nice.

Woot!

I think my DNS server is acting up. My browser says gizmodo.com in the address bar, but it seems to be resolving to some kind of GPhone news/fan site.

@formicae: HYAhahaha, funny way to describe it. Let's switch back to iphone coverage, ok?

It's so bad-ass they can't show it to you because you'd go blind with delight.

enuf!

The iPhone is dead.

@draiko: mmmm k .... continue im listening

@dysthymia: Google has 34 companies backing Android including Intel and nVidia. We're most likely going to see a great interface that will rival or outright kill the one on the iPhone. The use of faster-than-EDGE networks and the Opensource approach will exploit the iPhone's main drawbacks. The lower production and deployment costs for Android-based apps will probably bring many devs to the table.

So the world wants an something that looks exactly like the iPhone but open source... Hmmmmm....

Hrm so if its open source, does that mean we will be able to openly destroy their advertisements and potential privacy leaks? =P

How open source is a phone when the carrier can brick it in anyway they see fit?

All I want to know is if I can sync with my business email.... or will I have to use GMail exclusively?

There's no way in hell I'm telling a client to send correspondence to gmail.com.

If I have a choice about that then I must admit... there's just a little, tiny, bit of swelling for this Gphone thing.

I think we are all pretty tired of Google "Talk."

It's time to show us what you've done, Google!

The best phone in the world is still only as good at it's network. Verizon and AT&T will not be willing players to this. ...I hope they get regulated.

So, that's my question. To regulate or not to regulate? Some say that high-speed internet and wireless is just as necessary an infrastructure as water and power, and in need of oversight. Others say regulation will negatively effect development and result in higher prices. What does everyone else think?

Hey People if i remember correctly didn't nVidia show something like a Phone interface a while back ???

@Bllo: YEP! Earlier this year...
[www.youtube.com]

@draiko:

Google has 34 companies backing Android including Intel and nVidia. We're most likely going to see a great interface

Yes, because the best way to design a great interface is to put 34 people in a room and ask them to come up with one. Open source software has many advantages, but interface design is almost never one of them.

@draiko:

"The use of faster-than-EDGE networks and the Opensource approach will exploit the iPhone's main drawbacks"

Because the iPhone will still only have EDGE when this potential vaporware rolls out some time after the second half of 2008.

And having tons of companies "backing" a concept really doesn't mean much when, at the end of the day, it's the final product and the customer that uses it that decides its fate. Plays4Sure, anyone?

The thing is, after this splash today, we still don't know jack shit about this Google phone OS. What will it look like? What kind of hardware will it run on? (Only large screen/touch screen smartphone types? Or your average flip phones with 240*200 displays too?). And most importantly, how the heck ADS are going to play their parts in this whole thing. Without knowing these things, it is just as moronic to predict its world dominance (and corresponding decline of the iPhone) as it is to predict its certain utter failure.

@newgalactic: Really? Regulated because they don't want to offer a product?

@draiko: It also means 34 places where disagreements will take place. And 34 different companies working on an interface means an interface of compromises.

The only real advantage I can agree with is lower production costs and likely easier development. But don't forget, the first phones won't be out until probably this time next year. You really think Apple won't have iPhone 2.0 out by then? And the iPhone SDK will have 6 months of development already and a few million installed user base. So development for gPhone may be easier, but development for iPhone may be more profitable. Which would you choose?

Hmmm. I will laugh if Google's stock passes the 1000/share mark.

It should be noted that building a demo prototype in no way implies Google intends to build their own hardware. Microsoft makes hardware prototypes when rolling out new operating systems and interfaces, as they did with their mobile PCs.

@draiko: This sounds like one of the many industry wide efforts to do something that often ends in minor changes for the user.

I see what you say, yet what I don't see is how that the iphone is dead, or will be anytime soon. Apple products appeal to a very specific part of the market, and as soon as google and their new os that will work in AplixAscenderAudienceBroadcomChinaMobileeBayEsmertec
GoogleHTCIntelKDDILivingImageLGMarvellMotorolaNMSNoser
NTTDoCoMoNuanceNVIDIAPacketVideoQualcommSamsung
SiRFSkyPopSonivoxSprintNextelSynapticsTATTelecomItaliaTelefonica
TexasInstrumentsT-MobileWindRiver...land that doesn't mean that apple wont evolve and move dirt to make its products very fashionable.
This might be the end of proprietary software for phones (doubtful) but is a good start point.

