DanMorrill
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First proposed Android OS mascots see the light of day, give you the crazy eye
Just before Page and Co. officially took the wraps off of Android in 2007, Googler Dan Morrill was getting ready to introduce the OS to a larger swath of developers in Mountain View. In an effort to spice up his presentation to devs, Morrill drew up a gang of bots while taking a brief respite, creating what he believes were the first proposed mascots for Android. The rowdy bunch may be a far cry from the avocado-hued droid we've come to know and turn into figurines, but the "Dandroids" enjoyed a small measure of popularity within Google before Bugdroid took the limelight. Their creator unearthed the image files while cleaning up a NAS and has slung them up on Google+ for all to see. Take a gander at the adjacent gallery or jab the neighboring source link to catch a glimpse of the other bots.
Ice Cream Sandwich supports USB mass storage after all, Galaxy Nexus does not
When we gave our first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, we were a bit taken aback by the fact that USB mass storage wasn't supported on the device, leading us to believe that it was a flaw in Android 4.0. Android engineer Dan Morrill took to the 'net to sort out the confusion, explaining that Ice Cream Sandwich does indeed support the feature, but only on devices that offer removable storage cards -- which explains why we weren't able to use it on the Nexus. Here's why, according to Dan: It isn't physically possible to support UMS on devices that don't have a dedicated partition for storage (like a removable SD card, or a separate partition like Nexus S.) This is because UMS is a block-level protocol that gives the host PC direct access to the physical blocks on the storage, so that Android cannot have it mounted at the same time. With the unified storage model we introduced in Honeycomb, we share your full 32GB (or 16GB or whatever) between app data and media data. That is, no more staring sadly at your 5GB free on Nexus S when your internal app data partition has filled up -- it's all one big happy volume. However the cost is that Android can no longer ever yield up the storage for the host PC to molest directly over USB. Instead we use MTP. On Windows (which the majority of users use), it has built-in MTP support in Explorer that makes it look exactly like a disk. On Linux and Mac it's sadly not as easy, but I have confidence that we'll see some work to make this better. Mystery solved. To check out the full transcript of his comments, you can head over to the More Coverage link, where Android Police has done a nifty job of putting it together into an easy-to-read format.
Galaxy Nexus barometer explained, Sam Champion not out of a job
Google's Galaxy Nexus may be a lot of things: the fourth-coming of Android, an HD Super AMOLED showcase and iPhone 4S competitor. But weather forecaster? Alright, so it won't give you hourly atmospheric updates with an air swipe, but the built-in barometer that's got so many of us scratching our heads has a much different purpose. Android engineer Dan Morrill took to the social pages of Google+ to clarify the confusion. Turns out, Sammy added the barometer to help the device more rapidly acquire a GPS lock by delivering altitude coordinates to the required latitude and longitude GPS equation. Morrill goes on to note that the original Xoom also packed a similar feature, so if anything, this Nexus is simply following that Moto tab's lead. Next quandary Morrill needs to solve? Why, that would be the omission of carrier release dates.
Honeycomb will not require dual-core CPU as minimum hardware spec
Oh, never mind then. Google's ever-informative and ever-knowledgeable Dan Morrill has disabused the world from the bogus belief that Android's "made for tablets" iteration, aka Honeycomb, will require a dual-core processor as a minimum to run. Dan says there are no specific CPU requirements for aspiring Android 3.0 tablets to meet and we should all sit back, relax, and enjoy our breakfast. That's reassuring to note, but let's not read more into it than what's said -- while Honeycomb might not technically require a dual-core beastie to power it, there's a reason why the Motorola Xoom (which is soon to become the first device to offer Honeycomb onboard) is launching with a Tegra 2 chip inside. [Thanks, Dean]
Samsung undecided about Gingerbread on Galaxy S, Google says hardware needs 'similar' to Froyo
If the Nexus S is basically a Galaxy S in Gingerbread disguise, you'd think Samsung would be bursting at the seams to offer a software upgrade for all the phones it's already sold from that family. Okay, you really wouldn't, but you'd hope that would be the case, right? Well, Pocket-lint prodded Samsung on just that point and managed to finagle the following response from a local UK contact presumably speaking on behalf of the mothership: "In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system ("Update"). Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors". Right, so the Gingerbread launch and that whole new handset that's coming in a week's time, not public enough? And what's "the overall effect" of a Gingerbread update beyond a group of very happy users? Samsung seems to be matching its country-mate LG in taking an evaluative approach to Gingerbread, though Google's own Android lead developer is pretty definitive about the software, saying that "Gingerbread hardware needs are similar to Froyo." So if your handset can run version F, it should have no trouble handling version G... no trouble other than its own maker. Update: And now, in typical Samsung fashion, we're getting mixed messages as its Indian mobile arm has come out and confirmed that "Gingerbread will be available to Galaxy S users." Thanks, Shrinikketh!
Android team's Morrill discounts Gingerbread rumors
Eldar Murtazin has a pretty decent track record when it comes to smartphone whispers, but his Android 3.0 Gingerbread morsels yesterday are now at odds with someone a bit closer to the dough -- namely, Dan Morrill, Android's Open Source and Compatibility Tech Lead (yeah, that's a bit of a mouth full). Here are a few highlights from his Twitter feed tonight: "I love it when people just make stuff up" (sarcasm, obviously), "rumors are not official announcements," and so on. Sure, he could just be playing coy here, but for now, this is more or less the final word on the matter -- until either Google or the rumor mill heat up again, of course. Guess that's how the, erm, cookie crumbles.
Google: Android fragmentation 'is a boogeyman, a red herring'
Google's Dan Morrill, open source and compatibility program manager in the Android team, just penned a lengthy diatribe against the very concept of fragmentation on the official Android Developers Blog, basically saying it doesn't exist. Actually, the language is a little more colorful: "Because it means everything, it actually means nothing, so the term is useless. Stories on 'fragmentation' are dramatic and they drive traffic to pundits' blogs, but they have little to do with reality. 'Fragmentation' is a bogeyman, a red herring, a story you tell to frighten junior developers. Yawn." Sure, as Android goes, the term "fragmentation" has meant moderately different things in different contexts over the past couple years -- fair enough. But the fact remains that releasing six major revisions of any platform within the span of 19 months (four of which are in heavy user circulation) is unprecedented and potentially unsettling to manufacturers and consumers alike. Your average Joe isn't going to understand why, for example, his HTC Hero that he bought a few months back can't use the Buzz widget or some of the cooler features in Google Maps, and Google hasn't done a very good job of explaining or justifying it, other than by blocking incompatible apps and updates from being visible in the Market.
