{mosimage}“Google took the world with another surprised toward the make-believe “gPhone” when Google announced developers’ version 0.9 of its mobile OS.”
Following complaints from some developers of making a slow progress, Google on Monday released the first updated version 0.9 of its software developer kit (SDK) for Android phones, as well as a timeline for future releases, an important stride towards the company’s hope for “open” phone technology.Besides fixing “tons of bugs,” the update version includes a “ton” of user interface changes, according to a blog post written by Dan Morrill, developer advocate at Google. It also includes new programs such as an alarm clock, calculator, camera, music player, picture viewer and messaging application.
A number of screens from the newly remade version of Android have popped up all over the Web, though the OS is still lacking in a number of key features, including e-mail, IM, and calendar.
“The beta SDK that we are releasing today is the first giant step on the SDK’s road to compatibility with 1.0.,” Morrill, wrote in a Tuesday blog post.
Google, which is leading the 34-company Open Handset Alliance to create the largely open-source Android software stack for mobile devices, already had released an “early look” SDK in November 2007. With the new beta SDK, though, the company is telling programmers they can get started in earnest creating software that will work on Android phones due to start shipping later this year, though stopping short of promising full compatibility.
“Since this is a beta release, applications developed with it may not quite be compatible with devices running the final Android 1.0. However, the APIs are now pretty stable and we do not expect any major changes,” Morrill said in a blog post.
Further information can be found at the Android Web site.
Among changes in the new SDK are the addition of the phone’s new home screen as well as some new applications for controlling the camera, playing music, setting alarms, viewing pictures, and dealing with SMS and MMS messages.
Android phones, notably HTC’s Dream, are due to ship in the fourth quarter.
The HTC Dream was first rumored for an October release in a leak by The New York Times last week. With its FCC approval now in check; that date could prove to be fairly accurate.
FCC documents indicate the phone — offered via T-Mobile — will boast GSM, GPRS, and EDGE capability along with WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 power. It will function on the 1700 WCDMA band, T-Mobile’s 3G networks. It will also have a “jog ball,” something likely to be similar to the track ball navigation tool found on some other smartphones.
While no official pricing has been announced by T-Mobile, unofficial Web reports suggest the phone could sell in the ballpark of US$400 with a handful of specials during its first weeks of release.
Google had hinted in May that the new Android SDK was imminent, but the company ended up sharing it only with finalists in an Android programming contest until Monday. The Android Developer Challenge is awarding $10 million to coders to try to jump-start development efforts; on Monday, Google said a second challenge will be announced later this year that “will give developers a chance to build polished applications once hardware is available.”
Android will likely improve greatly before HTC and T-Mobile debut the first phones to use Android in October, thanks in no small part to the OS’s openness toward third-party developers. The phone could hit the market before mid-November.
For further details, see Google’s not terribly illuminating Android developer road map, SDK change list, discussion group, and some porting tips for programmers moving their code to the new SDK.