Google: No More Weird Android Phones
Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck 39 mins ago
Last week, I wrote an article about what I thought were the two weirdest upcoming Android handsets. With twin touch screens and built-in game controllers, they seemed to exemplify Android's greatest strength and weakness: Its diversity. (You'd never see Apple trying to make the Kyocera Echo.)
But Google, it seems, thinks Android's a little too diverse. And while it hasn't publicly said anything about it, the handset makers that work with Google have started grumbling about the tech titan's heavy-handedness when it comes to its Android apps.
Some apps are more equal than others
The programming code for Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" -- the most recent version designed for phones -- is open-source, meaning that handset makers can use it to make Android phones without paying a license fee. But in order to put Google's apps, like Gmail and Google Maps, on their phones, manufacturers need to get Google's permission.
Without Google's apps, an Android phone loses nearly everything that sets it apart, like turn-by-turn navigation and the 150,000 apps in the Android Market. A few companies, like iRiver and Archos, have dared to ship Android media players without Google's apps. But for a smartphone, it'd be a death sentence.
Because of this, Google basically has veto power over everything in the Android world. And while it's been lenient up until now, it seems that it's starting to flex its muscles.
Some partners are more equal than others, too
Some of the changes Google's demanding will benefit everyone. Handset makers that want Google's apps will have to get its approval for their custom home screens, like Samsung's Touchwiz or Motorola's Motoblur. Hopefully, the better home screens (like HTC Sense) will be here to stay, while the annoying things carriers do to mess them up will get vetoed.
While Google's vetoes might make for a better user experience, though, there's also its own self-interest at work. Its competitors, Facebook and Bing, are seeing their Android initiatives stalled by Google's reticence. And since Google hasn't open-sourced the code to the tablet version of Android, called "Honeycomb," yet, only a select few manufacturers can make tablets based on it. Companies like Acer and Dell have to wait for Google's permission.
Defeating the purpose
Google's aim seems to be to unify the Android experience, and make Android tablets and handsets more similar to each other. But that's not in the best interests of manufacturers like Motorola and HTC, which want to stand out from the pack. HTC makes its own specialized apps, and is developing its own tablet ecosystem for the HTC Flyer, with a video store and a partnership with the OnLive gaming service. Meanwhile, Motorola is rumored to be making its own operating system separate from Android.
Can any of them survive without Google's help? Ask Amazon; it's already created its own "Appstore" and cloud music service. Maybe a partnership with handset makers or wireless carriers is in the works ... that is, if Amazon isn't planning on keeping its toys to itself, for a future Android-based Kindle.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008. |
