What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
92 Comments
- ricopicouk, on 04/18/2009, -6/+37Being a part of google, HE would say that.
However we are already 1/4 way through the year, and there have been no new android phones released.
For this year to be the 'Andriod Year', they will first need to gain the market share.
Whilst the G1 is a great phone, it is not asthetically pleasing enough for the mainstream market to consider it an alternative to the iphone. The second android phone (whilst I have not seen one in real life) apeared not to cut it, with a small screen and no camera. - Darthyoshiboy, on 04/19/2009, -2/+31Don't knock it till you've tried it.
- Serenikill, on 04/19/2009, -0/+24Samsung is releasing 2 Android phones this year (one Sprint, one T-Mobile), HTC is releasing the dream and likely one more. Some other random companies are coming out with some and Motorola and Sony Ericson are rumored as well. We will see what happens but Google is making it easy to compete with apple, that is for sure.
- ericdano, on 04/19/2009, -4/+26I thought it was the year of Linux.....again.......
- Ragzouken, on 04/19/2009, -1/+13We're talking about it right now!
- MattBD, on 04/19/2009, -1/+12Why wouldn't you want to try it? A cool gadget is a cool gadget no matter who makes it, and there's always a cooler one going to come along sometime. Otherwise you could say "Why would I want the latest iPhone, I've got a Sony Walkman cassette player I bought in 1981?"
- TheR3dMenace, on 04/19/2009, -0/+10Im looking forward to see what hardware is going to come out for android next.
- vitriolix, on 04/19/2009, -1/+9Apparently you never visit any tech/gadget sites. Every tiny blip of news/rumor is instantly spread across the internet. Any time I take out my phone to look something up, people always ask me "is that the google phone?" and want to poke around on it. I'd say that's a good sign of interest.
Also, Android has rocketed into the 2nd place in terms of mobile web browser share, considering that's with only one handset on the smallest carrier in the US, people seem to be using their phones a lot.
http://www.topandroidphones.com/post/Android-Grabs ...
As Schmidt obviously knows, there are confirmed to be somewhere between 5-10 new android phones targeted for the 2nd half of the year from as many as 4 different manufacturers. - brianez21, on 04/19/2009, -0/+8um..what?
- pitdog, on 04/19/2009, -2/+10I was kinda hoping for a real android....
- AlexWiggy, on 04/19/2009, -2/+9You sir, are a retard.
- timf, on 04/19/2009, -0/+6Since Android's kernel is Linux...
- quarando, on 04/19/2009, -0/+6I think we will see Android appear on several phones this years and start to grab some real market share as well as significant consumer interest. Most people still have never heard of Android, but I think this situation will change by years end.
So When Schmidt says this is an Android year, he doesn't mean Android will dominate the market. I think he is suggesting 2009 will essentially be the launch of Android as a serious platform in the minds of both handset makers and consumers. - otbeverly, on 04/19/2009, -0/+6Well, it's not the National Enquirer, but I see where you're coming from.
Mistaking Google for Gurgle in the third paragraph is nearly unacceptable. - quarando, on 04/19/2009, -0/+6Actually every major tech blog seems to be quite excited about it. Guess you haven't been paying much attention.
- tonmil, on 04/19/2009, -2/+7Good thing Microsoft Microsoft makes computers to go with their Windows hardware else they wouldn't be successful.
- Dagreenman, on 04/19/2009, -1/+5if more phones actually come out using the OS, then it will be.
- Serenikill, on 04/19/2009, -0/+4Better Source: http://phandroid.com/2009/04/17/later-this-year-qu ...
Eventual source is the AP though. - Smalldude76, on 04/19/2009, -5/+9Why is this virtual rag on the front page? Android or not, The Inquirer is not a reliable news "source".
- MattBD, on 04/19/2009, -1/+5There's one Android phone out so far, there's a LOT more on the way. Have you seen how many vendors have joined the Open Handset Alliance?
Ultimately a lot of handset vendors are worried that Apple are going to take a massive chunk of their business, so they need an OS that can compete, and that's Android. By the end of the year you can no doubt expect to see several decent Android handsets. I've got my eye on an HTC Magic, but I'll have to wait and see. - superkendall, on 04/19/2009, -0/+4Actually being a director of Apple he recuses himself from the meetings when they discuss iPhone matters. So he doesn't have that much more inside knowledge.
- inactive, on 04/19/2009, -0/+3If Verizon had an Android phone they'd lock it down just as much they do all of their other phones. It wouldn't be anymore useful than the Verizon RAZRs.
