GOOGLE STRANGLES ANDROID ON NETBOOKS BEFORE IT GETS GOING
During my morning check of Twitter I came across this tweet from Google; “Introducing the #Google Chrome OS http://bit.ly/N1rNZ” Which started to raise some concerns. It had widely been predicted that we’d see Android making it’s way onto netbooks in the near future, but with this one announcement that idea has taken a huge knock backwards. The reason is simple; Androids design is primarily focused on touch screen devices, Chrome OS is focused on netbooks, and netbooks rarely (if ever) have a touch screen.
IS THE IPHONE 3GS A RIP-OFF IN THE UK?
(If you want to tweet this please use the tag #O2iPhoneRipOff) Is it me or is the new O2 iPhone pricing policy looking like a bit of a rip-off? First off, there is the cost of the ‘phone. At Apples WWDC it was announced that in the US; 3G 8 GB goes from $199 to $99. 3GS 16 GB to be $199 (same as old price for 3G 8GB) 3GS 32 GB to be $299 (same as old price for 3G 16GB).
MARKING APPS ON GOOGLES ANDROID MARKET
There seems to be a lot of variation on how many stars people give an application on Googles Android Market. Some give 3 stars for an app they find hard to use, others give 1 star because the developer chose not to make the applications source code available (even though this doesn’t affect the application as delivered to the user). I’m trying to stick to the following marking scheme and would welcome comments and feedback as to any changes people think would make sense.
GOOGLE MARKET FOR ANDROID PAID APPS LAUNCH = FAIL
Android developers have been waiting for the ability to list pay-for applications in Googles Market, but now most of them wish it had never arrived because the experience it’s giving users may just turn them off Android forever. The first joy is the “copy protection” offered by Google. Developers can turn this on for their apps but doing so can stop a the application running at all regardless of if it’s been copied.
WILL THE ANDROID MARKET T&CS KILL OFF "FUN" APPS?
Over recent weeks there has been a lot of speculation over when Android users will be able to buy applications from Googles Market, but some of the terms and conditions in the Developer Distribution Agreement could scare many developers away before they deploy their first application. The first thing that came to light is that purchasers will have 24 hours in which they can get a refund apparently with no questions asked.
WILL US PATENT LAWS STRANGE ANDROID?
In recent days there the issue of the US patent obtained by Apple relating to the multi-touch functionality has reared it’s head on the Android development lists, and the discussions have left me deeply concerned about whether Android will ever become a serious global player in the mobile OS market. The discussion started rolling when a patch to add multi-touch functionality on Android was posted on the android-platform mailing list, and ran in parallel another list directly discussing the impact the patent may have, but surprisingly ended up with a post from a Google employee saying that patents should not be discussed on any of the google hosted android lists, and this was further expanded by another Google employee saying that it was “because of legal repercussions”, and “it is simply best not to know about them”.
ANDROID LICENSING SYSTEM
Funky Android has made available a Android application licensing system via AndAppStore. It’s something that we feel has been missing from the Android space and we hope that it’ll help companies looking to focus on (and thus make money from) Android applications. So if you’ve been waiting for a way to commercially license your apps feel free to give it a spin and send in your feedback. (Declaration of interest : I am a director of Funky Android)
GOOGLE FINALLY COMING GOOD WITH THE ANDROID DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
It looks like the folks at Google are listening and they’ve taken a big step which will help a number of developers get at least one Android powered device to work with. Yesterday Dan Morill announced a new version of the SDK with a link to the android blog, what he didn’t mention is that the blog post also reveals that Google have created a programme for developers which allows they to get what is basically an unlocked T-Mobile G1.
THE ANDROID EMAIL CLIENT ON THE G1, POSSIBLY THE WORST APP ON AN "INTERNET" PHONE EVER.
The G1 has been around a few weeks, it’s billed as “The phone that’s built for the internet”, but it would appear that the G1 isn’t built for email which many people consider as being one of the most useful things on the internet for over 35 years. The G1 has two in-built Email clients; one is for Googles' GMail, the other is for accounts with whichever ISP you’re with. Personally after seeing several stories of problems with Google locking accounts (see here, here, and here for a few) I’d prefer to stay with my ISP, but that leaves me with an Email client which is being described by other G1 users as “the most pathetic attempt I’ve ever seen” and “frustrating”, views which I wholeheartedly agree with.
IT PAYS TO TALK...(OR HOW I ENDED UP BUYING A G1)
After talking to the in-store staff at the T-Mobile store in Maidstone, Kent, UK, I am now the owner of a G1 looking at a total cost of £360 ($580) which is about the price I would expect to pay for an unlocked G1 You may wonder why yesterday I was looking figures that were twice that amount, well, it’s a mixture of good fortune and good customer service. I explained my situation to the in-store staff and they explained they could offer me a “£20 per month for 18 months” contract or a “£30 per month for 12 months” contract (both of which have a total cost of £360), but I would have to pay more for the ‘phone.