When Google invited developers to attend Android programming workshops this week, it likely assumed the events would answer questions about the well-publicised platform and reassure concerns that the SDK as a whole is buggy and was prematurely announced. Instead, coders seem to have come away with more questions than answers, including a better understanding of Android’s structure – and just what Google are and are not providing – that casts some degree of doubt onto the prospect of low-cost cellphones using the platform.
RegDeveloper’s Lance Davis attended a London workshop and has given a comprehensive run-down on what he sees as the ethos behind Android, the strengths and weaknesses of what Google is offering and a few predictions as to what we can expect to see as – if – the OS takes hold.
For instance, Android provides the Linux 2.6 kernel “Hardware Abstraction Layer” supporting memory, power and audio management, among other things, and the applications Home, Contacts, Phone and Browser; Lance points out the absence of a messaging app as a sign of Google thinking of the project from a computer company perspective, whereas I – considering Google’s strengths in email and IM, and fledgling SMS information services - think it’s a bizarre omission. Instead, Google expects ODMs to develop, or otherwise source, applications to round out the suite; they’re under no obligation to release the API for these apps, and the well-publicised “anti-fragmentation agreement” that all Open Handset Alliance members signed does not cover applications (and is not even binding).
Lance’s report goes into much greater depth on the event, but what stood out to me were his closing remarks on the types of handsets he predicts will ship using Android – and whose ODMs have gone to the trouble of filling in the blanks that Google has left open:
“[W]hat really matters is sales. The mobile phone market is huge, but only a tiny fraction belongs to the kind of expensive devices which will run Android. Google suggests a minimum specification of a 200MHz ARM9, with 64Mb RAM and 64Mb Flash. We all know what minimum specs mean. Other comments indicate that they expect a hardware MMU and hardware graphics acceleration. And it wasn’t disclosed if that whole 200MHz CPU is needed for Android, or if the baseband and telephony stacks runs within that. Still, a sensible guess puts it in the same class as an N95″ Lance Davis, RegDeveloper
Part of Android’s warm reception was by manufacturers looking for a low-cost, capable mobile OS with brand cachet, that could bypass both the licencing costs of something like Windows Mobile or CE, and the development costs of producing their own platform. It will be interesting to see how many entry-level handsets running Android are present at the Mobile World Congress later this month.
[via Google-Phone]
