The verdict is still out on whether
what we've been seeing is indeed some precursor to Android 2.0 "Donut," or (more likely) some elaborate HTC skin designed bring HTC's Android home screen experience up to par with its extensive Windows Mobile reskinning. Either way, things are shaping up quite nicely for the HTC Hero, with another leaked build showing widget functionality galore, including weather widgets that
actually show the weather. Interestingly, this isn't a complete replacement for the existing home screen, since in the add widget dialogue you can pick an HTC Gadget, a Google Gadget, or other regular things like Shortcuts, and most everything seems to cohabitate well in the example video. With the rate these leaks are coming, we're guessing we'll be hearing more about the HTC Hero before too long, and if not we've always got the nouveau cocktail jazz electro crossover stylings of Air to keep us calm. Video is after the break.
[Via
Android Guys]
posted May 19th 2009 10:37AM
nice !!!is like touch flow 3D for android
Eat me! I'm a Hero.
Yeah, the new iPhone will certainly do that. In one small bite.
Yeah, it's cute-looking. Pffft.
I low ranked you for your dumb iPhone comment.
That's a widget dystopia. It says 12:30PM in digital, instantly readable format at the top of the phone. I don't know why we need an analog clock too. Analog clocks are a great accent to furniture or to add style to a room ... but when they're sitting on the dashboard of your mobile phone, they're just redundant.
Especially when they're like 2 hours and 20 minutes slower.
Also -- I'm glad to see that an Android press photo has finally broken free of the same freaking dashboard/background that we've seen for every Android device (real or fake) over the last year. I don't know if that glassy-smoke BG is really very useable or better, but it's nice to see an android dash looking different.
It's just a widget, you don't need to use it if you don't want to.
I don't understand why people complain that much about a simple clock that can be turned on or off.
perhaps he just doesn't understand that the clock was displaying a different time zone...
@Brazell: Two things: first, the analog clock displays 10h10m30s because that is the the classic way to shoot analog clocks. You can look at any marketing picture of analog clocks that you'll see that that's always the time. The hour and minute hands make a figure similar to a smile, that makes it very pleasing to the eye, and the most elegant way to display them on a photograph.
Second, many people, like myself, prefer analog clocks because they actually are better way to find the information we want out of them. No one needs to know what time IT IS (except to answer the question "What time is it?"), we look at clocks to know how much time is left until something else, and we get that information instantly and visually on a analog clock. With a digital clock, you need to make the math on your head.
It's a nice potion for those who like to customize and freshen up their home screen a lot. I actually agree with you, but often find myself bringing the ole analog back out whenever I have a new theme because it pleases visually. One thing the clock is great for is getting the feel of your current theme or design feel over to the viewer quickly. Great for vids etc..
That being said this is a really exciting video for android. hands down the best phone UI I have seen when you include those widgets. Hopefully I can get my hands on this soon, or the G1 will get these features (yeah right, see you in y2k50)
With enough time, I believe HTC can even make ME look sexy!
You got some serious issues if you need HTC to bring sexy back...to you anyways!
That... Looks really nice.
Finally a decent skin!
Nice, looks like it wont be an(other) hero after all.
which canned response should i use?
a: i see what you did there
b: get your /b ass out my engadgets!! or
c: +1 internet points for you sir
eh, all 3 for you sir, well done.
What's with "frenchy"?
You mean Universal Traveler by Air? One needs a good song to demo this stuff. Air fits the bill
WOW! That looks really good and it was running without any hiccups or slow-downs. If this is where android will be @ 2.0 Then I think I am in the right place.
I don't think it was actually running on a device, it was just a pre-rendered tutorial put together on a PC most likely.
Looks really nice. I like the widget handling, how the 'taken' areas are darkened out. The scroll bar at the bottom was really nice as well, lets hope that you can add home screens. Looks like with all the nifty widgets you would soon fill them all up.
Engadget why do you fail so hard? If you were actually following along with the xda-dev forum where this is going down you would have read from the 3 guys who have the build that it's 1.5 with fancy HTC crap thrown in(okay freaking sweet fancy HTC crap thrown in). Just fyi so you don't start throwing that donut crap around anymore.
oh its pretty awsome!!
