Android is out and I feel let down, almost embarrassed I hyped it so much
By Stefan Constantinescu on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 4:08 PM PST In Linux
When rumors started coming out that November 5th would be the day, the day on which Google (NSDQ: GOOG) would revolutionize the mobile phone space and reveal their operating system to the world, I started drinking the Mountain View Kool-Aid by the keg. That day came and all we got was the announcement of an alliance of partners and a promise that we will get a sneak peak at Android in a week
Android was unveiled about 4 hours ago and after getting a chance to digest it all I feel underwhelmed. Now I know that the OS is far from final and this release is meant for developers only, but where does the new paradigm of cloud computing come into play? I was expecting a demo of Mobile Documents, Spreadsheets, Presenter, Notebook, synced contacts, basically an OS that integrates all the disjointed web based applications Google has been releasing over these past few years into a device that fits into my pocket.
We get a demo of a status bar and this is supposed to excite? Why not show me three college kids, two with Gphones and one in front of a computer simultaneously collaborating on a document? How about a search bar on the home screen? How about a clone of Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Search 4.0 application, but done in a fashion similar to Spotlight where I can just begin typing instead of having to open a separate search application?
Maybe it is too early and I shouldn’t throw the towel in just yet. Maybe it will be wise to skip the first generation of products, hell it took Nokia 3 editions of S60 before I switched to their smartphone platform.
Is anyone excited by anything they see in Android? Frankly I feel like a jackass for getting all jazzed up over it. The wallpaper is cool though.
Well, if handset makers decide to put decent processors and enough RAM in the Android-based devices – the browser should be enough for managing (and editing) the documents…
Don’t feel bad. We’ve all done the same thing plenty of times. And technically, you’ve done it twice now, don’t forget how jazzed you and I both were about the N81 back in London.
Its a bit of a let down, but i’m still exited to test first devices that come out.
I think Android will prove to become more powerful/capable once the dev community starts doing its thing. The platform seems really robust and flexible enough to really shine with the right software.
Don’t feel bad about getting hyped about Android, man. There’s nothing to feel bad about just yet – like you said, this is a developer announcement. Android’s capabilities haven’t really been showcased just yet.
I personally think that Android’s time to shine has yet to come. I’m a bit disappointed with the way Android handles multi-tasking, but I figure with robust hardware, it should be a great platform! (ie, great user experience combined with powerful productivity)
look at this…
it sounds good to me…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg
Its still early days, give it a chance. Just next time don’t make it sound like the “second coming”. Chill.
I watched the videos about the architecture and two things made me happy:
1. A system for pausing/restarting applications so that not everything active has to suck up RAM at once.
2. A notification hub.
They didn’t talk much about #2, but it’s in the architecture drawings. It’s one of my pet peeves about Symbian. On the Blackberry, if you install, say, an instant messenger program, you set the notification options in the same place where you set ring tones, e-mail/sms alerts, etc. If you create custom profiles, you get custom settings for every installed application which properly uses the notification hub. My Symbian applications have some hodge-podge of notification options with the only constant being that they (usually, but not always) respect whether I’m in a vibrate, full silent, or audible alert mode but otherwise ignore my profiles.
The point is: be excited at this point about the architecture. The cool applications will come, but if the architecture sucks, the system will evolve into a mess.