Google Working On Wireless Home Entertainment System

[Rodimus Prime]

Where? I may have missed that, sounds like complete fabrication.

This is the Android prototype that was shown at the MWC 2008 in Barcelona:

[youtube=http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2008/android_prototype_550x385.jpg]Image[/youtube]

Where are the photos of that mythical pre-2007 no-keyboard Android phone?

And the truth hits you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1FJHYqE0RDg#t=3m04


Images from video

Sorry but Android was built to be very flexable and handle both inputs. Just the people who want to say everyone copies Apple are the ones screaming that it was an Apple clone.

This video was posted before the image leak to Gizmodo.

Also the video the guy with the touch screen states he has been living with that phone for the past 6 months which factoring in development cycles and programming cycles that would push it back before the first iPhone was announced they had been working on touch screen only device.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Do you really think that Google is just going to grab all of the information off of the STBs and DVRs? They'll have to strike a deal with the cable operators to get that information. What incentive does a Comcast have in putting Google on their STBs?

So for Google to "penetrate" this market, they'll have to pay a pretty penny to the cable operators, or share the data.

I don't think that Google has a long history of sharing their data, nor do the cable operators.

In the end, if this deal were to get done, there will be a lot of compromise and negotiations. It'll take a long time, unless a disruptive tech comes along and forces the cable operators to take action ... hmmm, what could that be?

Huh?

Do cable operators pay Motorola Mobility for the privilege for handing out their current generation of cable boxes? LOL - No. cable operators buy these boxes from motorola Mobility and then lease them to customers.

The incentive for cable operators to lease cable boxes to customers is having cable customers able to watch cable tv.

 

[KnightWRX]

It's not mythical at all. I've seen it posted around here 3 or 4 times now. It's either KnightWRX

Not me, and there's a perfectly good reason for why I will never argue such a useless thing :

- Android is software
- iPhone is a device.

You can't compare software to a device, people that do so are ridiculously inane in my point of view.

 

[gkpm]

And the truth hits you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1FJHYqE0RDg#t=3m04

So it was complete lies, as I expected.

That video was uploaded in November 2007 - 10 months after the iPhone was announced.

Also the video the guy with the touch screen states he has been living with that phone for the past 6 months which factoring in development cycles and programming cycles that would push it back before the first iPhone was announced they had been working on touch screen only device.

Did you watch the video? The device he said he had lived 6 months with was this:

As you can see, it has a keyboard. It's not the touchscreen device, he never said he had the touchscreen one for 6 months.

When he does show the touchscreen device you can see it doesn't even have a proper user interface yet:

Look closely: There's no clock (or signal bar) in that desktop! Worse, there is no on-screen keyboard anywhere to be seen! Notice how he goes out of his way during the demo to never use or show a virtual keyboard, not even on the web browser.

It's not a phone he can actually use, is it? Looks like something they are still working over the past month or so.


This isn't proof at all. Show me a touchscreen device running Android before or around the iPhone launch or cease claiming your fantasy as "truth".

 

[gkpm]

Not me, and there's a perfectly good reason for why I will never argue such a useless thing :

- Android is software
- iPhone is a device.

You can't compare software to a device, people that do so are ridiculously inane in my point of view.

No problem I can live with that, just show me Android source code for driving a full touchscreen made from around Jan 2007. Even just code to operate an on screen keyboard will be fine.

It's open source isn't it? As such the code commit history should be available..

 

[RWinOR]

This is So Cool..... What will Google think of next???? (Sarcasm)

I have been doing this for YEARS with my Apple gear.

Way to be a leader and original Google. Keep up with the catching up.

 

[sishaw]

Someones got a narrow mind...

• Search
• Maps
• Mail
• YouTube
• Docs
• Android
• Adsense
• Adwords
• Picasa
• Chrome

:

Youtube was started by someone else, became successful, and then was purchased by Google. Same with Picassa. They are not Google-originated products. Adwords isn't really a product, it's a way for mainly Google to make money. Docs, I'm sorry, is pretty half-baked.

I'll give you Search, Maps, Mails, Android, and Chrome. Pretty much the same as everyone else says.

