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Google's 'Android' mobile OS: news and G1 launch

jæd said:
(I also don't like the assumption that Engadget knows everything about the SmartPhone market...)
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I don't know about that, but their summary of the recent history of Palm is pretty much on the ball.

And going with the choice mantra, then Palm should consider developing a garnet overlay for android if they want to keep up the waning popularity of palm os and try and keep their 3rd party devs on board.

Palm have consistently ponced about with unwanted products like the Lifedrive, released meh products like the Z22 & Centro, announced then yanked the foleo and have pissed their loyal dev base off almost to the point of extinction. We've seen two stabs at the new linux based wonderOS (ALP, then whatever the current effort is called) and still nothing concrete.

Look at visualit, they used to be a UK palm software house. Now they have more titles released under Windows Mobile than palmOS, and of all the PDAs shown on their home page running palmOS titles not one of them can still be bought new in the shops (or even directly from Palm)
 
Radar said:
I don't know about that, but their summary of the recent history of Palm is pretty much on the ball.

And going with the choice mantra, then Palm should consider developing a garnet overlay for android if they want to keep up the waning popularity of palm os and try and keep their 3rd party devs on board.

Palm have consistently ponced about with unwanted products like the Lifedrive, released meh products like the Z22 & Centro, announced then yanked the foleo and have pissed their loyal dev base off almost to the point of extinction. We've seen two stabs at the new linux based wonderOS (ALP, then whatever the current effort is called) and still nothing concrete.

Look at visualit, they used to be a UK palm software house. Now they have more titles released under Windows Mobile than palmOS, and of all the PDAs shown on their home page running palmOS titles not one of them can still be bought new in the shops (or even directly from Palm)
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Well, this (http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/E1DD097F-EE28-4FBA-A1F2-D831512E423F.html) has an interesting point that listening to industry pundits has had a bad effect on Palm... (Though its not really known how much was listened to, and how much was Palm's fault)
 
Radar said:
Palm have consistently ponced about with unwanted products like the Lifedrive, released meh products like the Z22 & Centro
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I disagree, The Lifedrive was an interesting concept that Palm failed to follow up, while I think that the Centro is a fantastic phone for the price.

It may not hold so much appeal to geeks and tech fans, but to the average US punter they'll be getting a small, attractive phone with a touchscreen, better screen res than any of its competitors, access to zillions of software titles, full keyboard, TV, video, multimedia abilities and more over a fast network.

But Palm's faffing about with the Foleo and the years of OS indecision/mind-changing has seriously hampered the platform.
 
I know that I'm going to get a Centro. Palm has always been a decent OS for me over the years. Only other devices that cam close where the Psions, but they were not smart phones.
 
jayeola said:
I know that I'm going to get a Centro. Palm has always been a decent OS for me over the years. Only other devices that cam close where the Psions, but they were not smart phones.
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The psion OS (EPOC) evolved into Symbian, which is in use on some nokia and sony ericsson phones now.
 
editor said:
Microsoft have got to be shitting themselves
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Too right! Once people are used to using the Google phone OS, it's not a huge leap to consider using a google OS on a full pc. The distinction becomes even smaller as devices "converge".

Could Google give linux the clout it needs to fiinally go mainstream - even if many of its users don't realise they are using linux !?
 
John C Dvorak isn't impressed:

Google finally announced that it would release something it calls the Open Handset Alliance, and 34 companies are already on board! This is the Google phone initiative we've been hearing about. The Google phone is coming!

Over the years, I've noticed that any company, anytime it wants, can now get dozens of other companies to agree to become a so-called strategic partner. This is done only to save the cost of postage for the strategic partner, who gets some lame press release distributed for free.
When I see a bunch of joiners jumping on some unknown, unreleased unfinished pipe dream, I actually laugh.

The peak of this nonsense occurred during the initial announcements for the Intel Itanium processor. Essentially, every company—from IBM to Sun to Dr. Dingalings Whitebox Computer Co.—was on board as a strategic partner. Sun was the funniest of the lot, saying it was going to bail out of all of its own inventions and go Itanium because it was the future of computing. All of this noise came despite the fact that the chip wasn't yet finished.
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rhod said:
Too right! Once people are used to using the Google phone OS, it's not a huge leap to consider using a google OS on a full pc. The distinction becomes even smaller as devices "converge".

Could Google give linux the clout it needs to fiinally go mainstream - even if many of its users don't realise they are using linux !?
Click to expand...

I think it's a massive leap from a device OS to what MS have planned with things like OCS. I have to ask as a e61 user I don't care what the OS is it's what the phone can do that I'm more bothered about, do people really care what the OS is?

With Nokia phones I've never had a problem, I've tried others but always gone back - they just do good phones.
 
Kid_Eternity said:
Outside the industry and people like us? Can't see that many people do.
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What, you mean like people weren't interested in the recent US iPhone launch?

