Comments on: Android phones as early as this fall?

Google has told the world to expect the first phones with its operating system in the second half of this year, but they might be out sooner rather than later.

[trigatch4]

HTC Dream in FALL

It won't be summer... it will be fall: http://htcdream.com and http://phandroid.com

Think about it... they need time to get more developers to create more applications that are tested and proven. The apps are what will make Android so desirable.

Plus... they'll want to time this perfectly... probably late October or November to perfectly align the enormous buzz with the holiday buying frenzy.

[The User]

Will it not be a drop in the ocean?

There are 10,000s commercial and free apps for eachs of the main platforms - Windows Mobile, Palm and BlackBerry. Will those puny 100s of Android apps a tiny caricature of the bigger and better OSes?

[kojacked]

Exciting!

Thanks for posting the links. Too bad there aren't more details. I look forward to the mobile market heating up and going to the next level. With HTC doing this I wouldn't doubt I'll be able to flash my HTC Wizard with their implementation of android. Might be worth the test drive...

[The User]

I don't get it

I got the Google part - it is cool to use a Google product. But not everything Google does is really useful. In fact, in many of its endeavors Google was lagging badly behind, killing the product off.

Now, the Android - where does it fit, why should I buy an Android device?

We have Symbian - not that I like it, but its everywhere and its time tested.
We have Apple - the coolest consumer OS on the market, complete with the coolest device.
We have Palm - a dying breed that started it all
We have BlackBerry - a professional grade OS
and we have Windows Mobile, that with a little effort can easily eclipse all of the above by being better consumer product (with SPB Shell 2 I like it far better than Apple's OS), better professional OS (I think it's been better than BlackBerry for a long time, it just takes time for people to adjust).
And where will Android fit it? It will definitely not be a threat to WM, not for many years, at least. If users will switch from BB to something, most likely it will be WM with outlook and exchange, so for BB Android isn't really a competition. Apple doesn't have to worry about - it will not have coolness of the Apple brand. Symbian? Symbian is there because it is there, not because it is better than BB, WM or Apple in any function.

So what is the benefit of buying an Android device? To surf Google or Google maps? That I can do from Safari or forthcoming mobile Firefox (IE doesn't really do a good job on mobile). So what is all that hype about Android devises?

[rudlavi]

Cheap?

They said that it's going to be affordable. A smartphone for everyone. The openness should also be a factor, but more for the developers and handset makers.

[ArtInvent]

For me Android = Linux phone

Android is a Linux based phone stack and will be predominantly open source. It's a bet by Google that really opening up the system will start a mass thriving of a portable internet ecosystem. It's pretty much the opposite tack of what Apple is doing with the iPhone. Apple has created a very profitable closed ecosystem of its own based a single handset design and tightly controlled software. Sure Apple is going to allow 3rd party apps onto their system, but they will probably put tight limits on the kinds of apps and the things they can do. Google is not going to make any money on the iPhone for years because as great as that device is, it's not going to possibly achieve adoption levels which create a truly massive market for Google's services. They want to see if they can blast that market for internet-in-your-pocket wide open and start massive adoption levels and get all the manufacturers and carriers in on it - no limits to what others can adapt the general idea to. This is largely in recognition of the fact that this is really a full computer in your pocket, why not let it out of the cage. Apple folks probably couldn't care less, as Apple is pretty good at making them happy, but for the mainstream it's a pretty interesting development. And to Linux fans like me, of course, it should be fascinating.

[t8]

It sets you free

It is free. No cost to handset makers.
It is open. Developers can hook into it and change anything.
It makes a phone an Internet device.

So no more $1 ring tones.

[everwanted2]

lol again

There are lots of things you don't get I see. Let me start off by explaining it to you in chronic order. "You should buy an android device" - Android is a mobile Operating system, it is open source, meaning that anyone who has access to the download of the source code is free to do what they like except sell a derivative. Android is software, it can be PORTED to any mobile device, meaning that if a company really wanted to, they could port android to a moto razer or a slvr, however, since this OS is powerful in it's own, it would need a more powerful device to run off of. You cannot truly trust any Closed Source project like symbian with ought viewing the code. Because that would mean that you don't know what is in there (software), Since android is open source, everyone can truly see why it is fool-proof. Making it more than time tested. Have you tried one of the android emulators? The interface is extremely skinnable and customizable, it can look much better than an iphone UI (user interface). It is a threat to WM because all of that software is possible on android because it is possible on linux and android has the same libraries and api's that a typical GNU/Linux OS has. Open Office, oh and did I mention that the android Browser is based on Webkit, meaning that Zoho, and the whole Google online office suite will work perfectly for the phone. You spelled devices wrong on your last sentence. I recommend you get the SDK(http://code.google.com/android/download.html)

and once downloaded, go to tools and you'll see an application called "emulator" Run it and test it out. :D

[Smartboy_x]

Waiting eagerly, but a bit sceptic.

Hi, this is smartboy_x. I am waiting so eagerly for this platform to be introduced! And a bit sceptic too for initial one or two years. But above all, we should have faith on google.