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34 Weeks of OHA #31

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I’m kinda breaking the rules this week by presenting two OHA members in one profile. By titling this colomn 34 Weeks of OHA, I’m implying that there will be 34 articles, one for each OHA member, over the space of 34 weeks.

I’m deviating from this rule for a few reasons. First, the two companies I’m profiling this week not only fall right next to each other on the alphabet, they’re also similair in that they’re both European, they serve adjacent countries, and they’re both so inherently uninteresting that trying to space them out over two articles would try the patience of everyone involved. Second, I’ve already blown the whole 34 weeks thing by skipping so many weeks that we’re already pushing one year; this is something of an attempt at catching up. Third, it’s my frickin’ article and my freakin’ rules and I’ll break those rules as I see fit; if you don’t like it go get your own article (you’ll probably do a better job at it than I do, anyway.)

Company Name: Telefónica and Telecom Italia

How the OHA site classifies them: Mobile Operators

What the OHA site says about them:

Telefónica – Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world, providing communication, information and entertainment solutions, with presence in Europe, Africa and Latin America and with more than 212 million clients of fixed and mobile services.

Telecom Italia – Supplying 34.3 mobile lines, around 23 million landlines and 7.3 million broadband clients, Telecom Italia is a Italy’s leading ICT enterprise with a significant international presence in Europe and South America. The Group trades through pre-eminent brands Telecom Italia, Alice, TIM, La7, MTV Italia, APCom and Olivetti in fixed-line and mobile telecommunications, Internet and media, office & system solutions.

What they do:

They’re mobile carriers. Thankfully, they’re the last carriers I’ll have to profile for this damned column.

Let’s start with Telefónica. They’re Spanish. In fact, until the opening of the market in 1997 they were the only telecom operator in Spain, which is a pretty cushy gig if you can get it. They still control 75% of the market in Spain.

They’ve spread: the Czech Republic and Slovakia; Italy; their 2006 acquisition of O2 brought them into Germany and the UK; they have a presence throughout Latin and South America. They have even begun penetrating into Africa and China. All this Spanish-Empire-style activity has made them the third-largest telco in the world, helped them do fifty billion Euros worth of sales in 2006, and brought them their share of controversy–monopolistic and allegedly unethical practices have made Telefónica the target of governments the world over.

Telefónica has their fingers I’m all the traditional telco pies: landline, broadband, and, of course, mobile.

Telecom Italia are Italian. They’re the product of the merger of several Italian telecom companies they’re neither ad big or as far-reaching as Telefónica, although they do have a presence in several European and South American countries.

What they bring to OHA and Android:

Penetration. There’s really not that much exciting about either player. They only thing they really bring is reach, further coverage for Android.

There’s nothing wrong with that, it just doesn’t make for a very good article. Sorry.

The one interesting point of note here is that they both have significant penetration into South America, which is kind of always forgotten about. There’s a lot of people down there (at least, that’s what I’m told). Significantly, Google’s Orkut owns the Social space in Brazil, and getting an Android handset into that country would, I’m sure, be a boon for them.

And now, for lack of anything lese to say, I’m going to leave you with a couple of bits from the OHA quotes page.

“Telefónica strives to bring the best of the web to our customers, wherever they are. We are pleased to be a part of the Open Handset Alliance, which we believe will enable new and innovative services to be launched on a robust and open platform. We look forward to delivering customized phones based on this platform for our customers.”
— Adrían García Nevado, Corporate Commercial Director of Telefónica S.A.

“Telecom Italia is already focused on the mobile Internet framework and services and strongly believes that it will be the key successful approach for future revenues. In this scenario the Open Handset Alliance represents an important initiative for Telecom Italia and for all its members to work together and to speed up the development process of a new open OS for mobile Internet services.”
— Riccardo Jelmini, Executive Vice President, VAS Domestic Mobile Services of Telecom Italia

34 Weeks of OHA #30

Guest Blogger
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Company Name: TAT – The Astonishing Tribe AB

How the OHA site classifies them: Commercialization Company

What the OHA site says about them: TAT – The Astonishing Tribe – a specialist in mobile user interfaces, recognized for its design capabilities and for its software solutions that enable richer user experiences on any platform, to date embedded in more than 140 million devices.

