Android and WinMo updates going head-to-head The rivalry between Android and Windows Mobile looks set to heighten, with Google and Microsoft both poised to release updates for their mobile operating systems. Android 2.0 – aka Éclair – only recently began filtering through onto mobile devices. Its successor, version 2.1, has now been uncovered, thanks to the release of a …
Really does go to show "you cant polish a turd". It seems any UI based on original stylus input needs to be binned as it just does not scale to multi-touch, and multi-touch seems to be winning the market (im no fanboi I loved my old Palm PDA but it wouldn't scale up work on "touch").
It will be interesting to see if the PC makers (including Apple) realise this when the make Tablets, will they try to squeeze a PC UI into a tablet form factor, or will they start form scratch. We will see (Firstly on 26th Jan maybe?)
It might be out of date and decidedly rough around the edges (okay, it IS), but my WinMo device has had animated (live) wall-papers (currently with animated weather) and text-to-speech allowing me to search for music or send a text for ages. There are SOME advantages to having an open platform.
I've also been running 6.5.3 for quite a while. Bizarrely, despite the naming, whilst 6.1-6.5 was barely noticeable, 6.5-6.5.3 is quite a major improvement. Though I still don't hold out much hope for Windows Mobile. The device manufacturers and service providers are like rats abandoning a sinking ship. It's becoming nigh-on impossible to get a WinMo device from any of the big four/five service providers.
"Android 2.1’s other tweaks include creation of active/living wallpapers – something borrowed from Windows 7, perhaps? – and a 3D-enabled picture gallery."
Not to pick holes but Windows 7 wasn't even the first windows version to use a video wallpaper, never mind the first operating system to implement an interactive background. Not sure why it would be suggested as a borrowed feature from Win 7.
I guess next a list of scrollable application icons was borrowed from the iPhone*.
* can sigh in relief knowing I have done my part in bringing an iPhone reference on an article that left out this recently required word on all elreg articles
... will this be available on the G2 - what was marketed as "the Google phone"? I've been stuck on 1.6 since it was pushed out in September.
Please Google, if you're going to release an update to an OS, allow people already using an earlier version to upgrade! Don't leave it to the operator as they know jack-all - only how to sell the things and keep the voice and texts flowing.
I wouldn't want to buy a brand new PC to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, so why should I with a phone?
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