It’s long been assumed that Google would not be releasing their own phone using the Android platform, but PDAStreet has found evidence to the contrary.
An anonymous source told PBS commentator Robert X. Cringley that Google would be releasing two branded phones: a high-end smartphone and a more traditional mobile phone, both running on the Linux-based Android. According to Cringley’s source, the smartphone will look similar to a BlackBerry, bet featuring a flip-up screen that hides a keyboard. Wi-Fi will be included on both phones, and Google is in talks with Version and T-Mobile about carrying the phones, which Samsung will be building. The smartphone is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year at an unnamed price, and the mobile phone will hit in 2009 for something less than $100.
Google promised, when Android was first announced, that they would not be releasing a branded phone, so this remains very firmly in the rumor category. Still, it is a very interesting rumor, if true.
The PalmInfocenter found that Access has released a Software Development Kit (SDK) and other development tools for their Access Linux Platform.
The SDK features Eclipse-based development tools, the Glade 3 interface editor, a simulator for easier debugging, headers and libraries, full documentation, and quite a bit more. It also includes a Garnet VM Compatibility Kit to test compatibility with Palm’s Garnet OS.
They’re also joining the LiMO Foundation. It’s a good time to like Linux!
The team at PDAStreet has gotten news that Android, the upcoming mobile phone platform from computer powerhouse Google, will be appearing in prototypes by a number of companies at the Mobile World Congress, as will the Linux-based platform called LiMO.
ARM, Qualcomm, NEC, Texas Instruments, Marvell, and others are all planning demonstration phones running Android that will be shown behind closed doors. Samsung, LG, ACCESS and Orange will all be on the side of the Mobile Linux foundation’s LiMO.
There’s been quite a lot of noise about Linux on mobile phones recently, I have to wonder if it’s going to be worth all the hype.
A lot is happening in the realm of Linux-based mobile platforms today.
The LiMo Foundation is planning to launch their Linux-based mobile OS sometime this March, according to IntoMobile. As if that weren’t enough, IntoMobile also found that Google is all set to release a new SDK for Android, which will include a new UI interface, amongst other things.
Between these two and Palm’s upcoming Linux-based OS, it’s certainly a good time to like open source software.
PalmInfocenter found an article on PCMag where the author manages to get a few details on Nova, the new OS from Palm.
Stephanie Maes, director of product management at Palm, said the company is getting back to their roots with “simplicity and elegance.” According to Maes, Palm is still going to be using a Linux-based solution for the OS, but has ditched the Access Linux Platform they said they’d be using last October.
“There were things in that platform that were focused on a different set of customers than what we were looking to do, and there were things in that platform that do not support things we would like to do going forward,” Maes said.
She also mentions some other aspects the OS would be going for, such as unifying the myriad places users store their data.