Word on the street is that Google just busted out a live demo of the oft-rumored
HTC Dream doing its
Android-flavored thing at the company's I/O conference in San Francisco. Reports tell us that the device is a roughly 3-inch by 5-inch touchscreen phone with a slider keyboard. Not a lot is known right now, though apparently the device packs an accelerometer which allows you to tilt the unit to scroll across Google Maps or Street View. A video is on the way, so stay tuned for more information (and images) as we get them.
Update: Video after the break!
Read - Android demoed at Google IO
Read - Screenshots: Google's Android comes to life
posted May 28th 2008 1:40PM
OMG yay!
-Taylor
Really for a comment that short, you don't need to type your name after it.
And besides, why would you type it after for any reason, when we can see it atop?
you tease you, video now.
Snap! I've been waiting for this all my life!
Really? All your life? Hmm...>_>
Yes, I just didn't realize it until it all came to fruition ;)
Hoping this doesn't rock my iPhone2 boat too much :)
I am glad I saw this video. I was going to get the 3G iPhone, only because I totally forgot about Android. I am going to wait 'til an Android based phone comes out, than I will make my decision.
@dazepro - plus by that time we will have seen how the whole iPhone 3rd Party app-store is working out too.
To me, the open-factor of Android is important.
Who would have thought I'd see the day when I'd gladly give my money to intel and google but avoid supporting nvidia and apple?
That 'open factor' is paramount. People will realize that eventually.
pins.. meet needles!...now I am just going to climb up here and sit for a bit.
A "phone" which dimensions are 3 x 5 inches?? I guess cargo pants are going to become popular again, eh?
Those sound like good dimensions though, a big phone.
That stupid Apple device that all the kids rave about is: 4.5×2.4×0.46 in
These are ideal dimensions for a beautiful screen and navigation controls. Almost the same size of the iPhone with much more functionality.
And it's thickness that matters...... (no seriously)
Cargo pants are still in style! Even if they weren't extremely sexy, how else would I carry my flashlight/sunglasses/calculator/epi-pen/pliers/knife/multi-tool/phone/keys/wallet/ratchet-screwdriver/tissues!?
@Jake
I think its time to buy a purse buddy.
I don't wear cargo pants and I use an O2 Xda Flame -- 3.6" 4:3 VGA screen, and a just few millimeters shy from 3" x 5".
@ddub
It's not a purse, it's European!
Well, having looked at the video, if that is this 3"x5" screen devise, it looks sweet. I wish they displayed the slide out keyboard too.
looks good - my iphone is bigger -
@Jake
Cargo pants can be sexy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt8n77Fq1E8&feature=related
Hmmm yummy!
@ nebulus
You were waiting for an excuse to post that wernt you.
@nebulus
I think I am now dumber for having watched that...
Everyone was too busy listening to Walt '104 Year Old' Mossberg to realize that i/o started today.
Seriously. Here's to hoping it was a bad visual estimation made at a distance =\
Oh hells yeah. At this rate, by the time my 6800 has been dropped on the pavement for the 20th time and finally stops working I will have a decent option out there for replacement. Between the Raphael and this, I'm really looking forward to HTC's new offerings.
ok, with my own scared and increasingly loathed universal sitting next to me on my desk, that made me laugh - this is finally the answer, after oh so very long to all the desires of those who bought the first (apache/univeral) generation of these phones, and dear good did it take a long time. What is the release date on this damn thing anyway???
oh, and if it ends up like the Omni, no there won't be an end of the earth far enough to protect the HTC folks from our wrath.
I blanked for a moment there reading that title on Engadget.... UNBELIEVABLE.Show us a photo, a drawing... ANYTHING.
For the love of god, please release this year for Verizon. What was Verizon's final opinion on Android?
They hate is but will allow it through door #2. The new open world of Wireless Baby!
http://picasaweb.google.com/pcjjman/GoogleIO2008KeynoteAndroidPhotos
piix leaked live!!!!
And to think I almost dropped a cool $600 for an N95 8gb this week...
This thing is ridiculous.
jsharkey, did Google invite all of the ADC winners to I/O? And do you know if that was just a reference design or the actual HTC Dream?
WANT!!! I will happily switch services to whatever carrier gets this phone. More pics - more vids - for the love of god MORE.
Don't be fooled , yes the feature showed will looks cool but is pretty useless.
hmmm... I disagree. Yes, just having photos of what you are looking at are useless... but imaging those same photos overlaid with a queryable layer with information... point your phone at a building, tap on it, and get all the businesses and phone numbers in that building. Drive by a house, tap on it, and get white pages info and last sale price of the house from domania. Look through your phone to find a pinging geocache. Speedtraps appear as red zones while driving. Tap on a statue of Martin Luther King that you are in front of to get rich data delivered to your phone about him. Point at a restaurant you are driving by and tap it to get reviews and menu.... you get the idea. Imaging city walking tours with rich historical information right at your fingertips.
