Opera has announced an experimental port of its Opera Mini mobile browser to Google’s Android platform.
The Android version runs in an emulated Java ME session and still has a few small issues, although that’s perhaps understandable when you consider there is no actual Android hardware available to test it on.
This could be a great move for Opera. Symbian, the iPhone and Windows Mobile each have well established browsers with big user bases. While it would see natural to expect the open source Firefox browser to take pole position on Android, the mobile Firefox is dragging its feet a bit and the developers seem to be focusing on the Windows Mobile platform for their initial release.
Opera mini is a very capable Java browser - certainly its better than the default Symbian and WinMo efforts - the problem Opera have always had is in persuading users to leave their comfort zone and try somethng unfamiliar.
With Android offering virgin territory, could this be Opera’s big chance?
Do you remember a while back, we came across a video on the BBC where Google showed off a ‘reference design’ handset running Android? Course you do. Well, the plot is officially thickening as phonemag is reporting that HTC has just announced May 6th as the date for a special event that will be held in London with the tagline “Witness the next wave of HTC Innovation”.
Why is this relevant to Android? Only because HTC has already committed to getting an Android phone into retailers by mid 2008. Here’s where things get really interesting; HTC has already announced a handset called the HTC Dream which is widely rumored to have all sorts of iPhone baiting features such as a full touchscreen interface and onscreen keyboard. The prototype phone demoed for the BBC had just such a design and considering the time frame, it’s not such a dramatic leap of imagination to consider the possibility that what was demoed to the BBC was in fact an early version of the HTC Dream.
Are we right on the money with this, or are we just dreaming (sorry couldn’t resist). Either way, we will be covering the event on May 6th so stay tuned for more info.
Obviously feeling a little overlooked in the aftermath of Apple’s high profile SDK release, Rich Miner, group manager for mobile platforms at Google, has been doing his best to remind everyone about a little know mobile OS called Android.
Following a presentation on Thursday at the Emerging Communications Conference at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, Miner stated that he expects Android to be more successful than the iPhone.
Once you have devices out there from Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and so on, there’s a much larger potential market on Android than for the iPhone
Miner went on to point out the significant restrictions of the iPhone SDK that will potentially limit the scope for iPhone applications.
There are things I saw people doing with the first version of the Android SDK that it seems like you can’t do with the iPhone at least at the moment
This comes on the back of Apple’s boasts of having supplied 100,000 downloads of its SDK in just four days. Google’s Android SDK has been downloaded 750,000 times which is certainly not to be sniffed at either. Either way, with Windows Mobile and Symbian also thrown into the mix, 2008-09 might set the stage for an OS showdown that makes Apple’s battle with Microsoft back in the day look like a playground scuffle.
(Via Yahoo! News)
So far we have only seen a key driven interface for Google’s Android OS but yesterday, a video that appeared on the BBC website seemed to confirm that there is already a touchscreen version of the OS up and running.
The sleek looking unit pulling this trick is referred to in the video only as a ‘reference design that one of our partners built for us’ by Google’s director of mobile platforms, Andy Rubin. Could this be the first ever video of a true Gphone?
Continue reading ‘Android touchscreen ‘reference design’ demoed on BBC’
Ok time for the gPhone rumour du jour. According to yet another tipster, Samsung is going to build two Android based devices both of which will bear the Google brand as opposed to its own.
Apparently there will be a higher end model released first this autumn followed by a lower spec device which it is claimed will cost less than $100. The source also claims that the device won’t look dissimilar to the Blackberry Pearl but will have a flip out screen.
Sounds like a bit of a design contradiction to us and considering the frequency of similar claims that have been made over the last year, it is hard to take these supposedly leaked facts seriously. What you can bet on is that Google will look to an experienced third party to craft a branded handset at some stage, whether or not that third party will be Samsung remains to be seen.
(Via engadget mobile)
It’s been a long time coming, but Nokia has finally given in and added Google to Nokia Search.
Google joins Yahoo! and Microsoft Live in the app’s list of search options. Nokia plan to roll out the changes in the Nokia N96, N78, 6210 Navigator, and 6220 phones initially although there are plans to release firmware updates to some older handsets later in the year.
Although this is undeniably great news (personally, I never use Nokia Search for precisely this reason) you have to wonder - why now? Could Nokia be trying to prepare for the release of Google’s Android by which presumably will tightly integrate with its parent company’s search engine?
The SDK for Google’s forthcoming Android platform is to be delayed for several weeks while the company makes significant changes. This will in turn push back the deadline for the $10 million Android Developer Challenge from March 3rd to April 14th.
This means that the Android SDK could release up to a month after Apple’s forthcoming iPhone/iPod Touch SDK lands which is due later this month. This probably won’t have much of an impact on how the respective platforms perform long term but third party developers looking to get their applications onto the iPhone will surely be glad of not having to share the limelight with a competing platform.
In the meantime Android developers looking to snare the prize money for the Developer Challenge competition can breath a sigh of relief for their extended deadline.
(Via mocoNews)
Google’s forthcoming Android mobile OS has been romantically involved with more handset manufacturers than Kate Moss has with rock n roll musicians. Which is why we are greeting the rumor that Dell is set to partner with Google to launch an Android focused handset with a raised eyebrow and a non-committal shrug.
The device would essentially amount to a Gphone, something that could potentially alienate other manufacturers, which is a move that Google can ill afford given its software is as of yet unproven.
That isn’t to say it’s completely impossible; Dell has been pretty vocal about its step into the mobile space. Even so, despite apparently coming from “senior industry sources” this, as far as we are concerned, is more a juicy rumour than a potential iPhone killer. We should know for sure by next month when the handset is supposedly set for a grand unveiling. Who’s that in the back holding their breath…
(Via engadget mobile)
Things may be looking up for those anxious early adopters who are desperate to get their hands on a real live Android phone.
Bug Labs have announced that their upcoming modular gadget kit will supoort Google’s new mobile OS, allowing anyone with just a little too much time on their hands to start developing Android apps.
Bug modules are an “open source, web-enabled, modular software and hardware platform”. What this means in practice is a collection of self-contained gadgets like touch screens, accelerometers and GPS receivers that snap onto a base unit and can be programmed using Java to create completely new gadgets. They are somewhere between incredibly cool and irredeemably geeky.
There is no mobile phone module as yet (i.e. nothing you could plug a SIM card into) but the devices can use wifi for internet access so knocking up a VoIP device should be relatively simple.
Could 2008 see the first homebrew gPhone?
New pics of emerged of the ‘Google phone’ in the someone’s hand.
Google’s entry into mobile is an exciting one and so far, with Android, it seems to be keener to grab market share in mobile OS. However, , or at least the one currently used to show off Android might be good for showing off new apps but it does look like a BlackBerry circa 2002.
Still, if you want to see more pics of it (courtesy of Ubergizmo), go here.
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