@superbad: Right... I'm sure that Steve Jobs came up with the entire iPhone interface all by himself without the help of 30+ other people.

It sounds like you've never used Beryl or the newer KDE releases before. I'm not a Linux fanboy by any means but Linux has come a long way in the interface department. Oh, that nVidia phone interface demo I linked to looks pretty killer too.

Apple may open the API up soon but it'll be too little, too late. With the price drop fiasco, Apple lost the early adopter crowd. The Edge network continues to frustrate many iPhone users. Apple lost a bit of consumer trust by pulling those "lack of third party apps" and iPhone bricking stunts. Google is arguably as good at spinning marketing hype as Apple is. I'd say Android has a pretty good shot at killing off the iPhone.

@pantsonfireliarliar: Android is based on Linux, the SDKs for Android probably exist already in some form. nVidia is already working with Intel (they have a technology sharing agreement) and Intel is already working with Sprint and a slew of other companies on WiMax. This isn't some rag-tag group here, they already have working relationships.

As far as the profitability is concerned... easier development + no maintenance = faster deployment = faster returns = more net revenue = greater developer interest = more apps = greater consumer interest = greater profit.

Apple alienating early adopters + Apple bricking iPhone + Apple selling on fad-based hype and style = unhappy users always looking for the next coolest thing = HUGE potential for Android.

Google's success is not 100% guaranteed, but it has a great shot.

Almost forgot to mention that this type of strategy (easier development leading to lots of apps) is what allowed Windows Mobile to kill off PalmOS.

for once is not Apple fans Vs Ms fans woohoo!
btw i think lookin at names like Intel nVidia HTC Motorola Samsung...plus Google workin togheter make me think we will have a real PC in a phone (like those UMPC we saw in a futuristic video not long time ago)...waiting the iPhone 2 and watching the new WinMo handsets coming out everyday (HTC TYTN 2 rocks btw)

@Windhawk: OpenMoko? Anyone? Linux-based, open-source hardware? Ringing any bells? [www.openmoko.com]

@keronian: Yeah that's kinda dead in the water now ain't it? Why go with openmoko if you get the same benefits of open source and the full backing of some major players?

I think the only killing off that Android might be doing would be Windows Mobile, not the iPhone.

@johnnyrandom:

I will not

@R2B2: I wish Windows Mobile would either die or evolve. And I say that as a user.

@R2B2: Windows Mobile is Android's biggest competition, the app library for WM is HUGE and the dev community is more organized and experienced. Apple has no mobile dev community in place and they've alienated a lot of their user base, they'll make for an easier target.

My nipples are tingling... I'm so excited to hold a Gphone running Android in my hand by the end of 2008

@kokodhem:

But that's in a YEAR!!! can you wait that long? i want it now.

Come on. They said in their press release that they had no plans to build a gphone but did show a phone that would be able to perform some of the capabilities the new gphone platform will be able to perform. Now that the iphone is over is it gonna be gphone gphone gphone everywhere on Gizmodo? I hope Gizmodo can keep the brown ring around their neck from being so noticable as it was when they had their heads so far up apples butt you could see it a mile away.

@draiko

I hear a lot of moaning & groaning but no money shot, man. aka, FUD.

windows mobile 6.1 will be out late 08 (waiting 7.0) but maybe this google phone alliance will change everything.
@Maark: I think WinMo is evolving (not itself but developers are doing it) everyday we talkin about OS right? we saw already how to make it TOUCH (by software) and how many (freeware too) tools you can add in it (mp3 player, divx, gps, desktop remote controller...etc).
I didnt try iPhone (yet) but I think that with WinMo (Htc tytn and HTC Wizard actually) i can do more and better stuffs...

