Tomorrow is Christmas and all I can think about is all the new stuff I’m going to have to keep track of at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in the first week of January. It’s going to be my fifth year in attendance as a professional journalist, and the previous years I’ve gone are starting to blend together in my mind. Fortunately, I can gauge the year in history by the amount of Android stuff I see there. Two years ago, there was only the smallest bit of Android-based stuff because the first open source version of the OS was only just released. Last year, the presence had increased significantly, and I saw a lot of new smartphones, a couple of e-reader/tablets and a couple of strange and unique contributions like desktop video phones and Android-powered Microwaves.
This year, aside from the Verizon LTE Android phone that we’re expecting, everyone thinks CES 2011 is going to be all about tablets.
I have my reservations about that prediction.
Yes, Motorola is undoubtedly revealing an Android tablet of some sort, and LG, NEC and Dell have all said they will be showing something off too…but other than that the field is pretty wide open.
Speaking of LG though, there’s a company who’s in the Android space way less than it should be. Last year I saw two Android phones from LG, and earlier this year the company pledged more presence in the area, but frankly I was highly unimpressed with its smartphone attempts. Many of the phones LG showed off last year were solidly based in the pre-iPhone, post BlackBerry design ethic. The company’s got a lot of clout in consumer electronics, but last year it looked to be focused solidly on its TV sector, maybe a tablet would kickstart interest in their smartphones.
A ton of Android-based tablets pour out of China every day. I mean, just check out dealextreme and you’ll be treated to a new piece of shit $99 plastic tablet running Android 2.2 every day of the week. I really hope predictions for CES 2011 will be proven wrong and that there will be something to take my breath away, because I want to see how far companies have taken Android out of its comfortable niche of portable/pocketable touchscreen devices.
Specifically, I want to see OTHER devices running it, like point and shoot cameras, pocket camcorders, media players, clocks and watches, game systems, in-car systems, DVD players and TVs, set top boxes, digital toys, and home automation gadgets.
Frankly, after hearing that Samsung is on track to sell 10 million Galaxy S smartphones before this year is even out, I’ve accepted that Android is now the mainstream smartphone OS. It has reached the average user who upgrades his phone only when his contract runs out, and my efforts will be best invested in tracking the smartphone market overall, and the specific unique applications of Android’s open source branch.
If you’re like me, you read MG Siegler’s post on Techcrunch entitled “Android Is As Open As The Clenched Fist I’d Like To Punch The Carriers With,” and were a bit ruffled by it.
In the article, Siegler breaks down the myth of Android openness, and though his reasoning is a bit suspect, this is the kind of thing new Android users needed to hear. Describing Android as “open” is about as subjective as you can get. It’s like describing it as “good.” Therefore, people have assigned all kinds of crazy expectations to what “open” means, and most of them are false.
At one point, Siegler says, “Open is proving to mean that the carriers can choose what they want to do with Android.”
Proving to mean?
Wasn’t that what it meant all along?
I point you to Steve Horowitz, Google Engineering Director, speaking at Google I/O in 2008, before Android 1.0 was launched.
There, he said the following:
“We are going to give [Android] to the industry to allow innovation
on top of the platform, and to enable the industry at large to build and deploy devices with rich and powerful features and functionality.”
I’ve embedded a video of Horowitz’s presentation, which includes a nice walkthrough of a pre-release version of Android. I encourage you to watch this and remember why Android was developed in the first place.
So who do we have to blame for this whole “open” thing? Naturally it’s the Open Handset Alliance, that famous group of 78 different mobile technology companies and service providers who fostered the development of Android.
“Android was built from the ground up with the explicit goal to be the first open, complete, and free platform created specifically for mobile devices,” the group’s website still says. Check out this early OHA promo video explaining Android…
Talk about mixed messages. On one end you’ve got the people saying “you will be able to have a phone that does whatever you want it to!” On the other, you’ve got Android co-founder Nick Sears, telling it like it is:
“Andy Rubin…myself…and Rich Miner…the three of us all believed that it was too difficult to get new products out to consumers in a timely fashion, and we thought the missing link was not having an open platform.”
The open platform is to help get new products TO CONSUMERS faster, not to help the consumers do more with those products.
