Post date: 09-Jan-2009 17:26:34
I was very excited to be at the Android Dev Camp - I've been very excited about Android since it was first announced. But in both cases I feel let down by something that was rushed out too fast, without sufficient thought.
Christine Karman and Alexander Muse were really enjoyable. Christine was refreshingly honest about the platform, Alexander about the mobile application ecosystem. I'd like to applaud both presenters for the quality and professionalism of their presentations.
Regarding the phone, the design has some pleasant suprises - the mini-trackball being high on my list. The browser also has some neat tricks like the iPhone, and like with the iPhone these tricks will only be apparent to power users.
Java developers complaining that Android isn't 'proper' Java. Google has always said that Android *isn't* Java - time to deal with it.
T-Mobile should have sent an engineer, not a sales exec - the same goes for Google. Both of them blithered about the mobile business instead of saying anything concrete about Android, and what it means to their businesses. (On a side note - am I the only one who remembers that T-Mobile tried to copyright a *colour* not too long ago?)
For the phone - it feels plasticy and cheap. Every single person who demonstrated the phone had trouble getting the touchscreen to respond, and there's a lot of reports from technical people that it feels dumbed down. And where's the earphone jack?
I so wanted to like them, the camp and the device. The only thing I'm really excited about now, though, is that Android has finally driven a real, mainstream open handset to market - now if I can just find a decent OS for it...