[Edward Kirk]

Google has released a demo video showing some of the features of the much-awaited Android OS, and it's pretty impressive. It sports many of the features of the iPhone, as well as a few more. For one, it has the ability to be used on a device with a touch-screen, complete with a full web-browser that reacts to flicks of the finger much like the iPhone.

The operating system is Linux-based and open-source in an attempt to generate development for the system. Unlike the iPhone, developers can make applications for the device as it is without any sort of special privileges. It also allows for a maximum degree of customization, in that any part of the operating system can be modified.

The default Android shell supports several more advanced hardware features by default, including 3G network support, playback of AAC/MP3 songs and H.264/MPEG-4 video, and hardware 3D acceleration for games and 3D utilities like a street view in Google Maps. A touchscreen control system is provided from Synaptics.

Interestingly, it also sports several features characteristic of Apple and the iPhone. For instance, the full web browser that shows web pages as you would see them on a computer, a touch interface (though not Apple's "multitouch"). For that matter, much of the interface is highly reminiscent of the iPhone throughout the device.

In order to showcase their software, they have also created two prototype cell phones. One is complete with real QWERTY keyboard, and the other is prominently a touch-screen much like the iPhone.

I dig Android because it has some features the iPhone doesn't and it's open source so development is easier and more apps will be out for it. I would love to run Android on my iPhone as long as I would be able to restore the phone if I wanted. If somebody knows how to put Android on the iPhone please post a link or reply. Alot of the features are similar to the iPhones and it's certainly not as smooth looking as the iphone but feature wise very comparable.

[heart attacked]

I would sport an Android OS phone in a heartbeat. Looks good, has good features, and I wouldn't have to jailbreak my phone every month..

Dear AT&T's early termination fee,

Here I come.

Yours Truly,
Mr. A

[imagine engine]

Android has a lot of possibilities for manufacturers of smartphones and developers of applications. This is one of the reasons I feel Apple should hurry up to release the iPhone SDK to developers before they fall further behind competitors of other smartphones.

[vertigo]

If this was already out on the market, lord knows it would take over. The phone manufacturers don't know shit about software and have kludged together unusable interfaces for far too long. Google steps in and just hands them manna from heaven, and the users can step in and fill every use case niche possible.

iPhone has a good little jump on making it to market, but really the lack of freedom has really been irksome for us end users, (I complain, but I paraphrase Winston Churchill when I say that it's the worst phone I've ever tried except for every other phone I've ever tried from time to time). If a vendor can scratch all those little itches that iphone users want (3G, sdk/open source, video, syncing music with multiple computers, lower price point, not being locked into AT&T, using a sim from whatever country you're visiting instead of paying $6 a minute like I did in vietnam), then there are gonna be tons of people pouring over to this, a lot of the people that never even made it to the iPhone in the first place.

Whatever is the end result, I'm amazed that the cell industry has made it this far with so many unsatisfied customers. It's high time that they get shook up, and now that hardware has gotten powerful enough to bring over so many innovations from computing, the users are finally getting what they need.