@draiko:
A HUGE app library does not make a great phone OS. I'd say for the average person, it's all about useability - not how many different car mileage apps they have to choose from. And with the iPhone getting an official SDK in a few months time, iPhone users will have the best of both worlds.

@draiko:

"Apple has no mobile dev community in place and they've alienated a lot of their user base, they'll make for an easier target."

By your reasoning, WIndows Mobile should have killed off the iPhone even before the iPhone was given birth. And if not then, it should be dead by now. Reality? I see nothing but sales growth.

Really, people should be having this argument in a year from now, when we actually know enough about this platform to make an intelligent debate even remotely possible.

Absolutely wonderful I think this is the greatest idea, an open source software for cell phone with all the google apps, although there should of course be a phone especially designed to run all this software but I truly believe that this will help create a great tool for developing creativity and functionality, this will allow us to have a very personal cell phone experience filled with people's necesities... plus if google develops an easy to use platform we will be able to create programs and apps very easily... Good bye Windows Mobile & Iphone. The big G is here!

"and a virtual machine for handling the browser."
Uh, right. Giz, the article doesn't say that.

It says this:

"In its guts, the phone runs a virtual machine so that applications, like the browser, can launch once during a session, then reside in the background. That way, if someone sends you, say, a YouTube video link, you can run it immediately, without restarting the browser."
Um... so "Virtual Machine" = "multitasking" now? Ooookay.

@pantsonfireliarliar: I was hoping for a more detailed opinion pants.....

And no, regulated because they have control of a multi-billion dollar vital data infrastructure. An infrastructure that was very, very heavily subsidized by tax payer dollars. The type of regulation can also be debated. I would avoid regulation on pricing but promote regulation on dictating access.

Glad to have your opinion, tell me why you wouldn't opt for regulation.

@draiko: I'm sure that Steve Jobs came up with the entire iPhone interface all by himself without the help of 30+ other people.

Yes, but Steve-O has the only vote that counts with the iPhone.

By the way, other than the iPod, Apple is not historically a market-dominator. The iPhone will always have its audience, as will WM, and the Crackberry ain't going away -- I think we're looking at the gPhone aiming at being one of the major alternatives, probably squeezing out the also-ran mobile systems.

@draiko:
Window Mobile is dead you mean. The iPhone has an Apple label on it. Until Windows Mobile merges with Zune, and connects with Xbox... well.

@draiko:

Right... I'm sure that Steve Jobs came up with the entire iPhone interface all by himself without the help of 30+ other people.

Missing the point. Having 30 people is fine as long as one of them is the boss.

I only hope one thing, we get rid of Activestink hell.

@Cleverboy: You've never used a Windows Mobile device, have you? WM phones have windows media player and half a dozen other media players (including the pPod ipod interface and the open source iPhone interface shell - [lifehacker.com]) that enable all of those capabilities and more (Microsoft voice command lets you tell your phone what you want it to play or do). The only thing that the iPhone has over Windows Mobile is a smooth, simple interface. Windows Mobile is clunky in comparison. [gizmodo.com]

@superbad: Google seems to be in the "boss" position.

IMO, the Dream concept doesn't look like an iPhone so much as it looks like the illegitimate offspring of a Nokia 5610 and a Logitech diNovo Edge.

Personally, though, I'm really hoping this platform will herald decent palmtop UI designs. Windows Mobile, GPE, and OPIE all suck in that regard. Nokia's Hildon and Poky Linux's Sato UI come close but don't quite get it.

Apple would've nailed it perfectly spot-on had they included an active stylus and PDA functionality in the iPhone and iPod touch, but alas, they didn't. (I still want an iPhone, though. So far, among UIs, it's got the best, bar-none.)

All these people drinking the Apple kool-aid: consortiums have produced good before. Just because Jobs' isn't standing there with an arse paddle if you contradict his grand vision doesn't mean it'll be a pile of disorganised crap.

Also: 2H 2008. This may be faster than EDGE, better-than-the-Jesus-Phone now... but it's on paper. By setting a release date effectively 12 months away you're giving Apple the opportunity to peg hardware 2.0 to diffuse your 1.0 release.