Category: Open Handset Alliance

Google’s Android OS early look SDK now available

Paul

Just like the good folks promised, the early look software development kit for Google‘s soon-to-be huge phone OS has hit the streets… er, internet. From what we can tell, the OS is as comfortable on larger, VGA devices as it is on more traditional smartphone layouts. Oh yeah… and it plays Quake. Here’s what we know the software will support out of the box:

  • Touchscreen
  • 3G
  • Webkit-based browser
  • Optimized Java runtime layer (known as Dalvik Virtual Machine)
  • Threaded text messaging
  • MPEG-4, h.264, MP3, and AAC file formats
  • Accelerated 3D graphics

There’s the SDK I was speaking about. Go read the The full article for all the Stuff!!

Fake Steve Jobs on Android: “It’s Not a Phone, It’s an Alliance”

Paul

Fake Steve’s lengthy stream of bile laying waste to the Google Phone isn’t simply pure invective, it’s actually a mostly well-reasoned indictment of coalitions that trumpets the values of “one vision, one man, one genius.” It’s worth reading in its entirety, but this is our favorite quote:

The only companies that join consortia are the ones who are too stupid or shitty to make a great product on their own. It’s like, Hey, we’ve got forty spazzo companies that can’t fuck their way out of a paper bag; let’s put them all together and maybe they’ll magically become some kind of big bad powerhouse.

There are, of course, numerous cons to the singular “hand of God” approach, but the problems with consortia that FSJ lays out are real. It’s hard for everyone to agree, and rarely do all involved push for the “greater good” at their individual expense. It might be different this time around, but with so much at stake, martyrs for the Alliance probably won’t exactly be lining up. And oh yeah, there’s no phone to wrap our hands around yet. [FSJ via Daring Fireball]

An alliance with who? and for what reason? I would love to find out more!!