So the big question is whether or not it will hit the stores before Christmas.
beam me up scottie!
SHAKY CAM IS SHAKY
I really would love to try out android..
I'll keep my windows mobile HTC clamshell, thanks though.
lol enjoy
Showoff!
I'm sticking with my StarTac!
Saw the photos.
Decision: I'm buying it (dropped the iPhone 3G and Raphael out of my calculations. X1 still remains...)
Even though the UI seems non-existent, I think what matters is it's fast, it works, and it could also be "patched" later on.
Yeah! I like the fact that you can "patch/upgrade" Android while other OSs rarely have upgrades.
Psshh, just another iPhone clone.
No, I am not serious.
I didn't see anything about an accelerometer...I hope engadget wasn't talking about the compass used in the video to move in Street View.
Engadget got it all wrong; the accelerometer is going to be in the wiiPhone!
That looks great... just need some specs now on the Dream.
More details will spill out soon, most likely, as google/HTC will want to try to convince iPhone adopters to hold on a few more months (as they will probably do with the Raphael)
More videos and pictures at androidcommunity
http://androidcommunity.com/first-live-images-of-fullscreen-android-demo-20080528/
This isn't the Dream, just an Android prototype. FYI. Keep the Dream alive though.
1) I'm a bit worried... where exactly is the part in the video/article/screenshots that shows the sliding qwerty?????
2) LIVE conference photos are here: http://androidcommunity.com/first-live-images-of-fullscreen-android-demo-20080528/
3) This is not "the Dream", per se. This is obviously a prototype (see the numbers under the screen), so change the title of this article!
4) I withdraw the UI objections. I love it. It is very customizable and I love the "create shortcut" capability and how they move it around the screen.
5) X1 is no longer on the table.
The standing in place and turning around and the Street View follows along is beyond awesome!!!
It's a neat trick but will it really come in handy?
What are the 2 times you're going to use that.
1) When you're already there? If you're already there just put your frickin' phone away and take a look around yourself!
2) When you're somewhere else? I'm sorry, but aside from doing it once for the "wow" factor, I'm not going to stand in the middle of my living room and spin around in circles.
Not dissing your comment. It is pretty neat, but useless for most people.
I know real estate agent will flip for it - they just send the URL to someone, and using Street map on the Gphone, the potential home buyer can "see" the neighborhood. That's the first thing that came to mind.
Would make for good second-life kinda game too, wouldn't it?
Personally I get lost all the time, and it would be great to "pre-visualize" my destination, be able to "look around" before I arrive somewhere.
I am sure there are other cool uses, especially since its all URL based. O imagine the Advertising potential is off the chart.
I'd still rather browse my future neighborhood or pre-visualize my destination (which I do all the time with street view) by pushing around the screen than making myself dizzy.
You have a point on the "real life" game, I'll give you that.
Yeah... imagine the looks you'll get spinning around on a street corner looking at your phone....
That is pretty damn sweet.
I was at the session and the presenter indeed said that there was a compass built into the phone when he showed the street view demo.
sweet - competition, and lower prices *drools*
I'm a die-hard Apple fan but I'd have to say that is totally awesome! Apple is gonna have some catching up to do! I still love my iPhone though ;P
Does ANYONE have even an inkling of when this "prototype device" is going to become available? Android on a non-touch screen is okay, but on a 3G 3" x 5" touch screen - we're talking serious iPhone competitor.
Sounds like everyone's agreed it's gonna be an HTC, but have they said anything about the hardware?
Was going to get my sister a 3G iPhone and take one for myself...but now, now I'm asking "should I wait"? Q3? Q4? 2009?
The hardware is just rumors at this point but I have heard over and over that the HTC device will be out in Q4. I feel they will probably make some kind of official announcement prior to the new iPhone release in order to compel people to wait for it.
After watching the videos I have to say I like this a lot. I'm not familiar with iPhone's interface, but what I hate about normal cellphones is how everything runs off menus, not windows. You often have to backtrack just to get where you want.
This interface reminds me more of a computer--you have a desktop with shortcuts you can customize. And the status bar always being there is a great plus. I wonder if you can "minimize" what you're working on to access what you were just doing?
All in all, this looks like a great idea.
I'd still rather browse my future neighborhood or pre-visualize my destination (which I do all the time with street view) by pushing around the screen than making myself dizzy.
You have a point on the "real life" game, I'll give you that.
OPEN THE KEYBOARD YOU TEASE!!!
That looks very nice.
T-Mobile US: hurry up and release the Android based smartphone.
Yup! If this comes out before, or even shortly after, the E71, I'll probably get this instead.
* linux based, not Symbian
* hopefully it has a side-slide QWERTY keyboard ... or bluetooth HID to be controlled by my N810 ... or can run VNC server so I can control it via VNC
Seems like good things might be happening in the near future :-)
I just saw the Android Web-browser in action....
Forget safari...
Forget Opera Mobile 9.5 .....
