Google’s launching Android 2.0 (“Eclair”) today, an upgraded version of the previous Android 1.6 OS, released just weeks ago. Tomorrow Verizon will unveil its new Android phones, including the Motorola Droid (Sholes) and the HTC Desire, says Engadget.
What’s the difference between T-Mobile’s CLIQ and Verizon’s Droid?
- The Motorola Droid/Sholes on Verizon (specs), reportedly runs Google’s Android 2.0 operating system and features a metal chassis, large 3.7-inch capacitive display (854 by 480 pixels); 5-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus and video recorder; GPS; Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 2.0; and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It uses a Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor, the same processor as the Palm Pre. The OMAP3430 features a 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor).
- The Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile (specs) is available now through T-Mobile and currently runs on the earlier Android 1.6 OS. It’s a smaller phone with a 3.1-inch 320-by-480-pixel capacitive touch display, a 5-megapixel camera and 3.5-mm headphone jack. It uses a Qualcomm 528MHz MSM 7201A ARM processor, similar to current Android phones. The HTC Desire will not apparently be shipped with Android 2.0, but an upgrade seems likely.
Changes in Android 2.0 include:
- Support for multiple Google and Exchange accounts
- Third-party “sync adapters” allow apps to tie in to the phone’s sync services
- Quick contact menus for fast access to specific key pieces of contact information
- Unified email inbox
- SMS and MMS search
- Text message auto-delete after a user-defined thread size is reached
- Significantly improved camera controls with white balance, macro, effects, and more
- Improved keyboard layout, dictionary, and algorithm based on multi-touch support
- Double-tap zoom in browser, support for HTML5
- Bluetooth 2.1 support with addition of OPP and PBAP profiles
- “Better” graphics hardware acceleration
Android 2.0 (Release 1) is also announcing Software Development Kit support, so developers can start targeting the new platform.
Meanwhile, the iTunes’ app store has more than 101,000 approved apps and over 93,000 are available now, according to AppShopper, an app-related web site. In September, Apple reported nearly 2 billion apps had been downloaded with 85,000 apps available in its store. By contrast, the Android Market reports some 10,000 applications.
At the moment, Android accounts for 3 percent of the smartphone market, but more than 75 million Android handsets will ship in 2012, according to Gartner Research, making Google’s mobile operating system the second most popular smartphone OS behind Symbian.