That new OS sure seemed to get a lot of people interested. Why would it be any different for a Google phone? After all, they're as famous - if not far more so - than Apple.
 
editor said:
What, you mean like people weren't interested in the recent US iPhone launch?
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:rolleyes:

He said Operating System. And no I don't think normal people sit there and go "ooh check out the iPhone's kick ass OS, it's a cut down version of the one they use in their Macs dontcha know?". They go, "whoa check out the touch screen, and man it's a fucking iPod too!?" Which was precisely my point earlier.

If you aint getting that Ed I'm afraid you'll just have agree to disagree with me, really can't be fucked to go round and round and circles over this.
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
steady i think apple are a touch more famous than google, their abiltiy to self publise not with standing...
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There was something quite interesting Dvorak said in his piece, he said that Google aren't a charismatic company, I think he's really hit on something there...not quite sure what but you know...er...!:o
 
google aren't charismatic at all no, they are actually quite sinister. and yet i cannot see what it is that makes me feel utter distaste about them...
 
Kid_Eternity said:
He said Operating System. And no I don't think normal people sit there and go "ooh check out the iPhone's kick ass OS, it's a cut down version of the one they use in their Macs dontcha know?". They go, "whoa check out the touch screen, and man it's a fucking iPod too!?" Which was precisely my point earlier.
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You really don't think people have been getting very excited by the iPhones funky interface?

Really?

You don't think people will get very excited if a phone comes out that can do all that cool Google & partners stuff - chat, maps, search with desktop integration, PIM integration, group scheduling, spreadsheets, picasa, skype, blogging etc - in an easy to use package that costs less than Apple and Microsoft?

Really?

Googlemaps is already one of the best mobile apps. What's next?
 
no.

sadly it'll look shit and that's all anyone cares about. This is the same mistake 3 made. people in europe at least don't want wizzy things on their phone. in order for them to work then need to have a big screen and if they have a big screen they are cumbersome and useless for stuffing in your pocket. so by and large everyone texts... and that's all they really want to do with their phone on the whole is to be able to say hullo mum i'm on top of a mountain/in a balloon/I'm calling you from a plane ...we've been hijacked...i don't think we getting out of this alive... (toofar??) or to send a text whcih say's i wub you/dual off/your fired/we have your wife. if you ever want to see her alive again bring one million in sterling, small denominations: meet us at 10pm behind the old steam house on hi (charchter limit 160...).

people don't give a flying fuck about 99% of the features on their phone if they can talk and text that's all they care about. if it happens to work as an cheapo digital camera then all the better. that and it has to look cool, sexy and expensive.

It won't. and it won't be picked up on.
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
people don't give a flying fuck about 99% of the features on their phone if they can talk and text that's all they care about. if it happens to work as an cheapo digital camera then all the better. that and it has to look cool, sexy and expensive.

It won't. and it won't be picked up on.
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Have you used Googlemaps on a decent mobile? Have you used the location based services on Vodafone?

You might be surprised to find that people are growing to like having such powerful apps on their phones and there's a whole load more genuinely useful stuff on the horizon.
 
to throw my hat into the ring i think it's a bit of both. There -will- be ppl that will "get it" and immediately be able to find a use for the "google OS", what ever it will do. there may even be a small percentage of folks that actually look forward to trying it out just for the sake of it.

however, phones in the far east kick arse. that market always seems to be way ahead of yerp. can't remember where, but i read that folk in asia use thier phones for emails as much as we do for text. those chaps may see the light for all of this google stuff.

also dem yanks are "catching up" in that people are finally leaving thier pagers at home, now that the major carriers have developed.

a phone is still a phone and it has got to be bloody good for most people to be "playing with it all day".
- reception
- form factor
- utilities
 
editor said:
Have you used Googlemaps on a decent mobile? Have you used the location based services on Vodafone?

You might be surprised to find that people are growing to like having such powerful apps on their phones and there's a whole load more genuinely useful stuff on the horizon.
Click to expand...
these changes are 10 years aways though. before it becomes common place and yes i have used the services unfortunatly pda/smartphone technology in order for it to be any good at present needs to be on a big screen you can't escape that fact. and you are always going to be limited by the size factor.

Even if you could make a phone which is merely the size of the screen itself it would still be cumbersome.

some people might find them convinent but then those people are proably IT literate. go into any number of offices today and you will come across a stunning level of IT illiterate people. Usually the one who can change the printer toner use ctrl v and ctrl atl del is an IT god. and there's a darn sight more of them out there than people using these functions yet.
 
editor said:
What, you mean like people weren't interested in the recent US iPhone launch?

That new OS sure seemed to get a lot of people interested. Why would it be any different for a Google phone? After all, they're as famous - if not far more so - than Apple.
Click to expand...

Do you not think it was the 'coolness' of the gadget (personally I've played with one and it's too much for me, but then I'm getting old) more than people thinking it was a smashing OS?
 
scott_forester said:
Do you not think it was the 'coolness' of the gadget (personally I've played with one and it's too much for me, but then I'm getting old) more than people thinking it was a smashing OS?
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Well... Most people don't get excited by a new O/s, even for a phone... Though they do get excited for actual shiny-shiny hardware... :D
 
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