Android Hands-On Video: It's Fast, It's Still Not There
We have been playing with the Android prototypes scattered through the Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona. ARM had theirs running on one of their lower-end processors. No fancy graphics demos, no iPhone-style multimedia fizzbang …
Context & Ripple Effects
Android has moved quickly from rumor to hardware: after a prototype surfaced in the wild in December 2007 and USA Today profiled the first device in January 2008, Google is now showing working Android phones on the floor of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona — a debut broad enough that the BBC, AFP, and CrunchGear all filed their own hands-on accounts the same day.
The verdict from those hands-ons is consistent: Android is fast, but it lacks what Gizmodo calls iPhone-style multimedia fizzbang. Notably, one of the most-watched demos runs on an ARM lower-end processor, which matters because it suggests Google intends the platform to reach down the price ladder rather than compete only at the top.
First-order effects
- ARM gets a flagship software proof point: its low-end silicon can run Android smoothly enough for live demos, strengthening its pitch to handset makers targeting cheaper devices.
- Google's carrier and OEM partners at MWC now have public, touchable evidence of Android's state of readiness — fast performance confirmed, multimedia polish still missing ahead of planned handset launches.
Second-order effects
- Rival mobile platforms face pressure to match a free OS whose hardware floor keeps dropping; if Android runs well on low-end ARM chips, incumbents' premium-licensed models are squeezed from below.
- The missing multimedia polish becomes the benchmark every subsequent Android prototype is judged against, with reviewers explicitly measuring it against the iPhone rather than against other Linux phones.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, smartphone operating systems split into two competitive axes — raw responsiveness versus media experience — forcing platform makers to differentiate on integration quality rather than feature lists.
- Widespread syndication of prototype hands-ons by mainstream outlets like BBC and AFP signals that phone software itself is becoming consumer news, raising the stakes of every future Android milestone.
The trend: Mobile operating systems are entering a phase where open platforms demoed at industry events compete directly with Apple's integrated model, with hardware cost as the differentiator.