More Android news
Posted by Jacque on August 19th, 2008
Venturebeat (and other sources) state that the Federal Communications Commission has approved the much anticipated Google Android phone, being called the HTC Dream, and documents suggest a release date of Nov. 10 at the latest. Earlier dates have been rumored.
HTC has asked the Commission to grant it a short-term confidentiality request on its design attachments until Nov. 10th, 2008. “Note the Nov. 10 date could be used to confuse people intentionally. The FCC request by Apple for the iPhone, for example, had a longer confidentially request than it really needed (three weeks in that case).”
But Wired Blog network asks, can Google, HTC and T-Mobile really deliver a blockbuster product by then? There is concern by several industry watchers contacted by Wired.com who think it is going to be a challenge. The worst thing Google can do is to rush a “half-baked product,” says Jack Gold, an analyst with J. Gold Associates. Even Google has recently admitted that the operating system is not ready for prime time.
Following FCC approval, Google released an updated Software Development Kit (SDK). TechCrunch states that this release has been long overdue, but now that it is out it may begin to appease many of the mobile app developers who have been frustrated by the general lack of access to the latest SDK. With T-Mobile’s Android phone only two or three months away, it doesn’t give them a lot of time to create jaw-dropping apps.
Some of the new applications in the SDK include an alarm clock, calculator, camera, music player, picture viewer, and Messaging (for SMS/MMS conversations.) New development tools were also added, such as a graphical preview for XML layouts for users of Eclipse, and a tool for constructing 9-patch images. The release is version 0.9, not yet 1.0, and still has some bugs.