What they do: On the about page of The Astinishing Tribe site there’s a side blurb labeled “Our Philosophy”. It reads as follows:

  • Everything is possible; don’t set limits – create visions

  • Projects should be fun, as passion creates quality

  • Seeing is believing

  • A structured workflow improves creativity

Dude, I want to work for that company. “Projects should be fun” — there are a couple of System Analyst arseholes around my place of employment who need that lesson learned ’em.

The Astonishing Tribe are Swedish mobile interface specialists, and apparently they’re cool. Probably has something to do with being artistic. I always wanted to be artistic; instead I ended up snide and cynical. As per Wikipedia, they got their start working in TV commercials, film post production, animation, and the compression of images for embedded systems. There’s actually, according to IMDB, a 1996 film called “The Atonishing Tribe” directed by one Paul Blomdahl, who along with a number of other people with insanely Scandinavian-sounding names are the founders of the company.

The History information on the TAT website proclaims

The six founders successfully competed as a team on the Nordic demo scene in the 90s, where the challenge was to create beautiful and advanced visual experiences in limited time on a limited hardware platform

The group took this experience and identified the burgeoning mobile industry, which was just starting to offer colour LCD screens, as the perfect place to make practical money from their artistic experience.

A few years, over a hundred employees, and over a hundred million devices later, TAT got involved in the OHA.

What they bring to OHA and Android: Go check out this youtube video for a fast glimpse at what TAT brings to the table. It’s a concept for an unlocking mechanism, running on a HTC Touch Diamond, which takes the “unlocking” concept perhaps a little too literally, but is nonetheless both fun and creative.

Then go check out some of the goodness for offer on their Conceptlab page, on which they demo some ideas. Coolness all around. That bit with the picture-in-picture video settings? Or the concept of media files as items laid out on a table over which the viewer is slowly flying, and can pick up items for review? These ideas are hella cool and, get ready for the buzzword, intuitive. Also, they make anything the fruit-branded phone has to offer pale in comparison.

Androidguys interviewed Hampus Jakobsson of TAT back in April, and he had this to say about exactly what they do:

Our main work is licensing a UI-engine that allows a complete customization of the user interface – you can build all the concepts you see on our web page.

It’s reasonable to assume that some version of variation of this UI framework is in Android. TAT has probably also contributed to the specific UI design; ideas like the slide out “drawer” and fully customizeable home screen obviously bear conceptual relationships to some of the work for display on the Tribe’s site. Walt Mossberg and Paul Miller of Engadget have both taken the opportunity comment favourably on these aspects of the Android interface, and I bet that it’s TAT that we have to thank for much of the feel and function they’re praising.

So when you have your shiny new G1 in hand and you’re tripping on the UI, take a moment and give a thought to these artsy-fartsy Scandinavians and what they’ve brought to Android.

Getting Ready for the T-Mobile G1

AndroidGuys
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With just over a week before the T-Mobile G1 drops, there are a few things you might want to do to make your Android experience just a little bit sweeter. These things relate directly to your Google Account, which your G1 will connect with. When you first turn on your phone, you will be asked to enter your Google email address and password. The phone will then connect to your Gmail Account, your Google Contacts, your Google Calendar, and Google Talk.

(If you are one of the seven people without a Google Account, you can get one by signing up for Gmail. The same username and password is used for all of Google’s services.)

Update your Gmail Contacts

Your phone’s address book with sync with your Google Contacts. Your Google Contacts can be found within the Address Book of Gmail. Click “Contacts” on the left side, right above the chat window. Many of your frequent email contacts will already be listed, but you can add anyone you would like. Enter their phone numbers, addresses, and any other information you would like.

In Google Contacts, you can create groups, and assign a contact to one or more groups. You can configure your G1 to only sync some of your contact groups, so think a minute about which groups might be useful. Work, Family, and Friends groups may be in order, but remember that contacts can be in more then one group. My wife will be creating a Babysitting group that contains contacts already in Family, Friends, and others that might be willing to babysit the kids. Finding a babysitter just got a little easier: She pulls up the Babysitting group on the G1, and calls down the list until she finds a willing sitter.

Prep your Gmail Account

Gmail allows messages to be ‘Labeled’ for easier management. Labels function like tags, and filters can be set up to automatically apply labels to new mail. Your G1 can be configured to only sync mail with specific labels, allowing you to only get notified of the ‘urgent’ email and skipping all the rest. Consider the mail you get regularly, and consider setting up some filters to auto-label new email. Doing so can reduce the unwanted email alerts on your phone.

