Google Phone

As useful as the Android SDK’s emulator is at playing with layouts, testing code and generally experimenting with various versions of software, there are times when having the platform on a handset you can physically hold is preferable; only then can you gauge how straightforward your UI is with a cellphone’s keys, or whether the typical display can do it justice.  Few developers will have access to an official gPhone prototype, however, and while projects such as Bug Lab’s BUG modular smartphone suggest an innovative alternative, they too will often be outside of the reach of many.  Josh Guilfoyle has been working on using a Windows Mobile-based smartphone as an Android test platform; the handsets are readily available, and thanks to full-screen VNC it allows programmers to experience their wares outside of the SDK.

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Slow development milestones for Android have previously been blamed on Google’s $10m coding “prizefund” forcing app creation undercover; could the truth be that the platform is simply not ready for primetime release?  That’s the strident criticism from developer Adam MacBeth, who has found the SDK toolkit to be riddled with bugs, poorly implemented code and a general absence of support from Google themselves.

“Functionality is not there, is poorly documented or just doesn’t work. It’s clearly not ready for prime time” Adam MacBeth

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Although some are predicting high standards of device security with Android, and the team working on the platform are busy publicising the high-level architecture that puts security under the remit of the Linux processes rather than VM, that hasn’t stopped anti-virus companies issuing ominous warnings about a spike in cellphone malware once handsets start hitting the market.  SMobile Systems, who are behind the SecurityShield anti-virus and malware package already available for Symbian, Palm, Blackberry and Windows Mobile systems, have today announced not only their concerns that Android’s Linux-base will more easily facilitate virus authors, but that they’re developing a retail product to help prevent against it.

“Once millions of consumers get these new devices into their hands, the thousands of hackers out there will turn their attention to the Google powered phones … The Google Phone platform will enable users to more easily access the Internet and download applications, which is great - but it will also encourage the hacking community to make new and more virulent strains of attacks” Rick Roscitt, CEO, SMobile Systems

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The glossy demo videos of Android are all well and good, but if the reference designs are to be translated into meaningful hardware the guts of the platform need to be better understood.  Over at the Android Developers Blog the latest podcast features two of the architects from the engineering team, Dianne Hackborn and Jason Parks, who talk us through some technical history of the project, discuss security and the way services are handled, as well as guidance on programming for small devices.

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Ironically, after preaching about anti-fragmentation agreements and partnership synergy - intended to ensure that no member of the OHA alters the Android platform to an extent where development becomes only partly compatible - it could be down to the Google-led system that Java suffers serious fractures.  Sun engineers are reportedly concerned that the specially modified form of Java that Android uses, as opposed to an off-the-shelf version that cellphones might normally adopt, could lead to a schism of developers creating software for one form of the language or another, spoiling the company’s “write once, run anywhere” selling-point.

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While rumor about Google’s plans for the FCC spectrum auction in January abound, developers are busy burying themselves in the Android SDK and exploring the limits of the platform’s flexibility.  It’s looking like a complete paradigm change from the established mainstream cellphone market, by virtue of a combination of highly precise options and the Open Handset Alliance’s high profile membership.  Customisation will settle at a number of different levels: David Somner, director of software development for BlueKey Wireless Systems, envisages a model where users can readily alter the software appearance of an Android phone in a way previously open only to initial manufacturers and carriers applying corporate branding.

“I can easily foresee several thousand programs being developed just for changing the look, feel and layout of the screen, customizing the fonts that people use, using custom images and sounds for everything.  In the end, every user’s handset can be totally customized just for that one user with no restrictions” David Somner, BlueKey Wireless Systems

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Somewhere in the caves of the internet there are people playing Robert Scoble Bingo - you can get a full house if you predict which technologies will float the former Microsoft tech-evangelist’s boat, without getting sidetracked by those he takes an avid dislike to.  Latest under Robert’s loupe is Android, and if you thought an open-source, Linux-based free platform together with $10m of financial backing for developers would make him moist around the pelvis then think again; he’s not impressed.

“I didn’t see ONE feature that will get normal people to switch from the iPhone. This comes across like something developers developed for other developers without thought of how they were going to build a movement” Robert Scoble

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One week on, and the first Android SDK details are emerging from the Open Handset Alliance.  Initial thinking was that the SDK toolkit would be primarily available for participating developers, but it turns out that - more in keeping with the Google way of doing things - it’s a full release, together with tutorials, toolkits, APIs and tips for amateur coders to start hashing something together for upcoming gPhones.  Those a little more proficient have another incentive to develop for the platform: a $10 million prize fund for the best Android applications.

After the cut: Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the Android SDK and demo primary apps

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