The Android Developer Challenge is a two-part contest whose goal is to encourage developers to build apps for the new Google mobile platform, code-named “Android.” In this first round, dubbed “Challenge I,” submissions were accepted up until April 14th. Yesterday, the top 50 entries were announced. Each of these application authors received $25,000 to fund further development of their app.
What do you want your cell phone to be able to do? Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Hal Abelson put that question to about 20 computer science students this semester when he gave them one assignment: Design a software program for cell phones that use Google Inc.’s upcoming Android mobile operating system.
In the process, they revealed the power of an open system like Android to shake up the mobile phone industry, where wireless companies are being pressured to loosen the control they have maintained over what devices do. If the brainstorms of these MIT students are an indication, phones will soon challenge the Internet as a source of innovation.
In an article by the Dow Jones Newswire, Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile’s broadband and new business division, said he had already seen prototypes of the company’s Android-based phone, which are scheduled to ship in this year’s final quarter. He goes on to state that T-Mobile may offer more than one product based on Android…
“I’m impressed,” Sims said. “We will have more than one product…(The move to an open platform) will be innovation across the board, not just one device.”
The bit-twiddlers over at elinux.org have posted a howto and intall guide on getting Google’s Android OS up and running on a Nokia N810 tablet. If you’re feeling ambitious and the thought of spending a few hours of your life messing with ARM926 drivers doesn’t deter you, head over to the guide here with binaries and instructions available.
Update: elinux.org apprears to be having some server issues. you can view a cached page here.
The BBC recently got to sit down with Androids Creator, Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms. The resulting article is a little broad and light on tech details given its audience target, but it does include a nice accompanying video that shows how well Android is performing on mid-range hardware. It also shows some of the touchscreen specific features and a demo of Google street view working on a mobile device.
PhoneMag was able to catch a demo of the Google Android OS running on a reference phone with a touchscreen at the WMC. The demo hardware is a E28’s E2831 quadband GSM smartphone, with WiFi, a 2.2-inch QVGA touchscreen and 1.3-megapixel camera all running on an OMAP TI 730 chipset, at just 200MHz,. Given the older specs, Android seemed to run pretty well in the video demo.
Engadget has snapped a bunch of pictures of a Google Android Handset protype on display at the Mobile World Congress going on this week in Barcelona. Texas Instruments had the handset you see above — from an unknown vendor — to demo the OS running on an OMAP 3430 processor at 500 MHz.
CrunchGear and PDAExpertos are also there and have posted quick hands-on videos, which we have embedded after the break.
In yet another sudden shift, Verizon Wireless plans to support Android, Google’s new software platform for cell phones and other mobile devices. Verizon Wireless had been one of several large cellular carriers withholding support from the Android initiative Google launched in early November.
LinuxDevices has published a hands-on article that introduces the Google Android Linux/Java mobile phone SDK (software development kit). After a tour of Android’s tools, documentation, and code samples, it suggests a path for further exploration and concludes with a simple applet showing the power and simplicity of the Android environment.
By most accounts, the success of the new Android mobile platform will depend on how well it is received by the open-source community. Android was launched recently by a Google-led alliance, and positive reactions — as well as some cautionary notes — are now appearing.
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May 13th, 2008 by 
Chief
The Android Developer Challenge is a two-part contest whose goal is to encourage developers to build apps for the new Google mobile platform, code-named “Android.” In this first round, dubbed “Challenge I,” submissions were accepted up until April 14th. Yesterday, the top 50 entries were announced. Each of these application authors received $25,000 to fund further development of their app. 
Comment » Posted in Android, Mobile Linux 
What do you want your cell phone to be able to do? Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Hal Abelson put that question to about 20 computer science students this semester when he gave them one assignment: Design a software program for cell phones that use Google Inc.’s upcoming Android mobile operating system.
In 
