Two bits of news for Android advocates to celebrate today. Donut, the next update for Android, is approaching and details are beginning to emerge. The most recent release from Android is about the Market app store. And following yesterdays news that the Pulse will soon be available in the UK from T-Mobile, O2 has announced an Android device of it’s own: the Samsung Galaxy.
Android Market update:
This release isn’t hugely informative – it’s really more to let Android tell it’s users it is listening to their requests. In response to criticisms that the Market isn’t all that easy to use, Android has release this video showing some updates to the service, including allowing developers to provide screenshots of the apps and organising them into sub-categories:
There is still no word on the actual release date for the Donut 1.6 update. We’ll just have to wait.
Via Engadget
The Samsung Galaxy:
The Galaxy is the first Android device to come from Samsung, and was announced back in April. Now it’s coming to the UK exclusively from O2. Well, it’ll be exclusive to O2 for a couple of weeks, at least. By the start of October, it’s a free for all.
Is it any good? Yeah, it’s a very decent device. It has a 3.2 inch touchscreen, a 5GB camera, access to the Market app store, high-speed 3G capabilities and full Web browsing capabilities. Combining internal memory and SD cards, you can get up to 40GB of storage on it. Frankly, it’s everything you could hope for from a smartphone.
How about the price? Only details for the O2 contract have been released so far, and it is selling the device for free on a 45 pounds sterling per month contract. The same deal on a 32GB iPhone 3GS would set you back over 70 pounds per month. Does that make up for the much slimmer selection of apps available? That’s up to you, really.
What we think?
The physical design/layout of the smartphones was pretty much nailed down by the iPhone on the first go. There has been very little change to that. The biggest differences you get these days are whether or not there are additional buttons below the screen (like the Pulse) or a slide-out keyboard (like the N97). Much more important to most consumers is how easy the UI is to navigate, and what mind of software you can get for the device.
And Android is starting to gain on the iPhone in both areas. Regular, free updates like Cupcake and Donut will make sure that any UI problems get ironed out frequently. And the longer Android is available, the more apps are being being released for it.
The third big question for consumers is how expensive is the device? Android is going to consistently out-perform iPhone in that regard. There are so many devices coming for Android from so many different manufacturers that the prices are highly competitive right out of the gate. As opposed to Apples monopoly, which has lead to gradual but begrudging price reductions.
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