The Engadget Show tapes this Saturday, January 16th with Erick Tseng of Google and our CES wrap-up!

If you caught our coverage during CES 2010 (and you better have!), then you probably saw our quick sit-down with Senior Product Manager for Android, Erick Tseng. We had such a good time chatting with him and had so many other questions, we thought having him on the Engadget Show made lots of sense! So, this Saturday, January 16th, Erick will join us live on-stage to answer all of our burning questions (and yours too -- shout them out in comments). We'll also be doing a wrap-up of all the gear we saw at CES during our editors roundtable, and giving away a bunch of stuff to audience members (including CES swag and limited edition Engadget t-shirts)! Oh, and we'll have more chiptune goodness from our friend Glomag.

The Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need:

• There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
• The event is all ages
• Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM
• You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
• Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full
• The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
• The show length is around an hour

If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

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[esper256 Posted Jan 13th 2010 3:56PM]

Don't ask questions we can answer ourselves. I am so tired of the "does it have wifi?" questions people ask when they could look at a spec sheet.

Multi-touch is dumb. It's supported in the platform. Why it's not supported on the default on-screen keyboard seems silly and might be a good question. Pinch zoom may or may not be covered by a patent. But we don't have to waste his interview time with that, people can search the USPTO on their own if they want to know. If there *IS* a patent issue HE WILL LOSE HIS JOB IF HE says so. On all the android groups they very blatantly say they will not discuss these issues because it leaves legal breadcrumbs which can come back to haunt them. So just leave it alone!

Here are some REAL questions you can ask:

- Why is Android still developed behind closed doors?

- Why is there no roadmap of future Android releases? When Andy Rubin casually leaks out that they are working on Apps-on-SD to answer a question, it must not be a huge secret. So why not just post a roadmap instead of requiring a million journalists asking "Is Y in the next X release?" until we have some kind of idea of what is going on.

- Without the above two there is really no participation from the community at the platform level in Android. Is he aware of that and does he think it is an issue or not. Is Android an open source project or OHA's baby that just donates source code to the community. How does this jive with google's latest blog post on "The Meaning of Open"?


- Is he aware that the public perception of Android's model of OEM-created carrier-distributed updates is failing miserably at delivering updates. Do they have any plans to help improve this situation?

- Why run into so many problems with 256 MB of ROM and only upgrade to 512 MB of ROM. Aren't they going to be running out of space for /system on 512 soon too?

[DestrictoEnse Posted Jan 13th 2010 4:03PM]

@esper256
Good questions, I'd like to hear answers to them too!

[Craptorium Posted Jan 13th 2010 10:50PM]

@DestrictoEnse

Great questions!!! I want to hear them asked!!!

[OsoOto Posted Jan 13th 2010 3:58PM]

If it's for all ages, why do you need to be 18 to win a guaranteed ticket? I'm not eligible now ._.

[werty1432k Posted Jan 13th 2010 6:07PM]

@OsoOto The show itself is for people of all ages but for contests you have to be 18 in order to win for legal purposes.

[Evin Posted Jan 13th 2010 10:17PM]

@OsoOto Getting a ticket in person is free for all ages. Sprint is doing some promotional thing with text messaging to guarantee yourself a ticket. That doesn't mean they're stopping "all ages" from going and getting a ticket in person.

Oh and btw, when will Desire get that update?!

[warbuff Posted Jan 13th 2010 4:18PM]

Android supports multitouch since 1.6, contrary to the misinformation that Engadget continues to spread. But idiots keep talking about it. The only legitimate multitouch question would be keyboard implementation.

Android simply doesn't _implement_ them in the UI. It's designed for 1-handed operation.

If Android didn't support multitouch (like Engadget and Apple would like you to believe), then multitouch-supporting software like the Dolphin Browser wouldn't be able to implement it. Yet it does.

[newjaruz Posted Jan 13th 2010 4:34PM]

Its funny how I know there will be a fare amount of ass kissing after trashing the Nexus in the review....

SMH ...

[artshark Posted Jan 13th 2010 5:22PM]

why tseng? you already interviewed him for ces coverage, what more could you ask him?

