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Confused by Android? You will be.

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By Martin Bryant on September 29, 2009

When it comes to all things mobile, simplicity is king. Simple UIs, easy-to-use handsets and uncomplicated games are all ideal when you’re on the move.

The runaway success of the iPhone can be partly put down to the fact that it’s both simple and powerful.

Google’s open source Android mobile OS looks like it may be sacrificing its ease of use as it fragments into an increasing number different versions.

To date Android has been promoted to the public as an iPhone-rivalling mobile experience with Google services at its heart. The thing is, an increasing number of versions of the OS are being developed that deviate from that simple description.

Here are some of the different versions currently available.

• Google Experience handsets like the G1 use the ‘official’ Google version of Android. They get over-the-air software updates and provide the full suite of integrated Google services.
• Some handsets with modified UIs are starting to appear. HTC and Motorola may have built better looking ways to use Android but you won’t be able to download official Android updates from Google, you’ll have to wait for the handset manufacturer to sort that out for you.
• Android based computers such as the Archos 5 Internet Tablet will most-likely run highly customised Android builds. Archos, for example, will have its own app store instead of the standard Google one.
• There’s an active community of homebrew OS modders creating their own versions of Android. One popular mod, Cyanogen, has been put on hold thanks to Google objecting to its apps being distributed with it. As a result an Open Android Alliance (as opposed to Google’s own Open Handset Alliance) is aiming to create open source alternatives to the parts of Android that aren’t open source –  Google Maps, GTalk, the Youtube client and the like. Install one of these mods and you won’t get any Google content at all.

So, the first Android handset is less than a year old and already we’re seeing the OS split into numerous directions. What does this mean for the average consumer? Confusion.

As time goes on, these different development strands are likely to get further apart and become increasingly incompatible. Even if they run standard Android apps, they may well fail to deliver what consumers have been told to expect from Android.

Will a particular handset run all Android apps? Will it work seamlessly with your Google account? Will the UI be familiar? Will the OS update automatically? Consumers have to double check these things before buying an Android device.

With the iPhone’s global reach expanding ever further, the Palm Pre starting to reach out beyond the USA and Nokia doing very interesting things with the N900, Android may start to lose its appeal in the face of its rivals’ simplicity.

While Android is highly attractive to developers and hardware manufacturers thanks to its cost-effectiveness and openness, as a consumer brand it is looking increasingly weak.

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Martin Bryant Co-founder, Social Media Café Manchester
Martin Bryant is based in Manchester, UK. A co-founder of the city's monthly Social Media Cafe events and award-winning blogger, he trains young people in broadcast and social media skills and produces digital media in the education sector. His main interests are developments in the social web that relate to the mobile and music industries. Twitter, Blog, FriendFeed

This week in new cell phones--photos

You can count on the week following Labor Day to deliver a fresh crop of new cell phones. And without a doubt, this year delivered. See all the new models, from the flashy to the boring, in our photo gallery. And in case you missed our coverage, here's a list of the new handsets with links to the full details.

Motorola Cliq
Palm Pixi
HTC Touch Pro2 (Verizon Wireless)
HTC Tattoo
Nokia 7705 Twist
Samsung Rogue
Samsung Intensity
Samsung SGH-T659
Samsung M240
Samsung Freeform

In the mobile OS world, Google’s Android is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely. The success of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone / iPod Touch is often measured by how many apps have already been developed for the platform (around 70,000), but since Google doesn’t disclose exactly how many apps are available through Android Market it was difficult to compare the two on that particular level.

But thanks to AndroLib, which provides a useful website where you can browse Android apps from your computer (unlike the Android Market website), we can conclude that there are currently at least 10,000 applications and games available on the platform today.

AndroLib’s latest stats show a total of 10,072 apps that were crawled by their system, the majority of which were free (64.2% to be exact).

The company is first to admit that there are probably more than the 10,000 applications they can track, but says there’s no better way to get an idea of how many applications are currently in the Android Market. The only time that type of information was disclosed that I can remember is when T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman told PC World back in May that there were 2,300 applications in total available for the platform at that time.

Going by both numbers, that means the Android market has grown 4.4 times in size in just four months.

For the record, the Android Market was first announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users less than a year ago, on 22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for US users and developers in the US and UK in mid-February 2009, and UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.

CrunchBase Information

Android

Information provided by CrunchBase

"Google Android fans can now buy the new T-Mobile MyTouch 3G at 4,000 Radio Shack stores nationwide. The price will remain the same ($199), but you'll be able to purchase the phone, sign a contract, pay your upgrade fee and pick up that plug adapter that you've been meaning to get. Radio Shack, which annoyingly calls itself "The Shack," has long carried smartphones from most major carriers, but this is the first time it will offer an Android handset." ... more info at link