The Android SDK is now available! And they are even giving out $10mn in prizes to developers who create some cool mobile applications with Android.
Google’s gPhone plans are shaping up! By the looks of it, Android looks good. I am yet to run my Hello World on it, but the packaging is nice, and the documentation is well done. I think it’s at least better than the iPhone 😉
I am sure there are going to be hundreds of developers who have already jumped on this. I am thinking of what would be a nice application to build for it!!
But I would have loved C# or PHP to program, rather than Java! 😉
Hey, you cant “get” a gPhone! Android is *software*, not hardware!
The demo unit you are showing up there is just a random phone and not a gPhone. 🙂
Never said to “get” a “gPhone” 🙂 I said to get “Android”, and SDK!
And I bet the phones when they come out later next year, will be much different from the emulator bundled with Android! What say?
The SDK being Java is a disappointment for me. However, it seems like an interesting enough platform so perhaps i’ll get around to using it. 🙂
How about porting PHP to it?
Thought about porting PHP, but am thinking about what else could be even more interesting 🙂
And hey James: Let me know what you feel about Android. I am going to think up some ideas for the challenge. I am not sure if I will have enough time to work on them, but may be we can do something together…
An interesting proposition Nirav. Will contact you if i can think of anything 🙂
After a bit of prodding round the Android examples, i’m beginning to get to grip with its ethos.
Something interesting i noted was that Applications are called Activity’s. Which in a way makes sense – on most mobile phones i’ve used, there is no specific mention of Applications.
E.g. to create, edit, or view SMS messages, one simply clicks on the mail icon. Or they can select “Send message” when viewing a contact in the address book, viewing a file in the media browser, or when browsing a web page. They don’t actually have to first think of opening something like Outlook Express in order to send a message.
Similarly with Android one can quite easily make interdependent “applications”, much like could be achieved with COM.
So i think a cool prize winning application needs to exploit this Activity-centric concept.
E.g.
– Crime database browser which overlays information on crimes recently committed near to where the phone is located on a Google Map, whilst also providing occasional alerts in other applications when entering crime hotspots.
– Project management tool which interfaces remotely with, say, BaseCamp. Integration with todo lists, messages, time tracking, etc.
– Crying baby alerter which is triggered when you are using your phone too much (sending too many messages, phone calls, etc), which stops after you take a break.
– Some form of multiplayer augmented reality game overlaid on a Google Map with messaging via XMPP.
~ James
Hey James,
Wonderful ideas. Let’s catch up over email and take things forward. Will drop you an email.
:Nirav