Gizmodo has got their hands on a photograph (pic right) of a prototype phone running Google’s Android Open Mobile operating system. According to the report, the phone itself looks like it may have been manufactured by HTC.
What it means: The OS obviously works already, and this looks like a closed testing round to iron out the bugs, so there’s a good chance that Android is getting close to a broad scale release. The original reports said second half of 2008, it could be sooner.
The bad side: the handset. The original demo video showed a handset that was closer to an iPhone (although with keyboard) than a Blackberry, complete with touch screen interface, where as this…well if you like the aesthetics of a Blackberry it’s probably not that bad; Google is creating an OS that will be used on many phones, so we’re likely to see nicer handsets than this. Lets hope that in this case looks are deceiving, otherwise Scoble will be right, and we cant have that 
(via CrunchGear)
Eeek … must be one of the original reference hardware designs from 2 years ago when they started this. Certainly the ratio of screen size to control/keyboard size is all wrong. My old treo 650 looks to be physically smaller with larger screen.
I’m looking forward to Android, lets hope this is a really old refernece platform and not an indication of the real hardware to come!
Truthfully, this looks like a big(ger) Palm Centro. The whole fascia is practically identically aside from the layout and size of the call/end/home/etc buttons with the abhorrently tight key layout of a T-mo Dash.
Wow, that looks nasty, and at first glance not super easy to navigate. I’m not an Apple fanboy by any means, but they do understand simple interfaces better than almost anyone else.
Way too big, let’s face it the iPhone has revolutionized the way we use mobile phones.
http://www.whatshottoday.com
Prototype designs are just that… PROTOTYPES! Any engineer and/or product manager worth their weight in sand knows this fact.
Not an issue, not news.
Clarification – not news on the design. Android timing may be the real story here.
No Surprise
second paragraph, but it would be remiss of me not to mention the styling as well
android is software/OS, not hardware. You obviously dont understand what android is about if you’re critisizing the actual phone.
Light Speed
I’m more than aware of the difference, what I’m simply saying is that the best OS in the world in an awful phone is still an awful phone. If this is the unit running Android that will first be released to the public…well I don’t think they’ll be turning customers away some how
Well, apart the visual nastiness of the prototype phone, I have to wonder how Android will organize things. If it can scale to make sense on a small ugly display like the one in the picture, then it’s a good thing. It could be the lower threshold for mobile devices that will use this OS.
i’d like to see a better looking handset than iPhone. iPhone is too wide. of course this TI-83 looking handset is just a prototype.
Snyggast
if you follow that link at the end of the post we’ve got the demo video there; the phone in that case actually looked pretty damn fine.
Smacks like great marketing…. leak a photo of a gorilla like this, get everyone to say yuck I cant believe it, and then unwrap the cinderella when the clock hits midnight.
Reminds me of one of those prototype cars in testing that are wrapped in black plastic sheet and even given shape that won’t resemble the final product. All you need then is to invite a photographer to take exclusive pics.
I like how big the keyboard keys are. I hate trying to type on my husband’s blackberry.
sincerely,
angela hayden
art goddess
Ugly as hell!
One question:
So, are we going to see THE Spam(google adsense) even on mobile devices ?
its crap… im sure this is not what we are going to see…
Yuck. Presumably all the Google fanboys will be able to buy a Google-branded handcart to carry it around in. Personally, I don’t fancy getting my needle and thread out to alter my jacket pockets so I can carry a phone around.
Lots of hardware options coming in 2008, I am pretty sure its the radio chips holding everything up, not to mention the pending spectrum auction in January.
After reading the comments above, I’ll assume that the only thing holding the gPhone back is the fact there is no pretty hardware? Great, that’s easy to fix.
lol, the iPhone has nothing to worry about.
The true news would be that a reference platform is available for developers. One major point of Android is to encourage the development of mobile apps unlike that ever seen before. To that end, toting a notebook around running an emulator is NOT a good way to “try things out”.
The litany of limitations to the Android emulator prevents much meaningful work from being done:
http://code.goo...e/emulator.html
Emulator Limitations
In this release, the limitations of the emulator include:
* No support for placing or receiving actual phone calls. You can simulate phone calls (placed and received) through the emulator console, however.