 

[matrix07]

And the truth hits you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1FJHYqE0RDg#t=3m04


Images from video Image

That's almost ONE year after Macworld. I thought someone said there was a picture of Android with multi-touchscreen BEFORE iPhone??? so is there or is there not? Isn't it in 50 threads HERE?

 

[linux2mac]

That's almost ONE year after Macworld. I thought someone said there was a picture of Android with multi-touchscreen BEFORE iPhone???

I was under the same impression. I am curious to see that pre-iPhone Android design with a multi-touchscreen, unless it's tucked away in the unicorn closet. Apple was the first to have perfected multi-touchscreen technology on a phone as evidenced by Ballmer's famous words "[The iPhone] doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard." Imagine that, a phone without a keyboard??

 

[aerok]

I was under the same impression. I am curious to see that pre-iPhone Android design with a multi-touchscreen, unless it's tucked away in the unicorn closet. Apple was the first to have perfected multi-touchscreen technology on a phone as evidenced by Ballmer's famous words "[The iPhone] doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard." Imagine that, a phone without a keyboard??

Balmer has nothing to do with Android.

And as I told you previously many times, early Android SDKs prove that touchscreen Android devices were in the plan from the beginning.

Here is a good read for ya (Not the first time I give it to you)
http://www.osnews.com/story/25264/Did_Android_Really_Look_Like_BlackBerry_Before_the_iPhone_

 

[rdowns]

Balmer has nothing to do with Android.

Sure he does. He heads the company that makes more money from Android than Google does.

 

[aerok]

Sure he does. He heads the company that makes more money from Android than Google does.

Hmm I wonder if there are any stats on that, I have serious doubt that Microsoft makes more.

Either way, he has no say in the development of Android so Linux2Mac's comment is irrelevant.

I upranked your comment only because of your avatar.

 

[KnightWRX]

Youtube was started by someone else, became successful, and then was purchased by Google. Same with Picassa. They are not Google-originated products. Adwords isn't really a product, it's a way for mainly Google to make money. Docs, I'm sorry, is pretty half-baked.

I'll give you Search, Maps, Mails, Android, and Chrome. Pretty much the same as everyone else says.

If you want to so easily dismiss acquisition, why are you giving him Android ? That is also an acquisition.

But then again, we need to also remove the following products from Apple's portfolio if we don't count acquisitions :

- Mac OS X
- Siri
- iTunes
- A4/A5 processors
- iTunes Match
- Final Cut
- Logic
- Garageband

To a lesser extent (not an acquisition, but still one) :

- Safari

Removing acquisitions from companies, you're never left with much. That's just how the game works. Companies see smaller entities with something that might prove successful, they buy it and usually with their clout, get it done in a releasable format and market it, something the smaller company might never have been able to do.

 

[rmwebs]

Sure he does. He heads the company that makes more money from Android than Google does.

Google makes a considerable amount more just from GAPPS licensing on android devices, let alone anything else such as marketplace cuts.

 

[aerok]

Google makes a considerable amount more just from GAPPS licensing on android devices, let alone anything else such as marketplace cuts.

That is why I asked for stats after, not only GAPPS but it also indirectly contributes to the growth of Google+, Gmail, Youtube, Calendar, etc.

 

[rdowns]

I upranked your comment only because of your avatar.

I'll always treasure that.

 

[Judas1]

No problem I can live with that, just show me Android source code for driving a full touchscreen made from around Jan 2007. Even just code to operate an on screen keyboard will be fine.

It's open source isn't it? As such the code commit history should be available..

I'm tired of the old and tired argument that Apple invented everything and everyone else is just copying. I'm not going to search for and come up with the source code to disprove what you're saying. Why don't you come come out with the source code to prove what you're saying instead. Its entirely unnecessary to resort to source codes. I can show you that your argument is ridiculous without it. The most important component of smart phones are the touchscreens. The invention of the capacitive touchscreens pretty much paved the way for the design of modern smart phones. Before it, we had resistive touchscreens that were insensitive and needed a pen to navigate. Touch interface isn't new. PDAs were already prevalent at this time. So when a new touchscreen tech comes out, what do you think will happen? You're saying, of all the companies, all the engineers, and all the designers out there, nobody could put 2 and 2 together except for Apple? Continue deluding yourself.

