Google demos Android software

29 May 2008 09:56

At the Google I/O conference, Steve Horowitz, Android's engineering director, showed off the company's mobile-phone software

Google demonstrated its Android mobile-phone software on Wednesday at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The project, under development by Google and a number of partners in the Open Handset Alliance, is due to ship as open-source software when the first Android phones go on sale later this year. This is a view of the home screen, demonstrated by Steve Horowitz, Android's engineering director.

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Android has a central notification area where users can see incoming email, calendar reminders and missed calls. The notification service is available through a single button click on the phone's touchscreen.

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Google Maps' Street View works on Android. Using the compass built into Horowitz's phone, the view would change according to his orientation, panning left or right as he turned around.

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A swipe of the finger moves from the home screen to this view, which shows a movable clock. Here, Horowitz holds his finger on the screen to set up a shortcut link.

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The 'create shortcut' function provides a variety of choices. Clicking one produces a small icon on the Android home screen.

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An Android screen with two shortcuts: one for The New York Times web page, and another for the contact information for a person in the Android contact list.

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Android phones come with a gesture-based authentication system. You have to connect the dots in the correct order.

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A view of Gmail running on the Android phone.

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What would an Android phone be without Google search? Google is working aggressively on building infrastructure to sell ads on mobile phones, including those using Android.

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Android has a built-in zoom function that lets users magnify a part of a web page for easier reading on small screens.

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Google Maps, including this view with a satellite photo, is available on Android phones.

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More options on the home screen show a Pac-Man game and a YouTube application.

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Pac-Man in action.

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Steve Horowitz, Android's engineering director, discussed the software project and demonstrated some of its features.

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39425940,00.htm