Google Phone

The deadline for phase one of Google’s Android Developer Challenge closed yesterday, and so the entrants are beginning to show off their wares. One of the more eye-catching is Enkin, an augmented reality app for Android which overlays GPS, motion information and other data over a live camera view of a user’s surroundings. As an idea it’s similar to designer Mac Funamizu’s encyclopedia frame concept, using real-time queries of online information to offer users pertinent information about their environment.

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Three US government representatives have alleged that Google wilfully manipulated the recent 700MHz spectrum auction, and as a result potentially dissuaded bids in excess of $10bn extra. Republicans Cliff Stearns and John Shimkus together with Democrat Eliot Engel used a hearing today to express their concerns that, in pledging to meet the $4.6bn reserve set for Block C and thus secure open-access, new potential bidders were deterred.

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The quest to get Android running on any hardware possible continues apace, with the gang over at the xda-developers forum working to fettle the OS for HTC hardware. They’ve managed it, too, albeit in a roundabout way; apparently the TyTN II is basically running Android as an emulation: an .EXE on top of the original Windows Mobile OS. That’s a new approach; previous hacks to get the software working - such as on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet we saw earlier in the week - took advantage of Android’s compatibility with things like OMAP chipsets, which are relatively common among mobile devices, to force the OS to install.

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Vincent attended the AT&T Media lunch where Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T discussed the company’s plans to collaborate with Google in producing handsets running the open-source Android OS. In discussing upcoming handsets, de la Vega revealed that, following demonstrations of Android prototypes and discussion with the Google team behind the platform, he was convinced to one day include cellphones based on it in AT&T’s range.

“What I’m saying is I like it a lot more than before … We’re now looking to see when it’s ready to be developed. Now I’m in the camp where I’m positive that it’s something I’d want in our portfolio” Ralph de la Vega today, president and CEO, AT&T

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If there’s one thing the FCC auction has shown us, it’s that Google is pretty sneaky when it comes to getting their own way. They set their sights on open-access - which would mean devices running Android, even if not officially picked up by any of the carriers, would be able to access the new 700MHz networks set to roll out in 2009 - and persuaded the FCC to add the provisos in on the understanding that Google would take responsibility to push Block C over its reserve.

Of course, we now know that Google was a minor player in the auctions and came away with nothing; Verizon stumped up the cash for Block C, Google gets its open-access, and the FCC goes scampering to the bank. Now the search giant is back, apparently set to deliver a proposal to the FCC for “white space” access: that’s the unsold spectrum in-between the digital TV channels. As you might expect, Google see both portable and fixed broadband devices, running Android, and compatible with both white space and Verizon’s Block C.

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Fresh from Google’s test labs comes the as-yet-unannounced “LCB“, which some are calling “searchless search”. Actually, it’s still search, it’s just a mobile way of accessing categorised business listings based on location: enter your address and choose from seven predefined sections - Food/Restaurant, Travel, Transportation, Retail, Entertainment, Sports and, oddly, Googleplex - which all have local attractions.

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Flying in the face of the current trend for making cellphones more and more complex, NTT DoCoMo are apparently planning to remove high-end functionality from its handset OS that will free manufacturers to develop simpler designs more suited to international sales. The functionality, which is believed to include i-mode, internet connection services and the FeliCa mobile payment system, has traditionally kept the Japanese cellphone industry at the forefront of development, but recent saturation of the market has seen several manufacturers (most recently Mitsubishi) withdraw to concentrate on overseas sales.

NTT DoCoMo also revealed that it expects to introduce Google’s Android as its new OS by 2010. The two companies previously agreed to load apps such as Google Maps for Mobile and Gmail onto the i-mode platform, with Android-based handsets a possibility still under discussion.

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The FCC has confirmed the winning bidders [pdf link] in their recently closed 700MHz spectrum auction, with Verizon Wireless taking the majority of the coveted Block C while AT&T picked up 227 licences from Block B. The auction, which raised $19.592bn in total, concerns parts of the wireless spectrum that will be freed up once analogue TV is turned off and broadcasters switch to digital, starting in 2009. Verizon spent $4.75bn on Block C and a total of $9.63bn in the auction overall; AT&T is believed to have spent around $6.64bn in all. Google, who were strong proponents for the “open access” provisos the FCC later built into the Block C contract, apparently made a “serious bid” according to the FCC, but in the end won none of the licences.

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Rumor is swirling around the forthcoming iPhone-like HTC Dream. Handset maker High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to be the first company out the door with an Android-powered phone set to release sometime in 2008 (possibly near the June time frame).

The HTC Dream will include many of the iPhone features, such as the full touch screen interface and keyboard. It is expected to measure 5-inch long and 3-inch wide. According to AllHeadLineNews, there will be a keyboard below the screen.

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If Google’s Rich Miner was a developer, he’d be coding for the iPhone; however, he’s actually Group Manager for Mobile Platforms, and as such is more interested in boosting Android’s profile with confident predictions that handsets based on the platform will wildly outsell Apple’s cellphone.

“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. [Apple is] a single manufacturer, it’s targeted at a particular demographic, and it falls far short of the 1 billion mobile phones sold every year worldwide” Rich Miner, Google

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