Google Android and HTC- pinch me I'm Dreaming

Google is not working on a gPhone, contrary to 427,000 rumors that have appeared on the web in recent months.  Yesterday they announced a new open-source OS for mobile phones, Android.   Android is a project of a new consortium, the Open Handset Alliance, that includes a number of heavyweights in the industry:

Aplix (www.aplixcorp.com), Ascender Corporation (www.ascendercorp.com), Audience (www.audience.com), Broadcom (www.broadcom.com), China Mobile (www.chinamobile.com), eBay (www.ebay.com), Esmertec (www.esmertec.com), Google (www.google.com), HTC (www.htc.com), Intel (www.intel.com), KDDI (www.kddi.com), LivingImage (www.livingimage.jp), LG (www.lge.com), Marvell (www.marvell.com), Motorola (www.motorola.com), NMS Communications (www.nmscommunications.com), Noser (www.noser.com), NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (www.nttdocomo.com), Nuance (www.nuance.com), Nvidia (www.nvidia.com), PacketVideo (www.packetvideo.com), Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com), Samsung (www.samsung.com), SiRF (www.sirf.com), SkyPop (www.skypop.com), SONiVOX (www.sonivoxrocks.com), Sprint Nextel (www.sprint.com), Synaptics (www.synaptics.com), TAT - The Astonishing Tribe (www.tat.se), Telecom Italia (www.telecomitalia.com), Telefónica (www.telefonica.es), Texas Instruments (www.ti.com), T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.com), Wind River (www.windriver.com)

This is not the first alliance that has tried to make an impact in the handset world but everyone is excited because with giant Google behind it maybe this one will fly.  The most interesting partner in the Alliance to me is Nuance, makers of DragonNaturallySpeaking, the best speech recognition company on the planet.  That could be very significant as Android evolves.  The other interesting partner is HTC who makes the most exciting mobile devices around.  Engadget has uncovered some information about a prototype, the Dream, that looks very nice:

Things are going to get exciting with the first Android phones predicted to appear late next year. 

Comments

[cr0ft]

Speech recognition would be a real boon for text entry on a small device, so it should be interesting to see what happens with Android down the line. It is already massively useful to me on the Nokia E-series; granted, the recognition is limited to calling people and changing phone modes, but that works really well already.

[Keith]

This could be the beginning of a brave new world of mobile devices :) Pocketable Web 2.0 compatibility, the support of huge players like Google and HTC, I'm just a few awesome pieces of hardware and a strong version of OpenOffice away from doing cartwheels!

Latest rumor: the long ago rumored HTC Omni will be the consumer version of the Dream

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/11/htc-omni_mockup-1.jpg

[Mike Cane]

Total Fail.

Too lazy to do this again:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/9521/#139000

[Mr. Crash]

Mike - I agree with most of the points you made on the other post...

Except with the things about Symbian.
It's easy to find software for Symbian phones.
Everything except Sony Ericsson is S60. There's your UI.

And nokias N800 actually is (or was?) pretty cool. I liked having a 16GB touch screen music and movie device on me which could connect to the net. Did a whole lot better than an ipod touch if you ask me.

Not as polished I know, but it's for a different intended audience and way more potential.

Apple would be a real force to reckon with in this sort of domain, if they made a phone that wasn't crippled out of the box.

[Keith]

I think alot of people are missing the biggest point:

Web 2.0 capable browser integrated into "dumb"phones.

One of the biggest selling points of the iPhone to average users is it has the "real" internet, and Android should have an even realer version. I'd be willing to bet tons of your money that it will at least support all the dynamic stuff that Google likes to use in its web apps, and also that the browser will be doing the behind-the-scenes job for a number of dedicated "apps."

The way I see it, Google saw that even most smartphones didn't have browsers that could take advantage of their websites, and the websites of their customers. Those customers were being forced to make mobile versions, which in most cases strip off the advertisements. What better way to insure your in-browser-advertisement-based business model transitions to phone browsers better than to take steps to get full browsers in everyone's phone? You want it, the consumer wants it, it will print money! :)