The slide-out keyboard on the G1 Android phone is a great idea and something I wish had been included with the iPhone. That said, the iPhone’s onscreen soft keypad isn’t too bad and there are certainly times when being able to enter data quicly without sliding out the keys would be a big help.
Any G1 owners longing for a bit of onscreen typing - help is nearly at hand. In a roadmap document published at the Android Open Source site, it was revealed that support is coming for something called IME - the Input Method Engine. This will abstract input to the point where the OS can support soft keyboards, a dictionary of suggestions, and a suggestion algorithm.
Assuming HTC have done things properly, the G1 should be upgradeable to a softkey-friendly version once some bedroom coder has done the necessary.
[via Engadget]
Claiming time constraints, Google has removed support for the Bluetooth API from the most recent Android System Development Kit (SDK).
Although Android phones will support standard Bluetooth peripherals like headsets and keyboards, what this means is that developers won’t be able to get creative with their own wacky Bluetooth ideas.
On the Android developers blog. Developer Advocate Dan Morrill said, “Rather than ship a broken API that we knew was going to change a lot, we chose not to include it. We absolutely intend to support a Bluetooth API in a future release, although we don’t know exactly when that will be. ”
Google have also had to withdraw API support for GoogleTalk integration, citing security concerns, but are planning to rethink the GTalk API for a future version of the Android OS.
Now that Proximi’s MagicPad has shown that it is possible to do copy’n'paste using the iPhone’s touchscreen, a group of programmers have decided to ‘help’ Apple and try to get this method adopted by other apps.
The problem with implementing something like copy’n'paste on the iPhone is that iPhone apps cannot run in the background. As soon as you switch to another app, the contents of the original app’s memory (including the clipboard) are lost.
The solution proposed by the voluntary group OpenClip is for app developers to agree to use a common shared storage area for clipboard data and to agree to support the same UI conventions. This will require developers to buy in to the concept, and not ‘enhance’ it (thus breaking it for everyone else).
Eight such apps are either supporting the standard now, or have pledged support for their next release. Could this example of people power force Apple to act, or just mean that they don’t have to?
With the LiMo Foundation busy recruiting Mobile Linux developers, you might expect Google to join in the fun. Google’s Android, after all, is probably the most high profile Linux-based mobile OS and certainly the most highly anticipated.
Google, though, has other ideas.
Speaking at the Linux World conference in San Francisco, Google’s Eric Chu said that the company was not looking to join forces with rivals.
“Unification for the sake of unification is not the path we decided to go down,” said Chu at a Linux World ‘Mobile Marketplace’ panel discussion.
Chu also downplayed suggestions that Android development was slowing and the OS would not be ready for a Christmas 2008 releases, claiming that the code was 80% complete.
Now that Nokia has decided to open source the Symbian OS surely we can expect developers to start churning out innovative and free apps that will knock the mobile world sideways?
Well, no. Any open source project that has ever really worked has done so on the back of a solid community of developers and users. The trick now is to draw in coders who might be a bit sceptical about jumping in bed with Nokia when they could be getting down and dirty with the cooler-sounding Android.
To help break the ice, Nokia is sponsoring a developers expo called Open Source Goes Mobile.
Cannily scheduled alongside the august LinuxWorld Expo in San Franciso, OSGM will offer training sessions in porting software to the Symbian platform, discussion about development methods and languages and lots of info from Nokia about their plans for the OS.
Attendees will also receive developer kits containing sample code, SDKs and other tools as well as a one day pass to LinuxWorld.
With all the brouhaha surrounding Google’s Android platform, it’s easy to forget that there is another potentially big player in the Linux phone arena.
OpenMoko seems to have been in development for years, but now that the OpenMoko-powered FreeRunner has been releaased, geek news source Ars Techica has taken a closer look at how the underlying OS ticks.
The OS ships with a browser using the WebKit back-end (as seen in the iPhone’s Safari browser) a well-featured media player and calendar plus the usual games and contact manager bits and bobs.
Unusually - and magnificent, in a nailing the colours to the mast kind of way - the phone also comes with a proper command-line terminal for hardcore geekery. You can even place calls using a command line app, if that floats your boat.
Although the OS is admirably open for experimentation and development, Ars is a little concerned that the plethora of APIs and code libraries might come at the cost of performance and consistency compasred to Android’s more tightly-controlled development.
Nokia’s port of the popular open source programming language Python is the magic ingredient behind some of the more unusual free apps that we have covered here at Pocket Picks.
Open source projects really benefit from a healthy community to share ideas, code and enthusiasm, so it is heartening to see a new community for new Python coders with an interest in S60 apps - Croozeus.com.
The site is in it’s early days, but already has a selection of tutorials and sample code. The Croozeus blog is running a ‘featured applicationn’ series for downloadable apps (with full source code) - currently there is just the one, a rather dry-soundinng but quite clever app to solve simple maths equations.
By happy coincidence, Nokia has released an update to bring PyS60 up to version 1.4.4, improving S60 3rd edition SDK 3.1 support and adding some SMS management functions. Why not download it here and see if the life of a PyS60 developer is for you
The Symbian Foundation will be the non-profit bearers of the S60 OS torch, now that Nokia is opening things up.
Kai Öistämö, Nokia’s head of devices, has confirmed that the first devices using the open incarnation of the OS will debut some time in 2010, shortly after the S60 code is fully open sourced.
The Foundation will be properly set up in early 2009 and release the first few open components of the S60 platform. Öistämö said that all existing development work done on S60 3rd Edition and Symbian v9 will be forwardly compatible with the code realsed by the Symbian Foundation.
Just in time for the Symbian 10th anniversary do, Nokia has announced plans to buy the remaining shares in Symbian and open up the S60 operating system for public use.
Nokia already owns 48% of shares and is set to spend $140 million on the remainder. 91% ofsdhareholders have reportedly agreed so far.
Once the S60 OS is fully under its control, Nokia will hand it over to a non-profit organisation in order to create an open source platform.
This is huge news, and could indicate just how radically the market is going to change with the coming of Google’s open source OS Android.
Although this could be read as Nokia panicking and opening up it’s key OS to get a head start on Google, the open source model has a number of benefits for OS development. Security will undoubtedly benefit from thousands of developers (and hackers) poring over the code, and developers will be free to innovate with new GUIs or other features.
Nope this isn’t a handset aimed at lovers of parkour or free running as it is commonly known over here. The name rather, refers to the open nature of the handset which is the successor to the Neo1973 from OpenMoko.
Having been sold out for a good while now, the Neo1973 was overdue for a replacement and after the device has gone through some final tests, it should be out before the end of the month (according to phonemag) in the US. But what is it? Well, it’s an open source handset you can buy and develop for. It has a VGA touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0, a three axis accelerometer and a 400MHz processor.
So basically it’s a blank canvas for the Linux crowd to go ideas crazy with, all for a snip at the $399 asking price. If you are buying ten or more, you even get $30 off per handset and apparently if you are one of the first to order, you’ll get a few free extras too. Sounds like fun if you are an open source guru with a start-up grant burning a hole in your pocket. Here’s hoping the device gets a European release sharpish.
The slide-out keyboard on the G1 Android phone is a great idea and something I wish had been included with the iPhone. That said, the iPhone’s onscreen soft keypad isn’t too bad and there are certainly times when being able to enter data quicly without sliding out the keys would be a big help.