And yes, there are two development branches…Android “with Google,” and the open source version of Android. Personally, I think they should have different names because even the tech journalists are confused. Google’s Android should just be called Android and everything else should have its own name, like MotoBLUR, Sense, TouchWIZ, UX, and so forth. There are 20 handset makers in the OHA…and each will have their own UI, which is actually a whole new OS built on top of the free and open Android framework.
You just need to look at TouchWiz 3.0 to see how vastly different the experience can be on an OEM-customized version of Android. Seriously…try the media player in TouchWiz. It could pass for a whole different OS.
Similarly, we have to look at the OPhone phenomenon in China. That’s a carrier UI and not a manufacturer one, and it again is a totally different OS (called OMS, even though it’s built on Android). Dell’s got a phone running it, and the same phone running Dell’s custom Android UI in the US. That’s kind of the idea behind the openness…not whether or not you’re allowed to tether the phone or sideload apps.
If carriers just re-branded the different versions of Android like China Mobile does, we wouldn’t even have to have this discussion.
According to Adobe today, the following devices will have Flash Player 10.1 (and consequently, the Android 2.2 “Froyo” update if they don’t already:)
Dell Streak
Google Nexus One
HTC EVO 4G
HTC Desire
HTC Incredible
Motorola Droid/Milestone
Samsung Galaxy S
Future devices running Android 2.2 will also support it, of course. My Droid is sitting here with 2.1 just itching to be updated. Of course, I’m also expecting the Archos 7 tablet in the mail for review, and the Creative Vado HD 3rd gen camera so I’m just itching all over.
Since I’ve now handled almost all of the following devices, I decided to re-do my “140 characters” list and just do a simple rundown of every Android phone with pictures. We’re going to see a lot more at Mobile World Congress. I really want to go, but it’s a little expensive, and I’ve got about 5 trips coming up that are going to be expensive. I also really really really want a Sony Vaio X Signature Series (VPCX115KX/S)…but that’s $1,589.99. money.
RELEASED/CONFIRMED:
G1 (HTC Dream) This is the phone that started it all one year ago: Keyboard, Chin, Trackball, Slider, and Android 1.0
Mytouch3G (HTC Magic) , (Dopod) It’s still got the chin, but no keyboard. Shellable, skinnable, endorsed by Whoopi.
HTC Hero (World) Slim and sexy, this is the first ‘droid with a custom UI #HTCSense The CDMA version is Sprint’s first Android device.
HTC Tattoo yet another all-touch device with HTC Sense bound for Europe. Mysteriously ditched the “chin” but went with custom shells.
HTC Droid Eris (HTC Desire) Launch partner of Verizon Droid, standard 528MHz CPU, very similar to the Hero.
HTC Nexus One Sold directly through Google, all-touch, 1GHz Snapdragon, cross-carrier, world phone. Very controversial and reputed to have some problems, but otherwise a totally compelling device.
Motorola Cliq/Dext the first Android phone from Moto, which unveiled MotoBLUR, the second big UI premiered for Android. Thanks to the timing of the big data loss of 2009, this became a replacement for many Sidekicks.
Motorola Droid aka “Sholes,” “Tao,” and “Touchstone.” QWERTY slider as thin as an iPhone. VZW’s first Android and first Android 2.0 (eclair) device. A killer.
Motorola Backflip, aka “Enzo,” a weird form factor with keyboard on back of chassis and trackpad behind the screen, also rocks the MotoBLUR interface.
Motorola MotoROI, First released in China and South Korea, this powerful device features 720p video capture with HDMI output and has a fully-featured 8 Megapixel camera. Rumors say it’ll be released in the U.S. also.
Huawei U8220 aka T-mobile Pulse, the first prepaid all-touch Android device “perfect entry level smartphone”
Huawei U8230 3.2 megapixel camera on the back, VGA cam on the front, update to the T-Mobile Pulse.
LG inTouch MAX (GW620) aka “Etna” this QWERTY slider was launched in EU, turned up unlocked in France €450, and is now available in the UK on Virgin and T-Mobile.
LG GT540, don’t know the name of this one, but is all-touch, runs 2.0, and comes in various colours. Launched at CES, coming to EU/Asia
Acer A1 or Acer Liquid, like Motorola, Acer said it’s focusing on Android now. Launched UK 10/14, runs Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
Dell mini 3i, one of China Mobile’s first Ophones, rumored to be AT&T’s first Android phone, we’ll have more. Dell is good with staying in touch.
