Is Google's Android the messiah or another false prophet?
The gPhone was never intended to lure Apple fanboys away from their precious iPhones. To criticise the G1 for not being an iPhone-killer is to miss the point, says Adam Turner.
Android was always going to be less than we hoped for, mostly because it has the weight of the world on its shoulders. We were all hoping Google's Midas touch would deliver the true saviour, something to wash away the sins of all the phones that came before it. Naturally we were disappointed.
The first gPhone, HTC's G1, certainly shows a lot of promise. When you look at the hardware there's a lot to like. The G1 combines HTC's trademark large slide-out QWERTY keyboard with the iPhone's large touchscreen display and virtual keyboard.
Throw in a few physical buttons and the Blackberry Pearl's navigation trackball and you've got yourself an impressive foundation to build on.
The G1 is not trying to be a video iPod
Under the G1's bonnet is a 3 megapixel camera plus a microSD slot - both of which would be more than welcome in the iPhone 3G. There's only 192MB of onboard memory, rather than the iPhone's 8 or 16GB - but the G1 isn't trying to be a video iPod.
The G1 does feature 3G and GPS, features we didn't get from Apple until the Jesusphone's second coming.
Sure it's a little bulkier than Apple's wonderphone, but on paper I'd say the G1 certainly outguns it.
No Exchange for the G1
When you get into the software, it would seem the gPhone shares some of the iPhone's shortcomings. There's no Flash player and no video capture. The G1 supports push email, contacts and calendar with Google services but, unlike the iPhone 3G, the G1 doesn't support Microsoft Exchange.
There's still a lot to like such as cut and paste, one-click access to the Amazon MP3 store and, most importantly, an Apps Store known as Android Marketplace.
Unlike the iPhone, Google isn't dictating rules
The thing to remember about Android is that, unlike with Apple's iPhone, Google isn't dictating the hardware and the software.
We'll see different flavours of Android designed for different hardware from different vendors running on different networks. While Apple works to thwart innovation on the iPhone, the open source Android operating system will let people easily tinker under the bonnet and flesh out the features.
Thankfully the Android Marketplace won't be locked down Apple style, with every application requiring Jobs' Papal blessing. It seems you can run more than one app at the same time, which promises a lot more flexibility than the iPhone.
What about Nokia?
Similar to Nokia's Symbian, Android has the potential to be all things to all men. Finland's favourite son certainly has more to fear from Android than the iPhone, which is why the world's most successful phone maker acquired Symbian and open sourced it. When Nokia starts circling the wagons, you know something big is afoot.
The G1 is not the messiah. It was never intended to lure Apple fanboys away from their precious iPhones. To criticise the G1 for not being an iPhone-killer is to miss the point.
Android hasn't come to beat the iPhone at its own game. Android has come to change the game.
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
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