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Google Rallies Allies in Open Linux Phone Initiative

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 5th Nov 2007 21:36 UTC, submitted by irbis

Google and 33 other companies have announced an ambitious industry alliance that will maintain a completely open source mobile phone stack. The Open Handset Alliance says phones based on its Linux-based 'Android' stack will reach market in as soon as eight months. The Android stack is based on 'open Linux kernel', the group says. It also includes a full set of mobile phone application software, in order to "significantly lower the cost of developing and distributing mobile devices and services", OHA said.

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RE[3]: Interesting ...

by meianoite on Mon 5th Nov 2007 23:20 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Interesting ..."

Member since:
2006-04-05

iPhone: browser is excellent but the mail app sucks. I use Gmail for Domains and REALLY miss their Blackberry app. Google adding IMAP support is an improvement but still not close. Maybe come February they'll port their app. I never use the iPod features.

What makes you think Apple isn't listening to the countless complaints about the MobileMail app interface? Unlike Nokia, Apple has clearly expressed that the iPhone software will never be set in stone, and the revenue accounting procedures were set in place explicitly to enable delivering software updates, minor and major, from the occasional new app (like the Wifi Store) to complete overhauls (which I suspect will begin to show up after the SDK is published).

Anyway, the MobileMail app is *the* sore thumb sticking out, so I'm confident Apple will overhaul it completely just for the sake of avoiding the harsh criticism they're getting so far. Even if you count out the ego factor, the fact that they're publishing job offers that are squarely directed to MS Exchange is enough for me to believe they intend to come up with something that will put Blackberry's interface to shame.

Just watch.

Android: Better have a great web browser. This play is all about the mobile internet! Gmail integration is assumed. If it doesn't have both this'll be a failure.

It probably will bundle some version of Firefox, or even WebKit (the source is open, after all). OTOH, I've seen nothing on MobileSafari that makes using the web interface to gmail less than stellar. Zoom is your friend (and the pinky finger, as a last resort).

Disclaimer: I don't have an iPhone, but I played a little with the iPod touch and I've seen numerous, numerous, numerous videos demoing each app.

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