"The T-Mobile G1 Google smartphone, designed by Google and made by HTC, remains firmly in the shadow of the iPhone-for now. The phone, which goes on sale next week in the US and next month in Britain, was released too early. The HTC hardware and Android OS that powers it lack the polish and depth of even the iPhone 1.0 in most respects. It's not a bad phone, but the software and hardware needed more time in the oven to bring them to a golden brown crispness." Full review at Arstechnica.
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Member since:2007-11-13
No need to wait for HTC, or T-Mobile. I'm sure there are enthusiastic hackers out there right now, downloading the source, poking around, finding things to improve. Google has stated that they will explicitly allow the wholesale replacement of OS components. Don't like the calendar? Code your own! Address book needs a new feature? Add it!
There are whole communities dedicated to developing "cooked roms" for WinMo devices, particularly HTC ones, so imagine the possibilities with an open source OS!
Member since:2005-11-15
I can just imagine the quality of apps...
Open Source is great for server side apps. BUT when it comes to desktop the verdict is quite the opposite. Desktop open source applications suck when compared to their closed source breatherns.
So if this is what you are hoping for, then you better get an iPhone or whatever other offering there is.
What people forget is that Apple is so good at what it does because it spends oodles of money on people who watch closely on what users want. They are not techies...
Member since:2005-07-24
Not really - even though Google has promised to open-source Android, it has been vague about exactly which components will be open, and (last time I looked) it hasn't happened yet, though they're planning to open up before the end of the year.
I'd love to see this happen, and I'm confident Google would have nothing against it. I wonder how much the hardware vendors and carriers will lock the phone down, though.
Android holds a lot of promise, and I hope it will live up to the expectations, but for now I'm a bit sceptical. The OpenMoko guys seem much more committed to openness (practically everything is open right now), but both the hard- and software have quite a way to go before they're up to par with the state-of-the-art.
Member since:
2005-07-15
anyway, surely htc will update the firmware in a couple of month