android

Since the G1, running on Google Android, is so new, I'll discuss some of the other points about the phone for anyone interested. I previously discussed the features that sold me on the G1. Everyone is very excited about the Android operating system, however, there have been serious misgivings about the HTC G1 hardware that is running this first generation Android.

People seem to be confused about the "chin" on the phone where the bottom part tilts slightly.

The marketplace is coming out with really awesome apps. A lot of the popular apps for the iPhone are also available for G1. These apps take advantage of the internet connection, Google maps, GPS and tilting detection, making some really innovative stuff. They are all rather new since the G1 only just came out - but if they are great already, they will be awesome in a year!

I am hoping that the open source nature of Android, in addition to the market place starting out free will foster more free and open source applications.

Last week people discovered a means to access Android as a super user, effectively allowing them to "jailbreak" the phone. Saturday morning, RC30 was pushed out that closed this ability to access the phone as root.

Some people seem to think that this update was to solely prevent jailbreaking the phone, and are pretty upset that Google appears to be acting evil by closing down people's attempts to use their phone with open source software in any means they wish.

I am going to go off topic to discuss the G1 phone that runs Google Android. I figure web enabled phones are of particular interest to the web development crowd :)

I have had both the G1 and iPhone for one week each. At the end of a week with the iPhone, I returned it with much disappointment. With one week of the G1, I am just ecstatic.