LG aims for Android handsets by 2009

It looks like Android will have more than just its openness and pretty face to show to the world soon. According to a report from Reuters, LG has officially set a time-table for bringing a Google-powered handset to market (and obviously not the phone above). "We will bring it out late in 2008 or early 2009," said Chang Ma, the company's vice president for marketing strategy. The plan sounds shockingly close to competitor Samsung's scheme for a rollout of the Linux phone in early 2009. Clearly, companies are doing more than just putting pen to paper on the platform -- let's just hope those minor kinks get straightened out before the new year.

[Via Phone Scoop]

[Matt @ Feb 13th 2008 12:39PM]

What again is so impressive about Android?

It doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as I can tell.

[Waitingwith Batedbreath @ Feb 13th 2008 12:47PM]

"No cost" OS for the phone manufacturer.

Totally customized user interface if they want.

A cast of hundreds of thousands of developers falling over themselves to develop for it.

[Dax @ Feb 13th 2008 1:22PM]

Whats impressive is the amount of advertising that will be pushed to your handset! This is Google we are talking about here. They are only in this OS business for one reason.

[Scott @ Feb 13th 2008 2:39PM]

@Dax, do you work for Microsoft or something?

Number of ads seen on Google Maps, Earth, Docs, SketchUp, Reader: ZERO.

[Dax @ Feb 13th 2008 3:02PM]

@Scott

No I definitely do not. Just please explain to me how this OS will be provided to handset manufactures for free? This is Google and they will be making their money SOMEWHERE. Where would that be?

[Nick @ Feb 13th 2008 3:41PM]

@Dax

I swear I came across an add in Google Maps last week. I did a search for Chicago, IL because I wanted to see the traffic congestion for my commute home and something poped up for the Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company. Maybe it was just a glitch.

[Nick @ Feb 13th 2008 3:42PM]

ad*

[Geir E @ Feb 13th 2008 4:15PM]

You know you are talking about an OS from a company that rather well known, and has not only a couple of skilled developers working for them. So even though the OS is in its infants at the moment, in a couple of years time I bet the market will mainly be Android, os x and windows mobile. Not because they are the best choices at the moment maybe, but because they are backed up by the most resourceful companies in the world.

[bob cobb @ Feb 13th 2008 12:41PM]

decent UI, awful looking phone

[Nick @ Feb 13th 2008 3:44PM]

funny i said something similar on the story about Android 2 days ago and was reemed.

[danny @ Feb 13th 2008 5:37PM]

Yeah I hadn't seen a shot of the phone yet when I posted this yesterday. Looks sick though. It's only going to get better by 2009 anyway.

-D
http://www.androidboards.com

[Klaas @ Feb 13th 2008 12:42PM]

Nice osx dock ripoff

[paragraph @ Feb 13th 2008 12:51PM]

...the OSX dock is not an original idea... nor does it mean they have exclusive rights to the concept of a dock...

after all, if you remember your history lessons, apple stole the idea for a Graphical UI for the LISA from a little company called Xerox...

[Teejay @ Feb 13th 2008 1:26PM]

Tell us something we don't know.

[Turgid @ Feb 13th 2008 2:29PM]

Yeah silly, don't you know Apple has never done anything original ever, ever, ever, ever, ever? It's companies like Microsoft forging bravely into the future. Just ask the people in these forums.

[Klaas @ Feb 13th 2008 5:18PM]

Just to make clear, I wasn't talking about the whole concept of 'a dock'. I was talking about the looks (very similar to dock in leopard when 3d glass look is disabled)

[prisoner 01 @ Feb 14th 2008 2:04AM]

sad part is not too many people know what the osx dock looks like so the general public will never know that android stole it from apple :(

:( :( :(




:)

[DP @ Feb 13th 2008 1:03PM]

Take your time.

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 13th 2008 1:09PM]

It's less perfect than Lor.

[Boywithhair @ Feb 13th 2008 1:09PM]

I don't understand why Google wants to make a mobile os when they are already working with apple to port widgets and such to their device...doesn't make sense to me. However, i would like to try it.

[Dugas @ Feb 13th 2008 1:09PM]

What's the hype with android other than GOOGLE is making it?

what does it bring to the table?