While there is a regular POP/IMAP mail client on the G1, your Gmail messages are ‘pushed’ to your phone, allowing you to be notified much more quickly. Gmail can be configured to pull mail from other accounts, or you can configure your other accounts to be forwarded to Gmail if you want faster access to your new messages.

Get familiar with Google Calendar

The G1 calendar will also sync with Google Calendar. This very capable web application has the awesome ability to have multiple calendars and sharing of calendars with others. My wife and I each have our own, and we also have a shared calendar for Family events. We both have edit rights, and can update it whenever we change our plans.

The G1 will not only work with your personal calendar, but shared calendars as well. You will be able to make the same changes as you do online, but from anywhere.

If you do not currently use Google Calendar, I recommend giving it a try. Enter repeating events for all the regular events in your life, and then add others as they come up. Entering extra information, such as the address of an appointment, will allow getting easy driving directions right from your phone’s calendar.

Get familiar with Google Talk

Google Talk is Google’s Jabber based chat program. It plays nice with Gmail, and it’s Jabberness allows you to be signed in from multiple computers at once. This nice feature will allow you to get your IMs on your desktop computer, then quickly switch to your phone and back without getting kicked off the system at your computer.

The G1 does contain chat clients for Yahoo, MSN, and other chat networks, but other networks will kick you off your computer if you log in from somewhere else. The G1’s address book will also identify which of your address book contacts is currently online, allowing a quick chat instead of a phone call.
While not as popular as other IM systems, Google Talk is fast, clean, cross platform, and nice to use. Give it a try, and you might consider a switch after your G1 arrives.

Keep an eye on AndroidGuys.com

In these next few days, there will likely be quite a few announcements concerning the Android Marketplace, Android Apps, and more product reviews. Keep your eyes here, and we’ll keep you updated! If you were one of the lucky ones to get an order in during the first 4 days of preorder, keep an eye on your doorstep as well.

Will We Soon Forget About Android? Hardly

AndroidGuys
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I’d like to subtitle this post as “Why we’ll all soon forget about Chris O’Brien’s rants“

Another day, and another senseless jab towards Android.  When will these bloggers not force us to take up the gauntlet? This time around it’s one Chris O’Brien, of Mercury News who is taking swipes at Android and the Big G with quite a few claims.

O’Brien believes we will all forget about Android.  Tell that to the 1.5million people who have already preordered a G1 and the others who are waiting to get hold of the device once its fully launched,  why don’t you?  For a device deemed “clunky”, those are rather compelling numbers.  Android plays a huge part in Google’s mobile future and, rest assured, it won’t just fade away and die.

“First, it starts off way down the list of operating systems for smart-phones. At the top of the heap are BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, the iPhone and Symbian. This last one is produced by a consortium of the largest cell phone manufacturers in the world, including Ericsson and Nokia.”

Well duh.  It’s brand spankin’ new – where else should it start? Did the iPhone came out holding the number 1 spot? What say you about Windows Mobile? Did it came out reigning at number 1? Android begins at the bottom pile and will rise to the top.

Yes, you say, but this is Google. To which I say: Yes, but this is Google.

The company has been churning out countless initiatives in every direction, but they seem to have no coordination. A year ago, it launched the Open Social initiative to counter Facebook. Heard anything about that lately?

And to that I say sure this is Google, the same Google that turned a lot of people into bloggers with it’s free blogging service “Blogger”.  It’s the same Google that created Gmail which has blown up to become almost ubiquitous.  The Google that will do the same for Android… with the help of the OHA of course.

Why, exactly, is Google doing this? There appears to be no revenue model around Android. There’s no requirement that an Android phone use Google search.

They are doing it for the sake of world peace and the economy. A dumb question deserves a dumb answer I guess, I mean even a caveman could figure that out.

The last problem is a big one. To be competitive, Android must attract developers. Smart-phones, whether the BlackBerry or the iPhone, are increasingly going to be defined by the applications that third parties build to run on them.

On the surface, Android has an appealing pitch: It’s open-source, so anyone can develop any application for these phones.

Sounds great in theory. But many of the widgets I’ve seen built for Open Social are fairly useless. And remember what happened to Facebook when it threw open its platform last year? Developers rushed in with a lot of trivial junk.

Riiight.  I guess if Android were proprietary and locked down every application then they’d be God like, yes? The iPhone’s App Store is filled with junk among the few that is actually worth while.  No matter what you do, it’s difficult to get rid of crap applications (craplication).  So what’s his point then? I still don’t get the worthless ranting.

