smart phones, its software, using the Android operating system, is designed for easy access to all of Google's Web applications. The G1's Web browser, based on the same software used to make Google's recently released desktop browser, produces scaled-down Web pages that look very similar to a normal computer screen. The phone's built-in compass has been integrated into Google Maps Street View to let users pan around a streetscape by moving the handset in the corresponding direction.

Third-party applications have already been released, some with funding via Google's Android Challenge, e.g. Locale changes the phone's settings based on the time of day, the phone's location, and the owner's calendar, automatically turning the ringer off during meetings, for example. Shop Savvy lets users take a picture of a product's barcode with the built-in camera and compare prices from on the Web.

Applications will be available through an online store that can be accessed via the phone, the Android Market - similar to Apple's iPhone App Store. Google will play no central role in vetting applications before they are posted – a free-for-all approach could lead to quality-control issues in the near future.

Geo: International