Android: Should Iphone be scared?

March 15, 2008 · Filed Under Technology · Comment 

Google recently announced that it will release a new platform for mobile devices and it they dubbed it Android. This platform is a open software platform for use on mobile devices and is a competition to Symbian and Microsoft.   Think of it as an OS for your mobile phone.

The project is being developed by Google and its partners in the Open Handset Alliance—Broadcom, eBay, China Mobile, Intel, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Nvidia, Samsung, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Texas Instruments, and Wind River—the thrust of which is to accelerate the relationship between the Web and mobile phones.

 Currently, mobile phone users may send and receive emails and even surf the Web through their devices but are limited in what they can do and install. With this problems occurring, Google CEO Erich Schmidt mentioned that their mission is to create a whole new experience for mobile phone users—experiences that are not even imaginable today.Android

With this new technology being developed, people will now spend less time on their PCs or laptops. Experts predict that handsets will slowly evolve into laptop and perhaps even pc replacements. All that is needed to get wired is your mobile phone. The Linux-based platform by Google is being designed with so much flexibility as to allow major phone manufacturers to use it.

CEO Steve Ballmer of Microsoft critiqued that Google only has the Android on paper right now and that it will be hard to compare Google’s product with Microsoft’s own platform called Window’s Mobile, which is currently being used by 150 different handsets and is available in over 100 different mobile operators.  Obviously the open OS code (think linux for your cell) would challenge Microsoft’s market.

Another competitor of Google is Symbian—a mobile operating software which is owned by Nokia, Ericson, Sony Ericson, Panasonic, Samsung, and BenQ—and its CEO Nigel Clifford said that Google’s Android is just another name in the list of Linux-based platforms. He also mentioned that Linux is fragmenting faster than it unifies. Symbian is the leading operating system for “smart phones”.

The Iphone can be seen as another competitor on a software level.  As the Iphone opens up the OS just a little and allows for sdk and api access, android will provide the ultimate and flexible open development platform.  As long as hardware makers create the phones any software developer can write and install the code they desire onto an android device.

Google touts that so far only 120k have downloaded the Iphone SDK in comparison to over 800k downloads of the android platform.

Google plans to release Android in the second half of 2008, during which time, Samsung would have also released two of its latest phones: the L310 and L320.

The L310 is a clamshell-type phone available in black, brown, and gold. Designed primarily for women, it has a 2-megapixel camera and different original applications. The downside is it has no external display.

It supports GPRS and EDGE for internet connectivity, the L310 is a tri-band mobile device. It boasts of a 1.8 inch TFT display with a resolution of 176 X 220 pixels. Targeting women as the market, Samsung included applications such as assistance in shopping and counting calories.

Dimensions of the set are 93.4 X 44 X 17.9 mm. It is equipped with Bluetooth technology and USB version 2.0 with a microSD card slot.

The L320, also a clamshell, has a curvier look and feel than the L310. With an external display, it has the same TFT display resolution in pixels as that of the L310. The difference is that the TFT display is 1.9 inches. Almost all features are the same.

The phone is expected to come out this month, February, but only in selected markets. It is still unclear when exactly these phones will be released.

Android represents a big, big win for consumers.  More options are always better for consumers and we’ve long been restricted by phone makers and providers as to what software and applications we can use on our mobiles.  Android will hopefully force all providers to open up - end result will be a better service for us - the humble consumers.

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