First look: Google's Android

Did you miss DailyTechRag's online coverage of Google's big mobile announcement last week? For shame! Here's the quick lowdown, in case you're adverse to clicking on links: Google announced a mobile partnership called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) with a number of high-profile partners including Intel, Synaptics, Marvell, Qualcomm, Motorola, Samsung, T-Mobile, Sprint, Skype, LG, HTC and DoCoMo. The OHA's first product will be Android, an open-source, next-gen mobile OS that will be offered to handset manufacturers free of charge. The catch? Android--like all of Google's other products--will be ad-supported.

At any rate, details on the OS were hazy at the time, with Google offering tantalizingly few details as to what the OS will look and feel like. Luckily, today marks the release date of the official SDK (software development kit) to developers and with that SDK comes the first peek at Android. As part of the SDK, Google has offered a series of videos to developers that demonstrate what Android is capable of. Looks like the initial reports were right: Android is very iPhone-like in a number of ways and even sports an almost identical, webkit-based browser and a suspiciously Cover Flow-like history interface. That aside, it looks very user-friendly and seems to be an extremely powerful platform, with support for 3G, touchscreens and full 3D graphics. The real selling point, however, will be the platform's open-source underpinnings. If the carriers allow customers to load their own applications on to Android devices, Android could become the enterprise platform of choice for those looking to write custom business apps.

For more on Android:
- watch these video demos
- and read last week's article and round-up of industry reactions