Today is the last day of The Mobile World Congress which takes place in Barcelona. Makers of everything mobile (as in phones, not as in real estates opposite) are showing off their stuff at this event. Also, there are many announcements, news, and releases tied to the dates of the congress.
It seems like a good time to revisit the Android story. Is it moving it all? What’s happening there? Will we see any of it any time soon?
It appears that the Android is moving along as planned. There were a few pre-production prototypes at The Mobile World Congress, and people were pretty much impressed with them.
The biggest surprise of the demos was how well Android runs on slow devices.
In other news, Google released a new version of Android SDK. This new version brought a few major changes and improvements, fixed many things that developers complained about.
The upgrade also takes to heart developer complaints about the software and includes several major but less visible upgrades: in addition to easier development of layouts, any app can now translate addresses to map coordinates and back. Audio formats such as MIDI and OGG are now also built-in, according to Google.
The same source suggests that we will indeed see some phones in the second half of 2008, as it was planned and announced last year.
Android’s upgrade brings the Linux-based platform much closer to production quality for its expected release, which should start with handsets in the second half of the year from companies such as HTC, Motorola, LG, and Samsung. Most of these devices are understood to focus heavily on Internet access and are expected to include some models with GPS and touchscreens.