Google Phone Software "Android" Strong, But Not Slick At Outset

So now we know that the first GPhone is indeed coming this fall.

Will it be a hit? It's hard to tell much from the supposed spy photos we've seen floating around on the Web, like the one to the right.

But someone who's actually seen the gadget -- similar, if not identical to the one in the photo -- tells us that both the hardware (from handset-maker HTC) and Google's Android software suffer from a similar problem: They're technically powerful but not as elegant as Apple's iPhone and OS X.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[KillTheMessenger]

If the API is open (unlike the iPhone API), I am going to get one.

[situationcritical]

At least they run Linux, not Windoze.

[SwingVoter]

openSUSE does it for me.

[SwingVoter]

The fact it runs on Linux will makes it more customizable, and will give the user more control. Those using Linux know what am talking about.

[KillTheMessenger]

So is the iPhone...

The difference are not the kernels which are very similar. The differences are in the user interface. Since Apple has that nailed down with patents through the vazoo, other players have to limit themselves to less appealing solutions unless they want to be sued.

[Sundialsvc4]

I expect that all of these phones will, in fact, be successful ... and even, in their own way, "slick."

These are not telephones: they are computers. Hand-held computers that are every bit as powerful as a laptop.

Significantly, they run "Unix or Linux." They don't run Windows.

This represents a broad-brush, fundamental shift in the role of a computer ... it ceases to be something that you walk up to, sit down and use ... it becomes something that you carry in the palm of your hand. Furthermore, its fundamental role has changed: it is a portal, not a destination. There's a glut of computer power out there on the Internet, and all of it is at your hand.

Apple can't "own that," and they understand this. They were simply "first," and their product is very, very good. A robust marketplace will arise that will define the next five years of computing.

[stepintothelight]

One of the reasons I appreciate Apple over Microsoft. Apple can see profit in innovation where Microsoft only can see innovation in profit making!!!

Go ahead and argue with me ... I have one word to prove it!!!

Vista!!!

Apple would have never "charged" me to downgrade to a more stable system but then again they would have never released Vista!!!

[JaseAllen]

No but Apple does release a minor upgrade to it's OS every year, hype it as earth shattering, and charge full price for it.