Why Android's Three Flavours Are Good News For Carriers And Manufacturers

Why Android's Three Flavours Are Good News For Carriers And Manufacturers tv phone It seems that Google Mobile Platforms director Andy Rubin really generated some buzz with his prediction at Google IO that there could be as many as 20 Android phones available by the end of this year. While this was interesting usb dongle (but not really that surprising given Android's success and growth to date), what I found of more interest were his comments regarding Google's commitment to Android as an "open" platform qwerty phones as well as clarification of the various Android flavours available to carriers and handset manufacturers. Google has taken some flack from critics who see the strongly Google-branded G1 and HTC watch cell phone Magic phones as cause for concern regarding the openness of the Android platform. Even manufacturers have expressed some concern, most notably Samsung which blamed its delay in announcing an Android phone on the fact that "some operators were concerned about the vision Google has". In an effort to allay these concerns, Google has actually released three different versions of Android as follows: Option 1: Obligation free quad band phone – manufacturers can install Android on their devices and provide access to as many apps as they want but cannot preload Google applications like Gmail or Google Calendar. Option 2: Same as option 1 but manufacturers must sign a distribution agreement to preload Google applications on the device. Option 3: Google Experience phones – includes Google branding and Google applications which cannot be removed from the phone. This option also provides uncensored access to the Android Market. By offering these three flavours of Android, manufacturers and carriers are able to choose to what degree the phones integrate with Google so in the case of Samsung's I7500 (a.k.a. Samsung Galaxy), it looks like they’ve gone the Option 2 route as opposed to producing another HTC-like china mobile phone Google Experience Phone. Hopefully we’ll start to see more customisation of the interface and applications as manufacturers embrace the openness of the Android platform. This can only help to increase the number of new Android phones released this year as well as the number of carriers that offer these phones. There's no denying that AT&T android cell phones has been particularly quiet about its plans for an Android phone release. Last month I speculated that the carrier may have picked up the HTC Hero but now, thanks to engadget, we have fairly credible confirmation that AT&T's first Android phone will actually be the HTC Lancaster. HTC Lancaster At first look it seems to be quite a nice handset, an amalgamation of the G1 and Magic and had it been around sooner I would have chosen it over my G1 – or would I? I personally prefer a physical keyboard to the a touchscreen so the Lancaster seems to have everything going for it apart from the display. I'm really impressed by the G1's 3.2 inch HVGA (320 x 480) display but the Lancaster is let down by a smaller 2.8 inch QVGA (240 x 320) android tablet pc display which is a bit of a disappointment. I'm also not sure about the MSM7225 processor (which the leaked Lancaster datasheet shows incorrectly as an MSN7225). Although, like the G1's MSM7201 the 7225 is a 528 MHz ARM processor, rumour is that it lacks a GPU. I can't seem to find any details on this processor on the Qualcomm website – maybe someone can shed some light on the differences between the MSM7201 and the MSM7225? Archos' Android Media Tablet Release Ahead Of Schedule? May 19, 2009 by Tap Archos Invite Back in February we first got word of Archos' plans to release an IMT (Internet Media Tablet) which combined a 5" media player with 3G voice support via Android's telephony stack. This speculation was confirmed again in March when the company's 2008 financial results were published, making mention of the IMT with a Q3 release date. This month the French site ArchosLounge published details of an event to be held in Paris next month (June) which many have speculated hints at a possible release of the Android IMT based on the colour of the event invite, what you may call Android-green. The connection seems a bit tenuous, but may prove true. The real question however is does anyone care? Traditional smartphone users are not going to be tempted to move to the new Archos for its media player capabilities and it remains to be seen whether or not existing Archos users will buy into the idea. Archos obviously hopes that they will.