I had to laugh when i read what this guy had to say.  He is writing about something he has no true knowledge about. Over his head, if you ask me.  Best you leave the Android writing to us AndroidGuys.

34 Weeks of OHA #29

Guest Blogger
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Company Name: T-Mobile

How the OHA site classifies them: Mobile Operator

What the OHA site says about them: Serving more than 112 million mobile customers in Europe and the U.S., T-Mobile is one of the world’s leading companies in mobile communications, and the mobile telecommunications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG.

What they do: The T stands for “Teutonic”.

No, that’s not right. The T stands for “Telekom”, which is like “Telecom” but much more Teutonic. The Mobile stands for “Mobile” which is exactly like “Mobile”. T-Mobile is the Teutonic Mobile Telecom company. This means they’re German, so they probably have a higher standard of loving than you and are generally more efficient.

They’re a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications company in the EU. Interestingly, the “eu” in Deutsche is pronoiunced “oi”, the “eu” in Teutonic is pronounced “ü”, and the “eu” in EU is pronounced “Ee-you”. I know, I know… this stuff is hard to keep track of; that’s why I’m here.

According to Wikipedia, T-Mobile is actually a group of subsidiaries offering mobile networks, both GSM and UMTS, all over Europe and the US. Over 100 million customers, 36 million of them in Germany, makes it the 3rd largest mobile conglomerate in the world, and the 30 million US customers makes it the 4th largest provider in America. T-Mobile USA was previously known as VoiceStream Wireless, and was acquired by Deutshe Telekom in 2001 for $50 billion.

T-Mobile has a trademark on the colour Magenta. Seriously. That’s why I was forced to surrender my pants.

What they bring to OHA and Android:

They brought us the G1. Well, not just them…

The buzz started a few months ago: T-Mobile would be the first to release an Android phone. As time went on, more and more rumours surfaced that seemed to confirm the fact.

The announcement came, as I’m sure you know, just last week. The T-Mobile G1 with Google, built by HTC (the “Dream”), will be released in the US on Oct 22. In an attempt to equal Apples’ media blitz savvy, a press conference was put together featuring luminaries from the three companies directly involved: Google, HTC, and T-Mobile. Attendees were given the chance to play with the new device. The event and the announcement became the biggest bit of tech news so far this season. For anybody who’s been following Android since the OHA announcement last November, it was all leading up to this specific moment. And it delivered — I haven’t felt gadget lust this bad since Tickle-Me Elmo.

But why T-Mobile? I mean, obviously someone had to be the first carrier out of the gate. Why not Sprint, or DoCoMo? I think there are two main reasons:

First is the fact that T-Mobile has international coverage that none of the other network operators in the OHA can claim. Its user base spread across a dozen countries gives Android a penetration and distribution infrastructure no other OHA member could provide.

Second, the history of collaberation between HTC and T-Mobile must have helped. This isn’t the first HTC phone T-Mobile has released (Mogul, Dash, etc.) HTC and T-Mobile are friends.

This platform – the “Dream”, also known as the “hardware reference device” — has been floating around the Android offices for quite some time now. Just recently we discovered that HTC and Google have been discussing this collaberation for some five years, and working properly on it for three. When it came time for the two of them to choose the thrid member of their triumvirate it seems natural that they go for the partner with an international presence and with whom at least one of them has an established working relationship.

Besides, if you want a release like this to go well, what it really needs is a little German engineering.

My Impression of the G1 So Far

AndroidGuys
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My views on the G1 are both filled with excitement and disappointment based on what I have seen on the webcast and what I have gathered across the internet. The first Android mobile phone seems to have the potential to be a runaway hit after its September 23rd launch and rightfully so it should.

The G1 with Android as the driver is a match made in heaven – that 3.7 inch screen is the center piece of the hardware; nothing beats a phone with a good screen.

What Is Hot

The OS: No doubt the Android operating system will be the selling point of the G1. Even with that huge flaw which is the lack of Bluetooth transfer. Speaking of, that has me wondering what was going on at the GooglePlex during development. Being open source and Linux at that, competing platforms are kinda like getting a double whammy punch.

Input Options: Finally a true, touchy feely phone that is not limited to finger play on the screen. The trackball and Qwerty keyboard is a welcome addition. There’s not really a complaint of “too many input options.” Most of us have our preferred method and a lot of you love the touch, but there are tons of people out there who would rather not use a touch screen for high tempo texting.