Are they gonna use the 700mhz spectrum and give me free phone or internet service?

otherwise i'm opting for the cheaper phone with whatever service gives best reception.

[Scuba Steve @ Feb 13th 2008 1:11PM]

While not as open as some folks claim, Android *is* a linux-based *free* OS with a well-defined API, a ***released SDK***, and a support community. I for one am incredibly excited...and I am already in the process of writing applications for it. iPhone SDK? What did I just hear...crickets? Yeah, they will eventually release it...and it will be closed and proprietary in some annoying way. Access and Windriver missed the boat. Well, they may be on a boat, but it is about to be swamped by the Android tidal wave.

Only time will tell who wins this fight, but I believe that Android will turn out to be the only real contender in the Linux phone space...battling the iPhone for consumers. RIM and WinMob are, IMHO, never going to win over consumers...and consumers (vs. business users) are the most rapidly expending segment of the smart phone market.

[Dugas @ Feb 13th 2008 1:22PM]

that's because plain old cell phones don't do anything but call people...

we all wants gps, email, lasers, rims, and wings on our cell phones.

that way our devices become less like cell phones, and more like... little personal robotic assisstants of doom... that call people.

[Olu O @ Feb 13th 2008 1:30PM]

Android will inevitably fail even though it offers the choice of "fully customizable" because the MAJORITY of cell phone users either don't care enough to make the chances they want to the OS or don't have the knowledge/ability to. People want things that just work right out the box, I don't want to spend countless hours changing this or tweaking that to get the "perfect" experience I want out of a cell phone. There are already thousands of apps for Win Mo/Palm/Symbian phones so the whole "thousands of developers making applications for Android" really doesn't make much of a difference. It'll be the same applications that you can already find on other phone OS's that's going to come out for Android. The only way I could see this making major headway in the cell phone industry is if manufacturers overflood Android cell phones into the market making giving customers little to no option.

[paragraph @ Feb 13th 2008 1:50PM]

Customizability not only offers the end user those perks, but also devs... so really it dosn't matter that the end user can't make new content, there is someone out there who can, and will probably distribute free or cheap... new shell, more features, etc. It's a good idea...

[Scott @ Feb 13th 2008 2:47PM]

I don't know about Symbian, but the vast majority of apps for WinMo and Palm cost money--often times as much as an equivalent "full-blown" desktop app, which is ridiculous. I expect many more completely free apps for this open-ended OS.

[ahinds @ Feb 13th 2008 1:59PM]

Hasn't it been proven, first comes the userbase, then comes the development?

If I can't feel cool for being geeky, then I'd rather just feel cool. Handset in the pic sucks.

Oh yeah, and Sun want's back on top.

[TMM @ Feb 13th 2008 2:27PM]

Haha ... by 2009? No shit?

Well, there's actually companies working on improving the user interface - like Apple for example. And they need another year to release an OS that's already dated.

Wow ... I'm mean, open source is great and all ... but, what the?

I'm so underexcited.

[Phineas J. Whoopie @ Feb 13th 2008 2:36PM]

What is Android? How about:

Wireless transfers of pictures and files, phone to phone or phone to PC. (Are you tired of paying Verizon a monthly fee to transfer stuff off your phone?)

Being able to send your exact location (if you choose) to any friend also running Android regardless of their phone carrier, launching Google Maps on their phone and giving them turn-by-turn directions.

Seamless integration with all Google apps (GMail, Maps, Docs).

WLAN calls with Skype.

Open source, thousands of developers, industry backing by the biggest names.

FREE.

That's just a short list. It's really open to imagination.

There's a major paradigm shift coming in the next 12-18 months that will hit the cell phone industry like a tidal wave. Android is part of that. Verizon, AT&T, and others will have to redefine their revenue stream because all the phony garbage they now charge for will exist in open-OS phones for FREE.

[Chris @ Feb 13th 2008 3:27PM]

I think android will be a big hit, I just can't wait that long to get a new phone. Oh well, there's always next contract.

[Karl Hackswell @ Feb 13th 2008 5:18PM]

I would totally buy this.

[ChrisG @ Feb 13th 2008 5:37PM]

I'm so glad I learned java a few weeks ago now I can make some cool stuff with this.