- vitriolix, on 04/19/2009, -1/+4http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/htc-m ...
This is coming out now as the Magic in the EU, but will be out very soon (unannounced as of yet) of T-mobile as the G2. I dont know where you got your info, but it does have a camera and the screen size is the same as the G1.
Looks very nice, if you aren't into the slider keyboard and want a phone a little thinner than the G1. - MattBD, on 04/19/2009, -4/+7He's also a director of Apple, so I think he's in a better position than almost anyone else to talk about it. He no doubt has insider knowledge of BOTH phones.
- outoforder, on 04/19/2009, -2/+5I wish Verizon had an Android phone.
- emailingRob, on 04/19/2009, -0/+3The mighty wikipedia says that Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Acer, as well as a few smaller companies like HTC, Archos and Lenovo plan to bring out Android phones this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_sy ... - etx313, on 04/19/2009, -1/+4I love my zune, so i'll have to give android a try as well. :P
- MrInfallible, on 04/19/2009, -0/+3They don't like being called that!
Replicant please. - Rudegar, on 04/19/2009, -1/+4<insert a real original "the year of the linux" comment like users not noticing there are already numerous ones in already>
- quarando, on 04/19/2009, -0/+2Actually the situation is quite the opposite of what you state. Android has quite a lot of buzz, the G1 has sold exceptionally well and the development community around Android is exploding. This doesn't mean it is certain to be a success, but it is looking pretty good right now.
- MattBD, on 04/19/2009, -2/+4The whole point about Android is that it's an OS, not a phone. That's like saying Windows failed because one particular computer didn't sell well.
Google is simply subscribing to the 'release early, release often' school of thought. They got the G1 into people's hands, and perhaps it wasn't that great but the SDK is out there and people can tinker with the OS. Android will improve very rapidly thanks to the fact it's open source, and all it takes is for one Android phone to become popular. And have you seen the list of mobile phone manufacturers who've signed up for Android? Motorola in particular have put a lot of effort into developing Android phones, and we can expect to see plenty of them before the end of the year. - piratearggghhh, on 04/19/2009, -2/+42009 will probably end up being iPhone > Pre > Android (distant 3rd)
- zbeast, on 04/19/2009, -3/+5I like the OS I hate the phone's... I would like a gphone larger so that it's has more of a screen
and more of a battery. - vakeraj86, on 04/19/2009, -2/+4We're already four months in and have seen nothing. He better start moving fast.
- xero69, on 04/19/2009, -2/+4Tablet PCs, netbooks, TV boxes, automotive systems, phones, etc Andriod will be a cost effective and stable choice for these and many more. If the users data is kept on the cloud and the apps can run on any platform running Android there are a lot of possibilities.
- Serenikill, on 04/19/2009, -0/+2They are evaluating and testing it but it will probably be a while.
http://phandroid.com/2009/04/17/sony-ericsson-stil ... - mbraynard, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1Acer is, as well, and they will be around $50-$100.
- poisonborz, on 04/19/2009, -1/+2Hopes were high for Android, but not too many phones seems to be released with it, especially considering SE, Motorola, and Samsung, who were in dire need of a free/cheap flagship OS, like Nokia is having Symbian.
I just don't understand why phone makers don't jump on this... Free, having a steadily growing community, and except the need of a touchscreen (I'm not even sure in this), and coding in Java (ok, that's that's a minus) there is no real requirement, hell, they could even release Android roms for older handsets... Why, mobile industry, why? - darthjure, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1"the whole point is to get around 20 per cent of mobile subscribers interested in using the interwibble on their phones"
...interwibble? - nepidae, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1Yes? The newton was amazing for its time. Just because it isn't technologically relevant today doesn't mean it wasn't a great stepping stone. Also it seems that people think that I posted this as a diss to android and zune, this isn't the case. I was merely pointing out their unfortunate marketing similarities.
- DaveClarkOne, on 04/19/2009, -1/+2Uh, do you KNOW anyone who has an Android? I know ONE person, and she pines for an iPhone.
- quarando, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1I just don't see Pre doing that well. I mean, it is a really cool phone but I don't think Palm will be successful at building a significant development community around WebOS. It has a javascript sdk which won't cut it for sophisticated apps, it is only marginally better than the iphone but lacks the app store and itunes and many people just don't expect palm to be around for that much longer. On top of all this, when it launches it will only be available on sprint.
