In a few days, all of the hype and speculation will come to a head. The world will have had its first official look at what Android can do in daily life. We’ll see what has had HTC, Google, and T-Mobile keeping late nights for the past several months. So what’s next?
Usually, the popular thing to do is pick apart the current handset and find weaknesses and missing features. We’re probably going to hear about T-Mobile’s 3G network and how much of the Android experience depends on it. No doubt we’ll also hear about the lack of applications compared to Apple’s App Store, and about internal memory when stacked up against the iPhone. Sure, an expansion card is nice, but what about 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB built in? If these devices are eventually going to replace our laptops and desktops, why can’t they match what already exists on other devices?
One of the things that makes Android so appealing is that within a few months, or even weeks, we’ll have the next Android handset ready to roll. Smart money at the time pointed to Sprint for that second device. It was highly unlikely that T-Mobile would have a second model ready so quickly, even though they had registered domain names suggesting a G2 through G5 lineup. A G2 could end up being a flip phone, a G3 an all-touch model. Time would tell.
It was hard to imagine a non-OHA member landing the second Android handset, which meant Verizon and AT&T would likely come after Sprint, if at all. HTC or Samsung seemed like the most probable first Sprint Android devices, with Motorola and LG also committed to the cause.
By late 2009, there could be eight to ten Android handsets across all major carriers. And Android 1.0 was just the beginning. With Bluetooth and Google Talk APIs still being worked out, a 2.0 release was already on the horizon.
