Android 2.0 Release: Google Unveils Its New Platform, Get Details HERE (VIDEO)

Google has officially unveiled the features of its new, highly-anticipated operating system: Android 2.0 (codename "Eclair").

Check out the video below for details on what to expect in the new platform.

InformationWeek calls Android 2.0 "droolworthy."

Gizmodo says, "it's the Android we've been waiting for:"

Seriously, there's all kinds of improvements: Searchable SMS, Exchange support, more in-depth camera controls, a better keyboard with full multitouch, a revamped browser with a better UI and HTML5 support, and it goes on.

Here's a quick overview of some of the new features included in Android 2.0, from InformationWeek:

* Support for multiple Google and Exchange accounts
* Third-party "sync adapters" allow apps to tie in to the phone's sync services
* Quick contact menus for fast access to specific key pieces of contact information
* Unified email inbox
* SMS and MMS search
* Text message auto-delete after a user-defined thread size is reached
* Significantly improved camera controls with white balance, macro, effects, and more
* Improved keyboard layout, dictionary, and algorithm based on multi-touch support
* Double-tap zoom in browser, support for HTML5
* Bluetooth 2.1 support with addition of OPP and PBAP profiles
* "Better" graphics hardware acceleration

Follow people's reactions to the Android 2.0 news on the live Twitter feed below. Check out screenshots of Android 2.0 here.

WATCH:

Comments

[Kumaran Radhakrishnan]

Article sounds interesting about Android

[Valkyrie Ice]

Let me point out a few things that it seems people are missing.

Android OS. Open source = freeware is easy to write, can use freely available modules to make more complex apps = lower cost to develop apps = more apps makers competing = lower prices all around.

Thats one point.

Second point, Google makes a habit off giving things away for free. Any google service from Navigator to Earth to Sketchup will soon be available to use as free apps on any Android system. I.E. your android phone is now your mobile office/PDA­/minilapto­p. Bet you by summer next year there will be cellphones with a lot more ram and processing power that will run popular MMO software. Warcraft everywhere anyone?

Also, Goggle just put most GPS makers out of business with Navigator. A FREE app that does everything TomTom does for 99 a year? one that autoupdates from the web as you set the route so it's maps are up to date?

Once ChromeOS comes out, expect some massive shakeup in the OS market too. I expect Chrome OS will be 100% compatible with Android too.

iPhone is no where near this versatile.

[ccpostman]

It's an open platform which is nice.

The big question of the day... is Google going to PAY people a huge cut like Apple does for Apps???
Apple provides 70% of list price directly to developers, while keeping 30% for itself. This balance keeps developers motivated to write programs, while allowing Apple to achieve better market share.

And is Google going to be open about it, or hide the numbers like they do with Adsense. I still like Apple's transparent democratic system for sharing profits. DO YOU HERE ME GOOGLE ADSENSE PEOPLE!

[hena333]

nice little advertisment for crApple iCrap...

[hena333]

Congratulations Google!

Adios iCrap!

[ccpostman]

Hardly!

[WTSharpe]

The new Barnes & Noble eReader, the "Nook" (scheduled to ship on November 30), calls itself the "first Android™-based eReader."

[Bitsko]

I have absolutely no idea what any of this is about.

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

LOL. I get a little queasy myself.

[socialtalker]

this software will operate the little robots brains of lots of new shiny toys

[boner]

I think this is big news. It's not the phone that's so good. It's the platform. If the iphone was Elvis, the Android are the Beatles. The Droid is just one model using the OS. The platform is limitless, upgradeable, and most importantly, open. I'm stoked. The voice recognition GPS app with street view alone is worth the price of admission.

[boner]

This is the video demo of the GPS. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGXK4jKN_jY

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

It's an open platform so anyone can develop and not have someone like Apple breathing down your neck.

[ccpostman]

Google is more like Buddy Holly.

Crash and bu_rn on lift off!

[Biscuit]

I've had an iPhone for two years and it has done all of that from day 1.

[Travis Slate]

uh, no. it def has not.

[seatech1]

This article is really poorly written. It doesn't even say what platform this OS operates on. I see, after watching the video, that it's for a cellphone. But, it doesn't say what cellphone(s). If you did not know what it was for, you would think that it was a PC operating system.
This is one example of what is wrong with journalism today. Writers don't know how to write. They don't know about answering the basic questions that all newspaper reporters have used for centuries. Journalism has gotten dumbed down to the lowest denominator, and this article is one of the examples of that.
As far as the OS itself, there is not enough info here on which to judge it. It's basically an advertisement (a poorly executed on at that) for a new "thing" which is used with other "things".
Makes me not even trust the mfgr of the product. If they can't even say what it is, effectively, then they probably produce crappy products.

[Travis Slate]

usually a tech article that makes a mention of SMS has to do with phones. i think you need to learn more about technologies in general before you bash someone elses writings.

[Rrhain]

The thing about Android is that it isn't tied to a specific platform. You can use it on mobile phones and that will likely be the most common platform, but there are plans for internet devices that run Android. Yes, you can run a computer with Android.

The problem is not the writer but rather your assumptions. This article is not here to teach you about Android. Your assumption that it should is a failure on your part.

By the way, your false objectivity shows that your post was just kvetching to kvetch.

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

This is where Apple has brainwashed everyone. Android IS the OS. It's an open platform so it can be developed for many different phones. And the apps can be adapted to a phone different from the one it was developed for.

[ccpostman]

This is where Apple has brainwashed everyone"

Really?