* No support for USB connections
* No support for camera/video capture (input).
* No support for audio input (capture). Output (playback) is supported.
* No support for device-attached headphones
* No support for determining connected state
* No support for determining battery charge level and AC charging state
* No support for determining SD card insert/eject
* No support for Bluetooth
Duncan:
I don’t think an ugly-looking phone is going to be the end of Android. Again, Andoird is an OS. If Dell would produce an ugly computer that wouldn’t sell because of its aesthetics, I don’t think people should look at Microsoft and say “Vista sucks”. (Outlandish example, but just trying to get the point across).
Unfortunately, the world does not function logically. In the case of Android, given all its hype and expectations based on it, a cluster of techies in California just might blame Google for LG’s (or any other cell phone maker’s) mistakes.
That being said: does Google have control over how these phones are going to look ? Or are they giving complete independence on the design side of things to the cell phone makers?
That fact that Duncan had to chime in 3 times to defend his post tells you something…
As people have said, pro-to-type. Secondly, I’d take that phone over the iPhone any day of the week.
Android is going to turn out like the rest of OpenSource. 99.9% unsupported garbage, with horrendous user interfaces.
If the final hardware looks anything like the prototype, it will end up being one of the many phones out there with some market share but hardly disruptive.
@24
OpenSource has yet to produce a product with an appealing user interface. (Many linux servers are headless for a good reason). Why ? I guess creative design that appeals to human sensibilities can never be produced by a community of volunteers (or by group think of any kind). It emerges from the consistency of one mind. Heard of any famous open-source art ?
@21
Not exactly a reference platform but Android is now known to run on the Sharp Zaurus as well, thanks to these guys:
http://euedge.c...zaurus-sl-c760/
It’s a reference hardware-but man, it’s ugly. hopefully there’s another reference design on the docks. Like facia on new cars, maybe it’s better whne the junk comes off. But, looking at Google aesthetic in general, it’s normal for them. Mediocre UI, mediocre marketing effort. But SOMEONE else can make it pretty,right?
Do not under estimate the capabilities of this piece. I am sure a lot of the bloggers today never even got the chance to use this piece. But believe me I happened to get my hand onto the piece oneday and it was amazing to work with it.
Though the piece looks crappy, its a testing piece and its what people testing on it are using.
But please make sure that ANDROID is a software not the hardware.
this is just a picture to show that there is a perfectly working version of android ont there and ‘BELIEVE ME’, google is not far away from taking over the cellphone network, just wait for the 700Mhz spectrum auction to end.
Google is just as patient as a lion before hunting a deer.
Hey idiots: Android is an OS and SDK stack. It’s not a fucking physical phone.
You can run it on any compatible platform. The fact that it’s running on this particular phone is irrelevant.
The next person who says “iPhone vs. Android” needs to be punched in the testicles (or ovaries, if that is sufficiently painful).
much better version of my post by Douchetards…
I would like to nominate Douchetard’s above comment as best/funniest of 2007.
I would like to nominate Todd for being smart.
@30, since you signed your comment as Douchetards, you are calling yourself a douchetard. We all know that Android is a software platform but it is useless without hardware. Like it or not, people are going to evaluate Android in the context of a total solution, hardware and software. So when people make judgments on whatever hardware platform Android is being shown / demoed on, it is a valid observation.
@30 You forgot one important thing in your pointless rant. Android IS that ass looking interface. For instance, someone takes that Android OS, throws it on the physical iPhone hardware, it’s STILL going to have that garbage interface. Get it yet cupcake?
A reminder for about everyone commenting here:
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
-Steve Jobs
Oh my goodness, it’s effing ugly as hell, was it modelled after Steve Ballmer’s taste?
The phone design look suck!
you forget that the android is an os, not a phone. HTC is making phones designed for the android platform, not a android phone, so you can bet a wad that there will be a phone with a touch interface. If you don’t like any of the phones that htc created, hell you can put the os on razr (if you like those sort of things anyway).