Lenovo O1, another TD-SCDMA Ophone for China. Pretty, but not likely to come to the U.S.
Samsung Galaxy, @I7500, typical Samsung quality display, all-touch AMOLED with light sensor, not a “Google phone,” available in Germany, Austria, and Poland.
Samsung Behold 2, shown with #TouchWiz #Cube UI, will be first Samsung droid phone in US on T-Mobile
Samsung Moment, thought to be the #InstinctQ, this 800Mhz QWERTY monster came to Sprint and is being test marketed as an ATSC TV.
Samsung Galaxy Spica @I5700, 800MHz CPU, 3.2-inch HVGA, a 3mpix cam, 180MB internal memory. Actually quite dull. Announced on Nov 16.
@GeeksPhoneONE QWERTY slider available in EU (Spain) in December “extremadamente ágil y eficiente!”
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, comes with slick UI and new “UX Platform,” powered by Snapdragon. SE is forgoing the Android praise and just sticking with making phones. This thing is big and burly, it’s one of 2 I still haven’t played with yet.
UNCONFIRMED:
@MotorolaDevour aka @Calgary…the name has shown up for 2 years, and only recently has any actual evidence shown up. We’ll see at CES!
@MotorolaHeron or @IronMan This Windows Mobile phone was pulled from AT&T, listed as “specifications subject to change due to move to Android.” Whereabouts unknown.
@MotorolaZeppelin Spotted in China in a regulatory filing, with not much known besides 5Mpx camera, and HDMI output
@MotorolaOpusOne – Supposed to be the first iDen Android Device, to ship with 1.5, 3.1″ screen, 3 megapixel cam—looking cheap
@TMobile “Tap” shown on the Samsung Behold II launch paper…possibly a #ZTE device?
@INQ committed to an Android device, but we haven’t seen anything yet.
More Android Phones keep comin’, so here’s a rundown of what we’ve got in the immortal language of Twitter. I’m going to keep updating this post as more devices come out, so #havenofear. After updating this a number of times, I’ve decided to organize this list by phones that have been released or announced first, then followed by rumored devices.
RELEASED/CONFIRMED:
@HTCDream, @TmobileG1 This is the phone that started it all one year ago: Keyboard, Chin, Trackball, Slider, and Android 1.0
@SamsungGalaxy, @I7500, typical Samsung quality display, all-touch AMOLED with light sensor, not a “Google phone,” avail in Germany, Austria, Poland
@HTCMagic, @Mytouch3G, @Dopod, It’s still got the chin, but no keyboard. Shellable, skinnable, endorsed by Whoopi.
@HTCHero (World) Slim and sexy, this is the first ‘droid with a custom UI #HTCSense The CDMA version is Sprint’s first Android device.
@HTCTattoo yet another all-touch device with #HTCSense bound for Europe. Mysteriously ditched the “chin” but went with custom shells.
@HTCDroidEris, @HTCDesire Launch partner of Verizon Droid, standard 528MHz CPU, very similar to the Hero
@HTCNexusOne Sold directly through Google, all-touch, snapdragon, very controversial.
@MotorolaCliq, @MotorolaDext first Android phone from Moto, features #MotoBLUR, second big UI for droid. Surefire Sidekick replacement.
@MotorolaDroid aka @sholes aka @tao aka @touchstone. QWERTY slider as thin as an iPhone. #VZW’s first Android and first Android 2.0 (eclair) device. A killer.
@MotorolaBackflip, aka @Enzo, a weird form factor with keyboard on back of chassis and trackpad behind the screen, also rocks #motoBLUR
@TmobilePulse, #Huawei makes this, the first prepaid all-touch Android device “perfect entry level smartphone”
@LG GW620, @LGEtna this QWERTY slider was launched in EU, turned up unlocked in France €450. lacks d-pad/trackball but has arrow keys.
@LG GT540, don’t know the name of this one, but is all-touch, runs 2.0, and comes in various colours. Launched at CES, coming to EU/Asia
@AcerA1, @AcerLiquid, like #Moto, #Acer said it’s focusing on Android now. Launched UK 10/14, runs Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
@Dellmini3i, one of #ChinaMobile’s first Ophones, rumored to be AT&T’s first Android phone, we’ll have more. Dell is good with staying in touch.