GMaps Streetview: Streetview on the G1 appears to be even better than its bigger brother on the desktop; the 360 compass just takes things to another level. On a truthful note by the way, Streetview is just a toy to me, merely a fun way to show off to friends because I can get to my destination quite easy with Google Maps without the help of Streetview.

WiFi/3G: What is a Smartphone these days without WiFi and 3G connectivity features? That’s right, a Dud with a capital D. The G1 has these locked, loaded and patiently waiting to blow.

Last But Not Least: Again I love the huge screen. Seeing the phone in use sideways had my adrenaline rushing and I felt an overwhelming sense of desire to get my hands on a G1. I swear, if I was at the conference and got the chance to play with one I would have ran off somewhere never to be seen again.

What Is Bad

Looks Are Off: The G1 is no looker.

No BT Transfer: Although I and everyone else following closely knew that it was not going to make the Android 1.0 release, I’m still bummed. Here’s hoping that Android 1.5 or 2.0 is right around the corner.

No 3.55mm Jack: I’m so disappointed by this that if I go on about it I might catch a fit

No Flash Support: Why oh why does the G1 launch without Flash support? Whose fault is it? Granted, it’s not terribly important on the mobile web at this time of writing, that’s not to say it won’t ever be. I am hoping Adobe releases an Android version soon.

Those are just a few of the pros and cons I see so far with the G1. Obviously you guys will have your own feelings so lets discuss it in the comment area. I hope other members from the OHA will do better on the hardware front. Samsung where you at? Nevertheless, because the G1 is running Android that is reason enough for you to get one. Combining the fact that it’s open source with the growing developer community, I foresee that like any Google online service it will get better to near perfection.

If you are new to anything Android, well ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Android show and look out for our formal hands on reviews.

34 Weeks of OHA #28

Guest Blogger
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Company Name: Synaptics, Inc.

How the OHA site classifies them: Semiconductor Company

What the OHA site says about them: Synaptics, Inc., providing easy-to-use interface solutions for mobile phones, personal media players, notebooks and PC peripherals, supplies a variety of user input solutions for mobile devices that make accessing digital content easy and fun.

What they do: They’re the touchpad folks. Got a laptop? Does it have a touchpad? Betcha Synaptics built it. They own more than 50% of the laptop market worldwide, and almost 100% of the US market.

I dare you to name another touchpad company. Go ahead. Try it. Okay, I’ll give you a hand: the other major manufacturers are Alps and Cirque. I had an Alps touchpad once. It sucked. It was kinda like a shark’s skin in that it would slice your finger right open if you rubbed it the wrong way.

Synaptics does more than just your straight-up rectangular laptop touchpad. They do ’em Round and Glowy and stuff. They do ’em with bumps and ridges and ribs for your pleasure. They’ll also put their touchpads in pretty much whatever device you want: iPods, UMPCs, etc. They’ve taken the touchpad concept beyond mouse emulation to drive those touch-sensitive illuminated strips many laptops are now sporting, often used for media control. They do proximity sensors. And, they do clear capacitive touchpads, or as we in the mobile world like to think of them, touchscreens.

What they bring to OHA and Android: From their press release of Nov. 12 announcing their invovlement in the OHA:

Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of capacitive-based human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications and entertainment devices, today announced that it is providing the software driver to enable touch interfaces for the Androidâ„¢ software development kit (SDK).

Not very exciting is it? Synaptic makes touchpads. Android needs to run touchpads. Synaptics makes drivers for Android. Everyone’s happy. There’s really not much to see here.

I’ll offer the obligatory quote from the OHA quotes page. In this case, it comes from Synaptics’ President and CEO, Francis Lee:

Synaptics is proud to be a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance. Our contribution to the Android platform will help bring dynamic touch UIs to everyone in the mobile market. By creating an open environment conducive to collaboration and partnering, the Alliance will allow key influencers to deliver innovative devices and services to meet the needs of the fast-changing mobile industry

Blah-blah.

There are no game-changing innovations gonna come outta this inclsion in the OHA. Synaptic doesn’t really seem to be bringing anyting new to the table. They just provide some drivers, get some face time out of the OHA inclusion, and get to be the first-choice touchpad provider on any new Android phone produced. Good for them.

And, honestly, probably good for Android. Synaptic is in the position they’re in because they make good stuff. Their touchpads are reliable, functional, and their ubiquity ensures that they always just work. That kind of no-brainer tech is something that a cross-platform OS like Android needs.

