Google made a wise decision when it decided to release an open source mobile operating system — it has allowed it to quickly infiltrate the smartphone market because of the business model: it’s free and open source like Linux.
Despite this, most of the Android devices on the market today are not really true competitors to the iPhone, due to the immaturity, sluggishness and the availability of apps. But with the release of the latest device, the HTC Nexus One running Android v2.1, Android is finally becoming a threat to the iPhone, which has held its own for almost two years as the most desirable mobile device.
The Nexus One is an extremely slim and sleek touchscreen device that sports a trackball and the obligatory Android keys (back, menu, home, search). It uses a virtual keyboard so it’s much smaller than previous Android phones we have reviewed, such as the flagship G1. In fact, it makes the iPhone look quite bulky by comparison.
Under the hood lies some serious computing power, the likes of which powered our desktop computers less than 10 years ago. The Nexus One is actually more powerful than some of the older computers we are still using today. It packs an astonishingly high 512MB of ram, 1GHz Snapdragon ARM CPU (central processing unit), 4GB of internal storage and a huge screen resolution of 800 x 480. Finally, true multi-touch ability has hit Android devices and the Nexus One can do most of what the iPhone can do in terms of touchscreen gestures: you can pinch to zoom in on a map for instance, or slide a menu up with a simple flick of your finger. It still can’t, however, perform the most advanced iPhone multi-touch functions, such as touching and rotating your hand around to also rotate
the map.
Apple claims half of the great features the Nexus One sports — or 20 of its patents — have been infringed upon, and not just the touchscreen. The list of alleged infringements contains things like “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image,” “List Scrolling and Document Translation, Scaling, and Rotation on a Touch-Screen Display” as well as power-saving patents like “Conserving Power by Reducing Voltage Supplied to an Instruction-Processing Portion of a Processor.” Either way, once the Nexus One is in your hands it’s extremely unlikely Google would issue an update to remove features based on the current legal situation, but it does raise concerns that Apple holds such broad patents that could effectively give it a competitive advantage for years to come.
One of the beautiful things about the Nexus One is its vibrant high-resolution 3.7-inch screen with an extremely bright backlight. The camera is decent, too. It’s a 5.0 mega-pixel camera with autofocus, capable of taking near-perfect shots during the day and not so bad shots at night using a better-than-average LED flash. Video can be recorded at 720 x 480 resolution, the same resolution as that of an ordinary TV and a very rare feature for mobile phone cameras right now. The usual array of features are all included: Bluetooth, WiFi, microSD slot, GPS, mini USB, accelerometer, compass, proximity sensors, and — a real deal-breaker for some — an ordinary-sized headphone socket that can link the Nexus One directly to your sound system or headphones like people have been doing with iPods for years.
Operating the phone feels snappy. The Android operating system doesn’t drag at all like it used to and the 1GHz CPU is really quite powerful. You won’t feel much slow down unless the phone is still booting or performing some synchronization in the background. The Android 2.1 operating system also ships with some new features such as live wallpapers, which are animated backdrops that can react to user input, such as touching the screen or rotating the phone. Google has also incorporated five different “home screens,” a bit like the desktop we have become accustomed to on our PC. This means users can customize multiple screens on their phone. For example, users might choose to place all of their favorite games on the left home screen, which they can access with a flick of their finger. Similarly, they might want to keep live news and weather widgets on the far right screen. The middle screen comes as default with a Google search bar widget and four of the main apps you will use most often: “Phone,” “Contacts,” “Browser,” “Maps.” The search bar widget can be tapped to enter text, or users can click a small microphone image and tell the phone what they want to search for on Google.com — and guess what, it works!
The Android market is booming and the number of applications available for the phones running the operating system grows daily. Android now offers some really awesome apps and games that can be downloaded onto the device by using the “Market” application. The capabilities of the Nexus One are apparent when you see a racing game such as Raging Thunder running beautifully with no dropped frames — the Nexus One is as capable or more than the iPhone as a gaming device. Of course, there aren’t that many top games out on Android yet, but within the next 12 months the market will likely be flooded with them as developers begin to take Android as seriously as the iPhone.
Gareth Murfin is a freelance mobile developer www.garethmurfin.co.uk
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
RSS