Google Android Prototype In the Wild
Here's the first gorgeous shot of an Google Android prototype in the wild. It looks HTC-ish in build, similar to the grainy versions we've seen in the official videos and the renderings in the SDK emulator. Our source, a Giz reader …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's Android effort has been software-only so far: the early look SDK landed on November 12, 2007, giving developers an emulator but no device to aim at. This sighting is the first hint of what that code will run on.
The photographed handset appears to be HTC-built — unconfirmed, since the source is a reader tip rather than Google or HTC — and its shape tracks the renderings already shipping inside the SDK emulator. If the match holds, Google's reference design and its manufacturing partner are being revealed through leaks rather than announcements.
First-order effects
- Developers working from the November SDK gain a concrete hardware target: a real handset whose form factor matches the emulator they are already coding against.
Second-order effects
- HTC's position as the apparent launch manufacturer — still unconfirmed — puts other Open Handset Alliance members on notice that one partner will define the platform's first physical impression.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps pairing an open SDK with a dictated reference design, handset makers shift from owning their own software stacks to competing on hardware execution atop Google's platform.
The trend: Android is crossing from downloadable SDK to physical hardware, with leak-driven reveals standing in for Google's own product announcements.