I think there will continue to be buzz around it because it seems to be such a great phone and OS, but I don't see it selling all that well. - quarando, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1Yeah, I think that is about right, but 2010 may see a real fight between WinMo and Android.
- AlexCrawford, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Its true, i work for a Verizon dealer. The whole concept of an open-based operating system is a complete confliction to Verizon's handset line. Verizon LOVES to charge people out the ass for features that should be dirt cheap or free. (Why is there only 1 or 2 VZW phones with WiFi....gotta love that $29.99 data plan! Why cant i send/receive songs via bluetooth...mmm $14.99 VCAST)
- MattBD, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1@jamshid
Microsoft sticking to Windows Mobile - err, I think you might have gotten a bit confused there, seeing as MS are primarily an operating system vendor, not a handset vendor. I mentioned Motorola because they in particular were throwing a lot of money at it - I've heard they're in the toilet too, but then Apple themselves were doing pretty badly some 13 years ago too, and companies have gotten out of worse positions than Motorola in the past. And all the ones you've mentioned were ones who already had a fairly decent mobile OS, or as in the case of Palm, have a decent track record of creating them. There's plenty of other vendors too. In particular, I would watch out for Sony Ericsson - Sony make awesome gear, arguably even better than Apple. My NWA-3000 MP3 player was far better than any of the iPods available at the time, it had a feature like Genius years ago, and the sound quality was indescribably better. It just had crap software with it. - winterspan, on 04/20/2009, -0/+1Although I am a fan of the iPhone (and will probably get one), I am really hoping that Android takes off in the market.
For the last few years, we have seen all this awesome smartphone hardware released, but they have all been crippled by having to run Blackberry OS or the even slower, inefficient, outdated Windows mobile. The WinMo The interface is cluttered and the touchscreen GUI was created for a stylus and so is completely inadequate for actual finger-based input. The whole interface layer is based upon the decade old GDI+ and has no hardware acceleration. The actual underlying kernel and platform is slow, inefficient, and outdated. It even gets compiled to a 5 yr old version of the ARM instruction set and so doesn't take advantage of modern ARM processor instructions and their SIMD/DSP/FPU acceleration nor hardware accelerated graphics.
The great thing about Android is that it finally brings a capable system and software platform to the market to complement all this great hardware that has been available. Android is an efficient linux based OS both with a modern and highly optimized development platform and a well designed, hardware accelerated interface that is specifically created for touch. Once android really takes off and has had some time to mature and get a large developer base, it will be able to compete with the iPhone OS for ease of use, advanced applications, graphics quality, etc. It will also eventually have the one thing Apple doesn't have --- it will run on a large variety of devices available on all carriers.
Just think of the possibilities... New smartphones with high-resolution OLED capacitive touch screens, the new 1+Ghz ARM Cortex processor cores, advanced graphics chips, and all running on an a fast, sleek, finger-friendly OS. - RyeBrye, on 04/21/2009, -0/+1"So what does Google exactly hope to achieve from a free platform? There is certainly no licensing money in it for the search engine giant."
Well - this quote sums up what most people are ignorant about with Android. Although Android may have some open source pieces, but the parts that make it really useable are all CLOSED SOURCE - The Gmail client, the Android Market, Google Maps, YouTube, the IM client and a handful of other apps that you would consider an android phone naked without - are all PROPRIETARY.
So, how does someone who wants to use those apps on their phone get ahold of them? They PAY MONEY for them... as in THEY LICENSE THEM.
As one of a handful of people banging away at the open source bits of android, it's a real pain. You can build the platform and install it on your dev phone - but you can decide: "Do I want to hack away and improve the platform, or do I want to have a useable phone?" because you can't do both. - dogfood, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1The Pre is initially limited to Sprint, with no real news about when a GSM version will be available for the rest of the world. Android phones will be on at least two, maybe three or more carriers in the US this year, plus all the GSM carriers throughout the rest of the world that will be carrying the new HTC and Samsung Android phones. Also, the price of the G1 is already down to $99 with a 2 yr contract, and will probably drop further when the HTC Magic comes out. Even if the Pre is as popular as the Iphone was at launch, I think Android phones will still do better than the Pre this year.
Anyway, hooray for competition! - hashinclude, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1I don't quite care unless the new androids come with Genunie People Personalities (although I could certainly do without the phone complaining about this terrible pain in its diodes down the left side).
- Joest23, on 04/19/2009, -0/+1It doesn't /really/ have anything to do with the article. I just like the song. =/
-
Show 51 - 92 of 92 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is