Android may be a cheap and hip alternative to iPhone

For quite some time, the iPhone has been the luxury phone of choice for those who wish to be hip… For quite some time, the iPhone has been the luxury phone of choice for those who wish to be hip and constantly connected. It supports Web browsing, messaging and e-mail all over the AT’amp;T-driven wireless network. For those of us who have an iPod touch, these features are only available when Wi-Fi is accessible. For those of us who are too cheap to upgrade, these features are only available when PittNet isn’t around. Apple may have a competitor on the horizon, though. Google announced development of its Android phone operating system, powered by a Linux-based subsystem. The Android phone platform is perhaps the best example of a ‘phone for the masses’ ‘- a system specifically designed for those of us who want to be hip but don’t necessarily have the wallet capacity for it. First of all, does the Android have what it takes to elbow in toward the iPhone? It certainly seems to have the features. T-Mobile, seemingly the first carrier to accept the new Android phone as a reality, will soon release the G1, a device capable of Internet access, instant messaging, Google Maps for directions and navigation, and the ubiquitous calendar application. With a touch-screen, the G1 will give users the feeling of an iPhone. Demo videos available online suggest that the initial menu of the G1 will significantly resemble the menu of the iPhone. A large icon that the user can select with a touch of the screen will represent each application. The user needs only to touch a small icon on the bottom of the screen and drag his finger to the top of the screen to bring up the menu. The main differences between the iPhone and G1 are in the way users enter text data. In the iPhone, a ‘simulated’ keyboard ‘- a keyboard that appears on the screen ‘- is used. Clever algorithms written by Apple give iPhone users better precision when typing on their simulated keyboards ‘mdash; the added precision makes the iPhone keyboard very comfortable to most people. The G1 works more like a regular flip phone. During normal operation, the phone is straight and sleek. When a user wishes to enter large strings of data into the phone ‘mdash; for example, during e-mails or instant messaging ‘mdash; the user needs only to flip the phone to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The buttons on the G1 appear to be standard size for cell phone buttons, and the key combinations resemble those that many users have become accustomed to on the Palm Treo or Blackberry smart phones. These stylistic features are somewhat hit-or-miss with the public ‘mdash; some people might prefer the physical feedback provided by the keys on a G1. Others might prefer the sleekness of an iPhone without keys. The major selling point of the Android-based G1 is its relatively low cost. The G1, running Google’s Android operating system, is expected to retail for $179. People also expect that the Android platform will provide cost-cutting searching routines, giving the user the ability to connect to whatever network is available and cheapest to place a call or send a text message. T-Mobile has been the first to invest in the Android platform with the G1, but it may turn out that many Android users will be connecting through competing lines. The iPhone, in comparison, requires an AT’amp;T plan. The iPhone requires AT’amp;T, that is, if the user does not attempt to hack it. The Android platform, because it is based primarily on a Linux subsystem, will also give developers greater flexibility in creating and distributing software for T-Mobile G1 users. Perhaps third-party software will become more extensively available ‘mdash; and, as a result, much more cheaply available ‘mdash; for G1 rather than for Apple users. One can find demos of the Android platform all over the Internet. The Google search engine will happily take you to an applicable Web site for exploration.