With all these HTC models getting their brains rearranged to run Android, we're starting to wonder: just how necessary is the Dream? Don't get us wrong, we're pretty amped to see what kind of amazing hardware HTC's crafting to officially debut the consumer-ready cut of Android to the world, but there are plenty of very capable handsets already in the field -- and the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro should both be more than willing to donate their bodies in the name of science when the time comes, too. The latest model to get an Android port is the Polaris, also known as the Touch Cruise in production trim. At this point, the ports are still pretty raw and the level of functionality or spit and polish probably isn't what you're used to with the native WinMo installation, but they're getting there -- and considering that Android itself still has plenty of work remaining, it's an impressive feat and a promising sign of things to come for owners of older devices. Let us know how it goes if you're brave enough to give it a shot, y'hear?

[Thanks, smith]

There's a lot of hoopla today over a Wall Street Journal piece stating that Google's first Android device has been pushed back to late 2008 for release -- yet the article fails to mention that this is right inline with what Google has been saying for quite awhile now. Admittedly, the fresh-faced mobile competitor probably is finding itself somewhat mired in carrier demands, which doesn't seem unexpected given the broad swath of partners it's collaborating with and the open source nature of the project, but as phone release schedules go, it hasn't veered off the path much. The breakdown is something like this: from what we've been told, you can expect an Android-powered handset before the new year (i.e., HTC's Dream driven by Google's OS), followed by a crop of higher profile phones showing up in early 2009 (as previously stated by companies like LG and Samsung). So... feel free to switch off the alarms anytime you like.

[Via GigaOM]

We don't know too much about the clip you're about to watch, but we can tell you this: someone has apparently gone and gotten Android up and running on a Nokia N95, and they've captured it on the lowest quality video we've ever seen. It's unclear whether this is natively installed or not, but it seems to be getting data (as you can see Google Maps doing its thing). The dialer is also brought up and appears to make a call -- but it's pretty hard to know if that's just a demo of the app or if this guy actually has a semi-functional Android device. Check the video after the break and judge for yourself.

[Thanks, John]

We've already seen plenty of screenshots and videos of Android in action, but it's not every day Andy Rubin, Google's Senior Director of Mobile Platforms, is behind the controls, and he recently demoed the open-source phone OS to a group of reporters. Rubin specifically demonstrated non-touchscreen versions of the platform, showing off a browser designed entirely for button-based navigation, and also hit upon Android's ability to multitask, using Google Maps seamlessly with a media player and a photo app running in the background. Take that, iPhone. Of course, the hardware itself was kept super-secret, but since Android is designed to work on any phone with at least a 200MHz processor, it's understandable that Google isn't interested in distracting us with specific phone models when the focus is clearly on the OS. We'll just have to wait until later in the year to get our hands on an actual device -- hopefully the screenshots at the read links will tide you over.

[Thanks, Tarek]

Read - CNET Asia
Read - HardwareZone

Phew. Not the closest call we've seen, but close enough to get us sweating ever-so-slightly. We had a strange feeling some wires were crossed when a report surfaced stating that the "Gphone" wouldn't be shipping until 2009, but for whatever it's worth, Google has now addressed the issue and affirmed that it is "still on track to announce Android-powered phones this year." The spokesperson continued by proclaiming that "some of [its] partners were publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter," which leads us to say: crisis averted, carry on.

[Via CNET]

Seasoned tech pundit Gary Krakow has a real puzzler here. He's claiming that while the Android OS should be ready for launch through a couple manufacturers by the end of the year, an unnamed source has told him that the actual "Gphone" from Google has been delayed into next year. That's great and all, but we thought the whole Gphone buzz was pretty much killed dead when Android got real. Sure, there was that one-off Samsung rumor about a couple Google-branded handsets supposedly due for September, but there was never much followup there. Google itself has never done much hinting at a Google-branded handset, instead choosing to work with Open Handset Alliance in building an OS for everybody. We'll be keeping an eye on this rumor, but obviously if it proves true we won't be seeing anything out of Google until next year -- which basically puts us right where we started. Thanks, Gary.

Following the grand reveal of the latest Android build running on fresh HTC-sourced hardware at I/O today, Google took some questions that managed to pull a few extra gems from the rough. First and foremost, key specs of that lovely piece of kit were exposed: 3.6Mbps HSDPA is on board, as is a Qualcomm MSM7201A processor good for 528MHz, 128MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a capacitive touchscreen, and the key to our hearts. Despite that capacitive action, it was reiterated that Android is designed to work with a wide variety of form factors -- everything from touchscreens to QWERTY keypads to devices with no screen at all (!!) -- so fans of physical input methods definitely needn't fret in the least. New features demoed for the first time today include a configurable home screen launcher, accelerometer integration in Google Maps' Street View, Pacman (which we can only assume will become the Solitaire of Android), and a new unlock UI for touchscreen-based devices. Some of the stuff shown was coded at the very last minute; they pointed out that the clock, for example, had just been thrown together yesterday, so they're definitely flying by the seat of their pants here -- a good thing for speeding up device availability, we figure.

In the wake of the LiMo Foundation's huge announcement that it has netted Verizon Wireless to sit on its board, everyone wants to know: what does this mean for Verizon's official (meaning non-"Any Apps, Any Device") lineup, and where does this leave Android? LAPTOP has posted a good summary of some pressing questions and answers, revealing that LiMo-based devices won't launch on Big Red until next year anyway -- so there's really nothing to sweat about in the short term. As the carrier's lofty board seat might have suggested, it intends LiMo to percolate through its entire product range, starting with dumbphones and moving to smartphones (it is Linux, after all) as time goes on. Finally, it emphasized that the move certainly doesn't spell doom for Android; for consumers, the worst case is that they'd have to bring their own Android handset to the table (assuming there are compatible, unlocked CDMA devices available), but if Verizon senses that Android demand is strong enough, there's still nothing stopping it from bringing some hardware into its official stable. Either way, the Age of Linux is upon Verizon customers, which we're thinking is probably going to end up being a good thing.

