Google’s Android platform made its worldwide debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday. Android is a Linux-based mobile phone platform created by Google in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance. This set of tools and libraries is designed as a full-fledged SDK for rapid and full-featured mobile and smartphone applications.
Google Android seeks to fill the niche left behind by Palm’s sad exodus from the mobile OS business, which by many accounts is still a great, user-friendly OS. While Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform has a lot to be desired in the OS department, it is a joy to develop on, especially if one has a working knowledge of Microsoft’s .NET Framework (Windows Mobile uses a diminutive version called the .NET Compact Framework). Of course, programs written for Windows Mobile only run on that OS. Google’s Android hopes to bridge that gap by establishing a set of core functionality that can be accessed and run on any mobile operating system.
With this latest debut, vendors (including TI, Qualcomm, Marvell) showed off their wares using Android . By all accounts, even slow processors were able to run fairly sophisticated applications quickly. As time progresses, I’d be interested in learning more about its security features and licensing.
—Erhan K.