[Evin Posted Jan 13th 2010 10:18PM]

@artshark "WHERE'S MAH MULTITOUCH!!?"

[whit3 Posted Jan 13th 2010 5:39PM]

Ask about...

Android native apps lack of multi-touch.

Availability of nexus one accessories (docks etc.).

Android update timeline and new/improved features.

If they can release an updated camera app that can handle 720p recording on the nexus one (since snapdragon supports it allegedly).

Android market update that has system requirements, or hides apps that your phone/hardware can't run so devs can take advantage of new hardware and relay compatibility to the users (ie. Google earth not working on older hardware).

[dantzig Posted Jan 13th 2010 5:43PM]

just randomly ask him "has google considered filing any declaratory judgement lawsuits lately?" and see if his eyes get big ... or ask him more specifically whether google plans to file a declaratory judgement suit against apple to give the court a chance to examine apple's patent portfolio (including any submarine patent applications they may be filing continuations for under the radar) and determine whether they have any exclusive rights to its implementation. this is an excellent strategy for companies who feel threatened by potential patent lawsuits but haven't been sued yet. of course an "excellent" strategy for apple is to wait and let everyone implement multitouch and have success with it, then sue them all for royalties, if indeed they have some submarine patent application for it. but a declaratory judgement suit would prevent apple from lying low to do that.

[ECH Posted Jan 13th 2010 6:24PM]

@dantzig
I've heard the strategy you've described as "letting them chop wood". Who wants to sue google for millions when you could wait and sue them for billions!

[ECH Posted Jan 13th 2010 6:27PM]

Ask him when Google will be able to read my mind?

[SharonW Posted Jan 13th 2010 9:25PM]

I've got a question that nobody anywhere has asked. If Google pulls out of China what happens to those handset manufacturers who have signed onto Android and now can't launch in China after a massive investment? How could any 2.0 or higher handset be sold there considering the need to have a gmail account? Doesn't this also put Apple at a huge advantage?

[TSSaloic Posted Jan 13th 2010 10:13PM]

@SharonW Well, there could be the option of partnering with Baidu if they are not allowed to stay in China. Also, most smartphones running Android in the PRC are running the OPhone derivative where the Google account requirement is not an issue. Or, just sign up via Google Taiwan.

[osandy Posted Jan 14th 2010 8:29AM]

Why is Google not advertising the phone on tv like Verizon did with the droid? Why are they offering the phone with only that horrible plan? And why sell a phone unlocked that really only does 3g with one company in the US?

[malala Posted Jan 14th 2010 4:09PM]

Hi I'm a spammer, please email me at: [e-mail]

[malala Posted Jan 14th 2010 4:13PM]

Hi I'm a spammer, please email me at: [e-mail]

[MojoRising Posted Jan 15th 2010 7:26AM]

Here are some questions I hope to get answers to:

Google is now with chrome and android on two of the three screens of consumer electronics, so when are you coming out with your set top box running android/chromium and 1080p youtube streaming?

Given the rapid pace of development with android, are you going to give the developers/ODMs a breather for 2010?

What model of software support do you think is best:
(1) A s/w life like model where consumers expect patches and updates with a defined support period
(2) A pure device type model where software updates from the Hardware manufacturer are at the ODM discretion.
And why?

When can we expect a web interface for Android Market. How about more space for descriptions/comment feedback.
How about a youtube link in the Market entry?

Other than execution, internally what do you see as your biggest challenge?

Externally what do you see as your biggest challenge?

So how often does the OHA meet? And what do you guys talk about?

When you meet with the ODMs, what are you hearing?

When every phone has a webkit HTML5 compliant browser will we need Android?

What does the purchase of Admob mean for android. Will it come along with Gmail and Maps?

Does the gmail app in android require a security update (re: China)?

[Brian Posted Jan 20th 2010 6:58AM]

Erick Tseng was spinning the multi-touch question. We all know that technically it does, but it doesn't do what we want it.

Also, Josh, you may want to find a way not to have so many reflections on your glasses or use other props that doesn't reflect so much. When there are close up you can see a lot of red reflecting, kind of annoying but funny.