The fruits of 50 individuals' and companies' labors have now paid off to the tune of $25,000, all thanks to a nice little gift from the good folks at the Android Developer Challenge. Google actually unveiled the top 50 applications to be submitted to the contest a few days ago; we've been scouring the list since, and we've definitely noticed a trend -- location-based services. LBS was actually one of Google's "suggested areas of focus" going into the Challenge, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to see a wealth of apps take advantage of Android's rich, pervasive support for them. There's some seriously exciting innovation in the group -- not easy to do, considering the maturity of smartphones as a development platform in general -- and we've got to say, this all bodes really well for Android. Four of the 50 winners have chosen to remain anonymous (ooh, we wonder what sorts of crazy things they're cooking up!), but the remainder have been collected into a convenient slide deck that can be grabbed off the ADC's site. We recommend it; it's a solid, inspiring read, unless you work for an Android competitor, in which case we recommend you kick your third-party developers in their collective behind.

Think the advent of Android is going to bring Google's deep love and respect for Symbian, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone (among other entities) to a crashing halt? Not so much. Google's head honcho for mobile engineering, Ann Mei Cheng, has gone on record saying that Android is "just another device" for them that'll be treated equally with its contemporaries, an attitude that can be attributed in no small part to the fact that the company's mobile team is kept well apart from the Android peeps. That's good news for anyone who's not using an Android device, we figure -- which is pretty much everyone at the moment -- and it's also a predictable move from a company known for its agnostic, conquer-all approach that cares not whether its users are using its platform or another's. Whether they'll be singing the same tune should Android obtain world domination, though, is another question entirely.

[Via Talk Android]

Doesn't really matter how high the cool factor is on Android handsets once they start trickling into the retail channel -- if they lack productivity and enterprise software, business penetration is going to hover near zero. That's a problem, seeing how companies have a tendency to buy entire fleets of phones at once, contributing serious revenue to a carrier's and a manufacturer's bottom line come earnings report time. Don't worry though, Android, Quickoffice has you covered. The suite -- familiar to a great many Palm, S60, and UIQ users -- brings serious Office document viewing and editing power to the world's non-Windows Mobile smartphones, and judging from a recent show-and-tell with PC Magazine, it looks like they have every intention of sharing that same power with Android users. All the typical Quickoffice stuff is there, appearing surprisingly close to being ready for prime time despite the fact that Android hardware isn't expected for a handful of months yet. One bonus feature here (and a biggie at that) is integration with Soonr's technology for accessing documents remotely -- pretty nifty, since most of us don't carry our full library of documents when we're on the road. No word on a release date here, but we imagine we'll be seeing it right about the same time that the first devices hit the market.

[Via Talk Android]

The first Android devices were always scheduled to arrive later this year, and while we've already seen a couple prototypes and hacked ports floating around, it looks like T-Mobile is the first out of the gate to confirm that it'll have phones based on Google's mobile OS. Speaking at the Wireless Innovations 2008 conference, T-Mo's VP of broadband and new business division Joe Sims said he'd played with an early version of T-Mobile's first Android phone and that it would ship in the fourth quarter of this year. Sims said that although he was initially skeptical of Android, he's now "impressed," and that T-Mobile would eventually have "more than one" Android phone. Now, if someone would just let us know what this magical phone actually is, we'd be happy -- HTC Dream, anyone?

[Via IntoMobile]

While we still don't know the full extent of the hardware onslaught we'll see once the Android software spec solidifies, we can now safely say there'll be at least six coming in the next year and a half or so. That's the number a Qualcomm product manager is giving as the quantity of Android-powered devices it's personally helping OEMs prepare in the next 12-18 month time frame -- "more than five" was his exact verbiage, actually -- which would make sense considering the push Qualcomm gave the platform at CTIA earlier this month. He was also quick to note that Android-powered devices will offer feature sets similar to the iPhone but at lower price points, adding that Google's already thought through a lot of the goodies that Apple is just now starting to get to with the iPhone (we reckon he's probably referring to the SDK here) -- and considering that Qualcomm has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone, that's not a very surprising attitude for the company to cop.

[Via Talk Android]

Why wait for the Dream when you can get Android all up in your HTC piece today? Numerous efforts over on xda-developers have yielded a high success rate in getting Google's still-young platform working (although the definition of "working" can vary from device to device) on a variety of recent and popular HTC models, so if you dig your hardware but you're ready to give Windows Mobile the boot -- and you like to live on the bleeding edge between functionality and brickage -- give it a shot. Drop us a line if you have a port to add to the list!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Kaiser
Read - Vogue, Neon
Read - Polaris

Among the hopefuls for Google's Android Developer Challenge (which ended yesterday, by the way, so put down your pencils and turn in your papers) is this little gem, Enkin. Put simply, the navigation app's ace card is its "live mode," which combines a plethora of sensory data -- camera input, GPS, directional information, motion detection -- to show the user an augmented view of what they're actually looking at in their environment. Augmented with what, exactly? Placemarkers that indicate landmarks, that's what, and the possibilities are pretty endless -- restaurants in the immediate vicinity, a gentle reminder of your car's location in the parking lot, the list goes on. Nokia's been toying with this concept for a good long while now but they've failed to commercialize it, so here's hoping will finally see a usable product on a retail device.