Andy Rubin Talks Future of Mobile

Scott Webster
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Andy Rubin stopped by the Official Google Blog the other day to discuss the future of mobile.  Where will it be and how will it help us? It’s a great read – short and very optimistic!  What kind of things does Andy see for us in the next few years?

Be it everyday things like traffic, sports or weather or more specific things like where to go for the best prices on fish, Andy sees the future. I’d love to spend a half hour with the guy and just pick his brain. What has he already seen and just what does he have in store for the mobile world? It’s obvious that the guy has “big picture” in mind when it comes to everything he does. I’m not the first person who has to think he belongs on the same list as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

…it will be easy for developers to create or improve applications and content… Let’s say you have a piece of software on your phone to improve power management (and therefore battery life)… The update gets automatically installed on your phone, without you lifting a finger. Your phone actually gets better over time.

Android is Your Buddy

Scott Webster
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Last month, our friend Phineas JW published a well-received article on AndroidGuys about Google’s (Not So) Secret Strategy. I loved the article, but couldn’t help being a little disappointed towards the end.

I expected to read about more than just a Killer App from Enkin which would wrap together Google’s Maps, Street View and Google’s enormous database of local information, along with an Android phone’s GPS system, into an extremely awesome navigation package.

Don’t get me wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed Google’s maps saga so far. When they first introduced Google Maps, its Ajaxy goodness seemed like a great alternative to Mapquest. But each incremental feature and step they have taken with Maps and Earth has been awesome and shown that their ambition is beyond just a map application with a great interface. It points to how they are turning Maps-Earth into the heart of a different type of search engine. An engine which can give you every type of available information (both factual and social) about any location on Earth.

It’s the same with Google’s Android. It’s not just about a phone. It’s not even about a “live view” type of Killer App. They are going to turn it into the heart of mobile computing and mobile living like never seen before. Why do you think it is called Android (meaning a gender-ambiguous automaton or robot)? What type of name is that for a phone OS? Could it be that they envision the OS and the handheld it’s on to eventually morph into a type of personal valet-secretary-buddy device that accompanies you everywhere? What would that futuristic device do? Would it be a single device which would function as your phone-computer-camera-media-player-modem-wallet-credit-card-ID-card-photo-album-navigator-calendar-diary-scheduler-translator-remote-control-and-whatever-the-heck-else-you-can-think-of?

Given below are some of the ways in which an Android device (note that I’m not calling it a phone) could become your all-in-one valet-secretary-buddy:

A Universal Phone
The key word here is ‘Universal’. With advances in VoIP technologies, you should be able to use a single phone everywhere you go – home, office, travel. This is already a reality for most people. But the real cool thing about a universal phone would be that it would also facilitate IM and voice chat over all types of networks – Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN, Skype, etc. – at unbelievably cheap or no cost, from any place to any other place in the world. Further, you would no longer need a number to identify your phone. Phone numbers will be passe. People will call you using your preferred email address or chat ID. In fact, they can call you using multiple email addresses or chat IDs, if you so choose. A combination of Google’s Talk and Grand Central application, combined with inter-operability with other IM systems and telephone networks could easily put this functionality on your Android device for FREE! Carriers and long-distance telephone call providers will no longer be able to survive on revenues from voice calls alone.

A Wallet
What are the things you keep in your wallet? Money and credit cards. As I write this, there are many organizations, including big banks and small software shops, which are trying to come up with an easy, efficient way for people to use their cell phones to pay businesses as well as pay each other. The other thing we keep in our wallets are different types of cards – driver’s license, club membership cards, library cards, etc. It is not a big deal to digitize these cards and display them on the a handheld screen. The real challenge is in ensuring that the displayed information is authentic and accurate. This can be achieved by a system of exchanging encrypted authentication keys between the handheld and a verification device that would be used by the police, your club or library. What else? Photos? We can already display photos on phones. Keeping prints of photos in wallets is fast going out of fashion. By the time banks and different agencies agree on standards for payments and displaying identification information (like driver’s license, club membership, etc.) on a handheld, you can bet that your Android device would have been long ready to take on that functionality.

A Universal Modem
Once again, the key word here is universal. We are already familiar with people using the phone as a tethered modem for a single computer. With increasing transmission speeds and bandwidth, it won’t be long before we will be able to use an Android device as a modem for multiple computers at home, for the TV, and for any other device you want to connect to the network.

