Google's Android team took significant technical and procedural steps Aug.
18 with the release of a beta version of the new Android 0.9 SDK and the
introduction of a development road map for the Linux-based mobile operating
system.
The release comes the day Engadget, VentureBeat and other blogs found
schematics for the first Android-based phone, the HTC
Dream, as well as the blessing by the Federal Communications Commission for the device to hit the market Nov. 10.
More significantly, the software development kit comes after a raft of
controversy in July in which programmers building Android applications complained that only the 50 winners of the Android Developer
Challenge contest were given the SDK beta.
Some programmers took exception to the perceived preferential treatment and
vowed to take their coding skills to Apple's iPhone or some other smart phone.
This would be a difficulty for Google's Android
effort as the company seeks to expand its mobile advertising and applications
positions versus the iPhone and devices from Nokia, Research In Motion, Palm
and Microsoft.
Other developers complained about Google's lack of transparency around
Android's development timeline. This brings us full circle to today, Aug. 18.
Google Android Developer Advocate Dan Morrill wrote in a blog post that the 0.9 SDK beta is the
first big step on the SDK's road to compatibility with 1.0. Morrill added:
Since this is a beta release,
applications developed with it may not quite be compatible with devices running
the final Android 1.0. However, the APIs are now pretty stable and we don't
expect any major changes. If you're one of the many developers who were waiting
for something a bit more mature, this might be a good time to take another
look.
To help programmers on this yellow brick road of development, Google has
published an Android development road map, which you
may view here.
Google reaffirmed a bunch of release dates, including the Android 1.0 SDK
release 1 availability date (third or fourth quarter of 2008), the first
Android 1.0 devices available (fourth quarter) and the release of the source
code in the fourth quarter.
The road map's details are sparse, but it should allay programmers' fears that
the Android team, by virtue of being so secretive these last few months, was
clashing with classic open-source practices of full disclosure.
As for the SDK itself, the changes are many. Morrill said it includes a new
Home screen with user interface changes for 1.0, new development tools, such as
a graphical preview for XML
layouts for users of Eclipse, and a tool for constructing 9 Patch images.
Android advocates also removed GTalkService and the Bluetooth API
for security reasons. Read about more changes here in the release notes.
Overall, programmers should be pleased by the work. The rest of us can prepare
for another tidal shift in sentiment around Android.
In June, Google was besieged by negative press after the
Wall Street Journal said Google and its partners would not meet their fourth-quarter
deadlines for producing Android phones.
Google stoutly refuted these delay claims. A
couple of weeks later, Google's Android team was perhaps justly abused for
partiality around the SDK release.
In the course of one day, we learned that the HTC
Dream was cleared for takeoff Nov. 10, just in time for the holiday rush, and
got a look at the new Android SDK and a development road map.
That's quite a turnaround. As we roll toward the fall and Google and its Open
Handset Alliance partners have to file more public documentation about Android
phones, expect more reports and schematics to surface.
I'll reserve judgment until people buy these phones and begin to use them. If
most people don't feel the user experience is on par with the iPhone, that's
when we'll be able to begin sounding the death knell for Android.
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