Is anyone else noticing small graphical changes? The comment links seem to be bigger and more prominent.
and now they're back to normal...
Engadget, the verdict isn't out. It's in. It's been in. This is HTC's skin.
I'm also not that impressed. Widgets and a ipod scrollwheel. "yay"?
Donut or not, I hope this becomes available to us non-rooted G1 users at some point. I for one welcome our new polished looking cell phone widget overlords.
man and just when i was thinking to go for a samsung/moto/something else for my next android phone after the somewhat disappointing G1.
Alright HTC, toss this on a device with 4GB+ of INTERNAL STORAGE DAMMIT!!!!
and i'll be happy.
@ Poo_and_Wee
I kind of thought that because you can see where the finger is supposed to be (or an accurate depiction of where the screen is being touched) like I previously saw on adroid vids while it was still in development. Its just i posted my comment and didn't really think about what I saw. Just was a tad too excited
Very Very beautiful, if this is HTC skin not Donut, then lets hope HTC make a proper Android phone soon,
1 keyboard less
2 At least 5 megapixel
3 FLASH yes FLASH please, xenon maybe?
4 3.5mm Phone jack (come on HTC pull your finger out)
Put this skin on the Samsung i7500 & I will pay the £450/£500 & be first in the queue
Well that should be easy once the i7500 comes out and someone on XDA gets a hold of it.
Can I just get a damn 1.5 update...ugh.
Which ROM would be better to use? JF or HK?
I like JF1.5 ALOT.
Well, I think it's ugly, and normal android is a lot nicer looking.
The functionality of this UI is very nice. It could use a little more style though.
Why does the weather widget say "San Franciso?"
WHERE'S THE C :(
Why don't you understand that this is just a prototype, showing the capabilities of the system. All data is simulated, the time is incorrect, the weather was just typed-in, and that girl's name is very likely not Alice Smith.
And not a single one of those things matter, because that's not the purpose of the video. Does the widget system looks usable, is the interface any good, would that work on a real phone? Those are the questions you should worry about.
KIRF maybe?
Ooohh. That looks shiny. I want.
Uhm, wow?! Nice. I like this level of customization, mobile phones definitely needed this.
"The verdict is still out on whether what we've been seeing is indeed some precursor to Android 2.0 "Donut,""
No it's not! The very people who got the ROM for it leaked(Haykuro and TheDudeOfLife at xda-developers) have flat out said it is not donut, it's just an HTC skin and a much bigger system partition(indicating the Hero will have more onboard memory than the G1). Please stop giving out false information.
Can I get this if I have root access?
1) Donut is just the dev branch for the next release, not even google know if this will be 2.0 or 1.6 at this point (ie, major overhaul, or incremental improvement), search the mailing lists for 'donut' and see yourself.
2) this is clearly just HTC's own skin on Android, like they do for all the OSs they ship. considering this looks nothing like Android *or* Google's styling, you'd think that would be obvious
Guys this is magnificent. The weather app is exactly what I dreamed of.... I can't wait for a high-res phone full of widgets and shortcuts...
It's not Donut, however. Donut will support OpenGL ES 2.0 and will be a lot more flashy.... expected to ship with Tegra devices.
im waiting for android 2.5 "danish"
Nice job HTC, the skin looks very nice. I presently use spb with my HTC Fuze as I got frustrated with the TouchFlo, which looks good but not very responsive to non stylus tactile. I can customize widgets to my liking with spb, I suggest you all check it out.
i dont like it as much, its too.. busy.
HTC, please make this available to existing phones. I know you want money. Heck, you can sell it on the marketplace. If you really want to, make it only work on HTC-branded phone but don't you dare pull a windows mobile and make us buy a new phone.
Give it a bit of time and I can guarantee the xda guys will have this running on G1's(they almost do already...). One problem though is that the Hero has significantly more onboard memory so fitting everything in has been tough
Well if it is at all possible for them to get it running my my g1 then I cant wait
Nice.
Sorry folks at Palm, but Android is always going to be better.
Yeah I think the 2 best OS's right now are Android (it's ok now but I sense huge potential) and WebOS, considering I haven''t actually used WebOS
OS X is good too. Solid, good application store, but no multitasking and not really as customizable.