A Universal Media Player
This one’s already been done. Your Android phone can already play music and videos on itself. The day is fast approaching when you will be able to stream the same music and video to any device – your home theatre system, your car audio system, etc. And you will be able to do that in HD, no less.

A Universal Remote
This is another area where research and development is happening at a feverish pace in big companies as well as in small setups working out of a garage. The idea is a single soft remote control, which can be programmed to work with any device in the house, including your TV, music system, video player, computer, home lighting, home security, garage door opener… may be even the lock of your front door!

A Personal Computer

As more and more computing shifts to the cloud, and as your handheld device acquires greater on-board processing power and memory capacity, you won’t need a separate computer, other than the phone-shaped thing you hold in your hand. All you need to do is place it in a docking station, and you will be interacting with it using a full-size screen, keyboard and mouse. It will have all the functionality you would expect in a regular desktop or laptop computer. The lifestyle and productivity apps which are possible when you can carry around a full-powered computer in your pocket are only limited by the imagination.

Conclusion

These are just a few of things I could think of that an Android-powered device will be able to do in the not too distant future. There are no doubt countless other awesome possibilities we can’t imagine yet. The Official Google Blog had a piece yesterday in which they presented more possibilities in the future of mobile. In fact, Google pretty much confirmed my “valet-secretary-buddy theory” of Android saying, “Your phone is like your trusted valet”!

The technology needed to do all of the above is either already here or will be here shortly (in the next 1 – 3 years). In fact, the main bottleneck that is keeping all this awesome goodness from reaching your hands is the lack of universally accepted standards among multiple vendors and service providers. Patents and lack of standards is turning out to be a real stone-weight keeping technology from leaping forward as fast as it actually could. But that is a subject for a different post.

Tailpiece
Here’s something that may be of interest to you. Another version of this article was published on my personal blog a long time ago in Oct 2005. That was long before any of us had heard rumors of an iPhone or a gPhone. At that time, I had envisioned Google creating a device called Google Buddy and described it in a ‘Notes from the future’ article, which was supposed to have been written in the future. A couple of friends who liked the idea commented that I remove the Google name from the article and call the device simply a Buddy. So, I removed all references to Google from the original article, but you call still see the comments from my friends. I never thought my idle dreaming about a super-convergent Buddy device would be turning into reality so soon, and that it would come from Google’s initiatives just as I had envisioned. May be I should take a part -time job as a psychic! 😉

Beyond the G1: What’s Next for Android?

Scott Webster
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In a few days, all of the hype and speculation will come to a head. Come next Wednesday, the world will have had its first official look at what Android will do for them in their daily lives  We’ll see what it is that has had HTC, Google, and T-Mobile keeping late nights these last few months. So what’s next?

Usually, the popular thing to do is to pick apart the current handset and find weaknesses and missing features. We’re probably going to hear things about T-Mobile’s 3G network and how much of Android’s experience hinges upon it. I’m sure we’ll also hear about the lack of applications available when contrasted to the App Store from Apple. And among all the other stuff, we’ll be reading about the internally memory when compared to the iPhone. Sure, an expansion card is nice, but what about 8GB,16GB ,or 32GB built in? After all, if these things are going to replace our laptops and desktops some day, then why can’t we have hard drive space that we know 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 out the door. Smart money says to look at Sprint for this one. It’s highly unlikely that T-Mobile has a second model ready to go so quickly. Yes, we know that T-Mobile owns the domain name rights to what looks to be calling for the G2 through G5, but we don’t know anything beyond that. It could be that a G2 ends up being a flip phone and a G3 is an all touch model. Time will tell.

It’s hard to believe that a non-OHA member will end up with the second Android handset, so we could safely assume that Verizon and AT&T will be after Sprint, if at all. If I had to guess, I’d say that either HTC or Samsung will be the first Sprint phones to run the operating system. Motorola and LG are committed to the cause as well, so don’t be surprised if we have something from them by the end of Q1 ’09 either.

By this time next year, we could have 8-10 handsets with Android, possibly on all major carriers. Who knows how easy it will be to unlock the G1 handset? If it’s as easy as they make it for the iPhone, you’ll see the G1 on AT&T and in Europe by the end of October. Let’s not forget that Android is only being released in its 1.0 version, too. Perhaps the API’s for Bluetooth and Gtalk get hammered out in the next few months and 2.0 is found to be the perfect OS for all the world!

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