@LenovoO1, another TD-SCDMA Ophone for China. Pretty, but not likely to come to the U.S.
@SamsungBehold2, shown with #TouchWiz #Cube UI, will be first Samsung droid phone in US on T-Mobile
@SamsungMoment, thought to be the #InstinctQ, this 800Mhz QWERTY monster is headed for Sprint in Nov.
@SamsungGalaxySpica @I5700, 800MHz CPU, 3.2-inch HVGA, a 3mpix cam, 180MB internal memory. Actually quite dull. Announced on Nov 16.
@GeeksPhoneONE QWERTY slider available in EU (Spain) in December “extremadamente ágil y eficiente!”
@SonyEricsson Xperia X10, comes with slick UI and new “UX Platform,” powered by Snapdragon. SE is forgoing the Android praise and just sticking with making phones.
UNCONFIRMED:
@MotorolaDevour aka @Calgary…the name has shown up for 2 years, and only recently has any actual evidence shown up. We’ll see at CES!
@MotorolaHeron or @IronMan This Windows Mobile phone was pulled from AT&T, listed as “specifications subject to change due to move to Android.” Whereabouts unknown.
@MotorolaZeppelin Spotted in China in a regulatory filing, with not much known besides 5Mpx camera, and HDMI output
@MotorolaOpusOne – Supposed to be the first iDen Android Device, to ship with 1.5, 3.1″ screen, 3 megapixel cam—looking cheap
@TMobile “Tap” shown on the Samsung Behold II launch paper…possibly a #ZTE device?
@INQ committed to an Android device, but we haven’t seen anything yet.
In case you missed it today, HTC announced its fourth Android device, the “Tattoo” (which was formerly called “Click”.)
Everybody’s expecting it to be the cheapest Android phone yet, which is itself an exciting possibility, but I look at the device with absolute boredom.
I see you have a tattoo. You are 88% more likely to be a douchebag.
Design-wise, it’s HTC’s third all-touch Android phone in a row (if you don’t count local variations,) and the only unique thing it has going for it is its faceplate changeability.
Once you get into cosmetic “improvements” like that, I get extremely, violently, bored. Any time a company gets into the business of slapping prefabricated “art” on my tech devices, I want to give said company a flying axe handle to the head. I don’t want to see tribal tattoos or urban camouflage on ANYTHING much less on the device which I will prominently hold up to my face in public or have sitting on my lap for hours on end.
Get that shit away from me NOW.
Art-related stuff like Dell Studio notebooks and iGoogle skins I can get down with. Those prominently feature the artists’ names and are unique to their tastes and talents. There is absolutely nothing unique about the shit they’re slapping on the HTC Tattoo. Even the name offends me…I feel like that’s up there in bad names with Motorola Rokr. Why not just name it the HTC BAD BOYZ or something?
Furthermore, this gets into the realm of things that I hate: The separation of “Tattoo” from “Art.” But that’s a rant for a non-tech blog or a day where I have more time to bitch.
On a more fundamental level though, there’s another issue with the Tattoo.
Reportedly, it has been equipped with a resistive touchscreen to get to its lower pricetag. I know how sucky a bad resistive touchscreen can get. You ever use a Chumby? HA. They say you don’t need a stylus for it, but you just try setting an alarm on that thing without one. Resistive touchscreens make me think of business geeks with a coke nail that they grew to make interaction with their phone easier because they don’t want to have to whip out a stylus.
But this brings me to my main issue. I know quite well that Android is a touch OS; but when you’re a big company in the business of making internationally distributed consumer electronics devices, how hard would it be, really, to port Android down to a non-touch device if you’re just looking to save money? Rather than attempt to preserve the experience you’d get with a capacitive touchscreen, you just create a new button-based experience.
I’d love to see a BlackBerry-style Android device. HTC makes the Dash and the Ozone and they’re fantastically comfortable devices. I know..I know, I favor keyboards. I’m sorry. But I strongly believe that anyone who’s had to rely on a smartphone in a high-pressure work situation will agree with me: hard keys are needed for hard work.
We’ve got devices from Motorola coming this week, and some from LG on the horizon. They all at least have keyboards, but what I’m really looking for from HTC is something like the BlackBerry Bold: a smaller touchscreen and a full candybar keyboard. Or hell, just a re-designed Android interface that we can drop into non-touch devices.