Forget everything you've seen....
They double tap and zoom-out with some sort of "magnifying glass" effect that VERY FLUIDLY follows the touch, then zooms into the automatically resized text once released. OH MY GOD.
Brilliant. The video is there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arXolJrLVEg&eurl=http://androidcommunity.com/first-live-images-of-fullscreen-android-demo-20080528/
Also, the UI is fantastic. You can smoothly swipe between 3 screens, 2 of which you can fill with your own shortcuts, and the 3rd has a menu with further downward scrolling... what genius thought of that?
THIS IS MY PHONE.
yeah, I kept wanting to see what kind of keyboard/keypad it has. :-/
Hm. That was supposed to be a reply to KO'M
Engadget should put the amazing 3:40 min UI video instead of that short StreetView video.
Also, as much as I want a keyboard.... with this amazing UI, I really don't care anymore. I just need this phone in my hands.
I've noticed that some posts appear to be permanently tagged "breaking". Could this not lead to long term problems?
OK. I am officially on board with Android. I have been somewhat disinterested so far but now I'm starting to see some of the true potential of this platform. Yay for Google! Yay for us!
I haven't bought a new cell phone in over 5 years. Decided I'll get one later this year. The new iphone looks cool as does the Garmin nuiphone (sp?), and sony x1, but after reading about Android and seeing these videos, I'm getting the HTC with Android no question. So many cool things you can do with it. Have a look. Simply awesome stuff!!
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/android_winners_are_in_goog_
http://www.hometheaternetwork.com/autoHTN.php
http://www.bcrumbz.com/
Since none of the axis were changing i find it hard to believe the accelerometer is used in street view. It is the actual built-in compass being used.
I hope, for Engadget's sake, that they were referring to something else than what we saw in the video. The guy clearly said it was the compass they were using, and it worked just like the compass on a GPS device--just aligns itself to your alignment. I see no indication that there actually is an accelerometer--or any reason why it would need one.
Accelerometer:
Reading Engasdget's description, I think this is not the accelerometer. They say that you 'tilt' to scroll... so tip the phone acorss an axis and the map will change. That is what they say. That makes sense.
What is shown here is different. This a view controlled by the compas. As they state in the video.
I'm pretty sure Google and Apple will add that to the Maps app on the iPhone.
I love my iPhone, but I'm _really_ looking forward to what Android has to bring. The more things I see come out of the dev challenge, and now this, the more I like it.
Hey guys, I just made an Android wallpaper for your computers... check it out:
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/4897/androidwallpaperscreensfo1.jpg
Awesome man! I'm going to use it as my desktop picture!
I cant wait .. you can make this phone do anything thing you want.. i just hope the DREAM does not have a key board i think an on screen habitap keyboard is much more functional and they can use the extra space for other things, another feature i would like to see is a smaller camera facing you or a pivot cam to all for video messaging without flipping to phone plus you can actually see yourself..
all in all i cannot wait .. no more having to fight with WM6 -
i am going to return my centro right now.
like right now. bye.
Ok, how long before it uses the built-in camera and does an overlay so that you get an augmented reality where it can have arrows overlayed and point you in the right direction, have ads pop up "pizza $5 off over here" like microsoft fake demoed in the last CES conference.
Toyotaboy, two guys have already created a real Android app called Enkin to do augmented reality navigation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V6MNp_tWG0
http://www.enkin.net
How cool is that? Imagine this on Android running as a video overlay on your eyeglasses....
"I turn on the compass and now you can see a digital representation of what's in front of your face!" ...
I wonder what other "innovations" they guys will come up with...
Looks like a take off of iphone only it doesn't work very well.He had to flick twice and it isn't multi-touch (probably as apple have patented it so tightly)
All these imitations of iphone end up looking desperate attempts.
Competition is good but so far nothing comes close to iphone.
With version 2.0 on the way apples dominance will emerge.
I like Google a great innovative company but this looks "me too" and comes off second rate.
can you say "prototype"
the (vowel)Phone was not e exactly original. apple just waited in the cut a long time before it released a very slick product.
seems like the same is happening with 'droid.
when apple bites it's called "innovation".
Shoe, welcome to the other foot. (yes, i said this elsewhere and liked it so much I bought here to you loverly people...not original! hah!)
please: talk on you (vowel)Phone,
surf on your (vowel)Phone,
chat on yout (vowel)Phone,
but, please, do not self-pleasure with your (vowel)Phone.
At least not in public.
Wow, just looking at the device and OS makes me really want to trade in my iPhone for this device.
I wanna learn more about this phone as well as keep up-to-date with the latest Android news.
ooh ooh ooh i want that! thank god for the stock market, which raised money for my kick-a**-phone fund. now i just have to decide to get this, Touch Pro, or iPhone v2. Gawsh...i hope its unlocked. im hating t-mobile and my dad says att is no better.
Is there a clean / hack way of installing Android on a Nokia phone?
I'm definitely waiting for this.