Tell that to all the people making THOUSANDS on Iphone app sales. I don't see Google making plans to share any money openly with their phone. Remember that thing called Adsense? Google STILL does not disclose what your cut is. They are WORSE than MICROSOFT. Talk about breaking just a few laws! Obama should go after Google's internet Ad Monopoly NEXT!

[obtusegoose]

I really didn't see anything that astonishing in that video. If you think Apple couldn't add these features to their next OS update, guess again. Plus, Apple has over 200 patents on all of the technology that went into the iPhone. Multi-touch, pinch-and-zoom (and 198 other features) are most likely the property of Apple. I foresee a lot of lawsuits and payoffs to Apple in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, there have been over 2 BILLION software downloads and 85,000 apps on the iPhone/iPod touch platform. Someone has a little bit of catching up to do.

*end snark*

[shishkabob]

Something new: concurrent processing.

Look at http://developer.android.com/intl/en/videos/index.html#v=7lScgyXGxwo

This is pretty cool. We are in a multi-core world, so concurrent programming is needed to take full advantage of this. Scala, Martin Odersky's SCAlable LAngauge, already runs on Android and it is designed to run concurrent processes without the horrors of semaphores and thread locking. There are a lot of Java programmers that just saw the learning curve to mobile development just drop. Android is behind, but it is poised to accelerate.

[Jaywalkker]

"If you think Apple couldn't add these features to their next OS update, guess again."

Then why is it that a competitor added those features and Apple didn't? Isn't apple the one who is redefining cell phones as a lifestyle?

[Biscuit]

Apple thought up all of these. The searchable MMS is the only thing on the list that my iPhone hasn't been able to do for 2 years.

[Chubbster]

I really would be happy if this signals the end of Verizon's totally boring, dreary and crippled hand-set choices.

[SEQUOIABISON]

I think Apple can hear the running footsteps of Google closing in on their territory, just what we consumers need more competition between the ruling tech giants.

[ccpostman]

"running footsteps"

More like a walker with tennis balls on the legs.

LOL

[ccpostman]

More like a walker.

[Politiqo]

Cool name, but looks like an OS that iPhone considered, played with, and abandoned for Google to use. The UI seems passe at best. Google is great at what it does, but with Android, and their upcoming ebook service, they might be way over their head.

[Firestarterfive]

I have a cellphone. It rings.

[WingMann]

Me too. Low-tech will be best when the New World Order co-opts the cellular system.

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

Low-tech? I still have an analog phone line in my apartment.

[Ronnie Ruff]

For those of you that do not know why this is the next big deal -- Andriod is universal, you do not need an iPHONE, you do not need to get apps from the "appstore" or music from iTunes. It will work on any phone , any brand that is designed for the OS. Read Beta (Sony) vs VHS (Everyone else), remember who won that battle?

[mathme]

But beta was definitely better... just sayin ;)

Sony also won the more recent format wars.

[WalkTheTalk]

The beta comparison makes NO sense. If you look at all the smartphone developers, they all have their own worlds. Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Apple etc. Closer to the truth it would be like having TEN tape formats to choose from! Sounds like Ronnie is just bitter..

[Wide Stance]

Agreed. Beta was better.

[WalkTheTalk]

Android will work with Android compatible phones.. so while there is the benefit that Android will not be locked into ONE cellular provider, the interface is not that remarkable. On top of that Android will not be able to maximize user experience WITHOUT requiring some control over the hardware: Without that proviso there is no way to unify the end-user experience.. THAT IS IMPORTANT to Android/Go­ogle/Users­. Which leads us to Apple. Apple PROTECTS the user experience to help customers make the most of their purchase by providing an easy-to-use smartphone experience; thus the App. Store and iTunes. Some may not like this but for many it does help keep the phones and developers in a safer place.

[Jaywalkker]

"Apple PROTECTS the user experience to help customers make the most of their purchase by...thus the App. Store and iTunes."

Wow, just...Wow. So what you're saying is that if Apple was a restaurant and all they offered were pastas, they'd be protecting my eating experience because I don't have the option of a sandwich, steak, or salad?

[rtb61]

That's not really accurate. What makes android far cooler is that it is open source, free and will run on a whole lot more devices than just a mobile phone. Smartbook computers, open media centers, even desktop computers.

[mc-fizzle]

That was supposed to be the idea but its not the case. Right as they announce Android 2.0 in time for the Droid phone to be announced for Verizon today you have like 4-5 other Android sets being released running Android 1.5. There are improvements to the app store in 1.6, new features in 2.0 so if updates are not automatically pushed out you fragment your Android userbase.

Unless the stock versions of each new update can be installed automatically on all Android phones (with the exception of those with inadequate hardware for a new version) the original brilliance of the open mobile OS is kinda lost.

[miles120]

I can't agree with that analysis at all. As much as I like open standards, this war will be won with content, and Apple is a formidable opponent. It's going to take a lot more than an open SDK to topple the iPhone.

That said, I'm thrilled there is a viable platform that will not only challenge the iPhone but every other device out there. I'm still crossing my fingers that one day I will be able to take my mobile apps and data and move them to any device or network I want.

[JustThisGuy]

iPhone is currently the one with the mindshare, but Android has a chance of fighting that, unlike Blackberrys, PalmPhones, and WinCE, all of which fell by the wayside.

[Jaywalkker]

What's funny is that Microsoft went great guns in the 80s/early 90s because of the non-proprietary hardware limitation. So much so that Apple went belly-up in '98 and needed a huge investment stake from M$ to stay afloat. Now with OSX what do we see? Apple is accepting x86 platforms and moved their kernel to Linux which is what? An open SDK.

I'm willing to give Android the benefit of the doubt. I'm also willing to bet from integrative google services, that their linked-in capabilities are going to blow MobileMe away.