 

[janstett]

This would be big news in 2002. Agree both Apple and Google should do UPnP/DLNA but they don't. You've been able to do this with Apple's ecosystem (Airport Express, Apple TV) for what, 8 years now?
----------

[/COLOR]

"I sure wish Apple would make a receiver." You spend $500 for a decent receiver, and the interfaces of these things are so bloody awful. There's definitely an opportunity for Apple to sweep in with a great product that has a well-designed interface.

No.

 

[kdarling]

The most important component of smart phones are the touchscreens. The invention of the capacitive touchscreens pretty much paved the way for the design of modern smart phones. Before it, we had resistive touchscreens that were insensitive and needed a pen to navigate.

Not to take away from your argument, but just a correction: we didn't need a stylus to navigate resistive screens. A few were almost as sensitive to touch as a capacitive screen.

The primary reason people used a stylus was because the onscreen clickable target elements were made very small so that more info could fit on the smaller screens of early phones.

As to the debate, it's clear that Android was originally targeting Windows Mobile which had both keyboard and touch driven versions. The non-touch Android test phone even looks like a WinMo based Motorola Q... not a Blackberry as people new to smartphones sometimes claim.

 

[KnightWRX]

Google should do UPnP/DLNA but they don't.

Uh ? Yes they do :

http://www.google.com/tv/features.html

Personal Media Support
It works with your home network and supports DLNA

 

[AppleScruff1]

Whatev. Seen this movie before.

But if it was Apple doing this you'd be singing it's praises. Right?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

No problem I can live with that, just show me Android source code for driving a full touchscreen made from around Jan 2007. Even just code to operate an on screen keyboard will be fine.

It's open source isn't it? As such the code commit history should be available..

you do know know how stupid your argument is right? Containing touchscreen code clearly has been in there a long time. The prototype device with a keyboard has touch screen controls in it.
Also open source does not mean it that code has to be released at the rate of change is made. It can be held unreleased until you choose to release it.

As for on screen keyboard to the OS the onscreen keyboard just sends the key value to the OS. The keyboard code can and often times is separate and not required to be open source.

 

[Judas1]

Not to take away from your argument, but just a correction: we didn't need a stylus to navigate resistive screens. A few were almost as sensitive to touch as a capacitive screen.

The primary reason people used a stylus was because the onscreen clickable target elements were made very small so that more info could fit on the smaller screens of early phones.

As to the debate, it's clear that Android was originally targeting Windows Mobile which had both keyboard and touch driven versions. The non-touch Android test phone even looks like a WinMo based Motorola Q... not a Blackberry as people new to smartphones sometimes claim.

Thanks for clarifying.
I have no problem giving Apple their due credit but only for things they're actually responsible for. Apple to their credit made an mobile OS specifically for the new touchscreen which was touch friendly. Before them, with windows mobile, like you said, it had tiny boxes that you needed a stylus for. But using the new touchscreens, having touchscreens dominate the phone, and primarily using a touch interface, are not things that Apple invented, despite what some people believe.

 

[*LTD*]

But if it was Apple doing this you'd be singing it's praises. Right?

Well obviously . . . if it's an Apple initiative there's more than an even chance it'll be something special and thoroughly fleshed-out. have you seen Apple over the past few years? We've already seen Google's ideas about "entertainment."

Apple and Google are two vastly different companies. In a nutshell, one of them makes User Experience a top priority, while the other one doesn't give a sweet **** about it.

Clear?

 

[gkpm]

How quickly people forget that the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, didn't even have an on-screen keyboard, it relied completely on the hardware keyboard it had.

Virtual keyboards only came to Android with an update to version 1.5 and so called "Input Modules Framework" - that's March 2009, over 2 years after Apple announced the iPhone!

Source code headers in that Android framework confirm this by stating "Copyright (C) 2008-2009 Google Inc.".

These facts are undeniable. No matter how you twist things, or show videos of rushed, unusable, prototypes filmed 10 months after the iPhone.

Obviously, as kdarling said, full screen phones were not in Google's original plans until they got their "Oh ****" moment following the iPhone success. They probably originally had thought the same as Ballmer - screen keyboards would never fly.

The funny part is Google apparently didn't learn the lesson then, and years later was still repeating the same mistake:

Exhibit A: Remote controller for Google TV