Google Phone

At first glance the G1 settings menu doesn’t not seem to different from other devices. The items listed are Wireless, Call, Sounds & Display, Data Synchronization, Security & Location, applications, SD Card & Storage, Date & Time, Text and About Phone. The wireless section has options such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Mobile Network.

Videos after the cut

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Core Security, who research exploits and loopholes in software releases, have identified eight different security issues in Google’s Android beta, including some that are blamed on the developer’s use of outdated and vulnerable open-source image libraries. The flaws could see a hacker take “complete control” of an Android-powered handset, including exploiting heap overflows and integer overflows, and Core Security demonstrated the issues with proof-of-concept code that worked successfully on the Android SDK emulator.

“Several vulnerabilities have been found in Android’s core libraries for processing graphic content in some of the most used image formats (PNG, GIF an BMP). While some of these vulnerabilities stem from the use of outdated and vulnerable open-source image processing libraries other were introduced by native Android code that use them or that implements new functionality” Core Security statement

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Google has released a new version of the Android SDK, m5-rc14, making significant GUI and API changes that, in many cases, have been prompted by developer feedback. Layout animations have now been included, making transitions within and between apps smoother, a greater number of audio codecs are supported (including Ogg Vorbis and MIDI) and there’s a geocoding process that streamlines location searches in the mapping software.

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The LiMo Foundation - who were working on a mobile Linux OS before Google entered the market, remember - have finally launched their LiMo Platform, with APIs available for developers now, and the first full release expected in March.  Of course, while discussing his own offering, LiMo executive director Morgan Gillis still found time to give the Android team a little advice but first, predictably perhaps, a discrete slight:

“The first release of the LiMo Platform combines technologies already extensively market proven within an array of leading handsets. This will enable initial LiMo handsets to register in the marketplace far more rapidly than handsets based on unproven technology” Morgan Gillis, executive director, LiMo Foundation

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Another day, another Linux-based cellphone OS: it’s the turn of Azingo to launch their Azingo Mobile platform, based on the existing work of the LiMo Foundation, as an out-of-the-box suite of mobile applications plugging into a pre-existing middleware framework and kernel.  Like Android, Azingo Mobile is being marketed as a straightforward, low-development-intensive option for manufacturers looking for an OS for their hardware designs; unlike Android, Azingo already have a history with those manufacturers.

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Following feedback from developers, Google has made “significant updates” to the Android SDK that will be released in several weeks time.  Although the full list of changes is yet to be announced, both UI and API have been enhanced.  As a result, Google has put back the deadline to submit entries to the Android Developer Challenge part I to the 14th April, both to give time to take advantage of the new functionality and to satisfy coders who have requested an extension during which they could build and polish their entries.

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From February 8th, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be running a class in Android software development, as part of a new program centred on phone-based programming.  Led by Professor Hal Abelson, the course comes under the remit of the Computer Science program, and will feature guest instructors including Google’s Rich Miner, ConnectedBit’s Dave Mitchell and Eric Carlson, and MIT’s Rajeev Surati and Andrew Yu.  A broad range of topics will apparently be covered, including Location Based Services which Google has already tipped as the next phase in cellphone use and mobile advertising.

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After a delay while Google’s engineers attempted to fix the submissions system, the Android Developer Challenge has finally opened for entries.  With a total prize-fund of $10m, the competition has both been lauded and criticised as stimulating software coding and simultaneously encouraging developers to jealously guard their skills.  Challenge I, which will be accepting entries until March 3rd, will offer 50-percent of that jackpot, with fifty winning entries getting a guaranteed $25,000 each and the possibility of supplementary awards - ten of $100,000 and ten of $275,000 - for particularly good applications.

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For existing Linux cellphone developers faced with Android, the options seem to be deride the newcomer, deny it’s competition or demonstrate that you integrate with it.  A la Mobile, who are behind a stack known as the Convergent Linux Platform (CLP) that is already on the market in the shape of the Gupp Phreedom (right), have chosen the third route, and claim that the kernel, drivers and middleware included in their product can in fact halve the time it takes to bring an Android product to market.

“Despite the open-source nature of the Android framework, developing a complete mobile system solution with customized, differentiated features continues to present major technical challenges requiring considerable time, effort, and resources — a barrier and reach beyond the scope of many handset vendors” Pauline Lo Alker, CEO, A la Mobile

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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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