This Thursday, Reuters had a news about ARM to demonstrate a prototype of Google Android mobile phone platform in action during the Mobile World Congress 2008 this monday in Barcelona. ARM, the British chip designer, got 7 billion from 10 billion chips shipped into mobile devices.

ARM will be showing advanced technology enabling the “Full Web in Your Pocket” experience, including the latest ARM® Cortex™ family of processors; the ARM Mali™ graphics stack; and the newest RealView® development tools. ARM technology is powering over 90 percent of the handsets on display at Mobile World Congress 2008, including graphics-rich, large-format, low-power Mobile Internet Devices.

We got the confirmation from ARM, if there will be really an Android phone to be shown Monday :

“ARM will have a demonstration of an ARM Powered prototype of the Android platform from the Open Handset Alliance.” an ARM spokesperson told Open Handset Magazine.

Currently there is no image or photo to show, but visitors of the Mobile World Congress 2008 will have the chance to see the first Android-based mobile phone powered by ARM. We will keep you updated as soon as we get more information.

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Japan is one of the most interesting market for mobile marketing, a market which is expected to grow to over $24 billion worldwide in 2013, jumping from just $1.8 billion in 2007, according to ABI Research. NTT DoCoMo and Google partnership announcement came mainly to reinforce Google position in this mobile advertising market, and possibly to bring Android based handsets to the Japanese market.

NTT DoCoMo is one of leading mobile communications companies worldwide, Headquartered in Tokyo, and is owner of i-mode, the world’s most popular mobile e-mail/Internet service, used by nearly 48 million people.

The company provides already a set of Handsets in collaboration with handset manufacturers such Fujitsu, including : Raku-Raku PHONE Basic, Secure 3G FOMA F903iBSC, 3G FOMA 703i Series, D800iDS and SO903iTV.

According to a new study by Mobile Consumer Behavior, outlining key challenges and success factors for the Open Handset Alliance :

Google’s Android is the first legitimate attempt to re-create the success of Japan’s “Wireless Ecosystem” model within the context and realities of international mobile markets. If successful, Google could spark unprecedented innovations within mobile content, service and application development, yet a number a critical factors stand in the way of such success.

Google is facing a big challenge in the Japanese Mobile Marketing Market first, then to reproduce this wireless ecosystem worldwide. Dr. Philip Sugai, Director of the Mobile Consumer Lab at the International University of Japan and lead author of MCB report, stated :

“Although Symbian and Microsoft have offered the most stinging criticisms of Google’s Android, Google’s next (and most) critical challenge at this early stage of development actually lies in how it will address MontaVista, and galvanize the mobile Linux development movement. Without successfully accomplishing this goal, Android will become obsolete within 2008, never ever leveling a substantial competitive threat against either Symbian or Microsoft.”

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Monday January 21, 2008, Buglabs launched its first gadgets to assemble and create your own mobile phone in the same way we create mashups for the web. BUG inlcude a BUGBase and modules that you can assemble like a lego. The BugBase is a fully programmable GNU/Linux computer with 4 expansion slots for inserting modules, and you can find currently four modules available :

• UGview, a full-color, hi-res, touch-sensitive LCD screen.
• BUGmotion, a motion detector and an accelerometer.
• BUGlocate, a GPS receiver.
• BUGcam2MP, a 2 megapixel digital camera.

We asked about runing Android on BUG devices, and Jeremy Toeman, “the marketing guy” for Bug Labs, told us : “While we are not 100% sure Android runs natively on the BUG platform, from everything we’ve read it seems like it should. When we have the final production hardware we’ll find out quite quickly - I have a feeling the developer community will get fairly active in this area!”

This will be defintely a great gadget if we could get Android running on it.

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A la mobile, leading Linux systems platform and open source technology company for mobile devices, announced this week the first Android platform running on HTC Qtek 9090 advanced smartphone. Application demonstrated include : browser, phone dialer, audio player, maps, camera, games, calendar, contacts manager, calculator, tasks manager and notes. Below a screenshot of the a la mobile Android-based demo phone :

While all rumors and breaking news were about HTC to provide the first Android phones, a la mobile confirmed this orientation and got better : the first HTC phone using a complete mobile Linux stack based on Android.

“While mobile Linux has made steady progress in the industry since 2006, Google’s advocacy with the unveiling of the Android framework further substantiates the position of Linux as a major mobile operating system alongside Windows Mobile and Symbian,” said Pauline Lo Alker, President and CEO of a la Mobile, Inc. “However, despite the market enthusiasm about Google Android, many questions remain concerning the technical details, and skepticism exists concerning its readiness. As the leader in mobile Linux, we believe it is our responsibility to take the initiative to allay the ‘mystery’ and dispel any skepticism surrounding Android by first demonstrating a complete mobile Linux system stack, including drivers, middleware, and a suite of Android-based applications running on an existing advanced smartphone manufactured by one of the premier handset vendors in the market.”

It’s true that there are many missing information about Android platform itself until today, but according to a la mobile they are providing a complete mobile stack solution : device drivers, Linux kernel, system utilities, mobile middleware (such as security, device management, provisioning, etc.), an application framework (Android) that supports JAVA services, browser, and miscellaneous applications for the end device.

“Despite the open-source nature of the Android framework, developing a complete mobile system solution with customized, differentiated features continues to present major technical challenges requiring considerable time, effort, and resources — a barrier and reach beyond the scope of many handset vendors,” continues Alker. “Our mission is to remove the complexity for handset vendors and mobile operators to enable them to accelerate their device time-to-market, ensure high quality while reducing total development and device costs. The experience we have gained in putting together this demo will enable us to trim a device’s time-to-market by at least half!”

About A la mobile

Founded in 2005, a la Mobile has already established itself as the leader in developing and delivering one-stop, commercial-grade complete Linux system stacks for mobile devices: integrated, customized, certified, supported and maintained. The Company’s first Linux system offering - Convergent Linux Platform (CLP) version 1.0 - based on the Qt application framework by Trolltech, was first introduced in 2006 and adopted by several handset vendors.

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Unwiredview posted about what it appears to be the first Google phone. According to a Forbes article mentionning some of the phone specifications, the phone is an HTC Omni Communicator which was planned for this year using Windows mobile 6, then delayed to 2008, to get Android ready on it. According to Forbes :

The phone, code-named “Dream” inside Google, looks somewhat like Apple’s iPhone: It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen. Unlike the iPhone, the screen is also time-sensitive: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you’re controlling expands. The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)

First HTC Omni with a Windows key in its keyboard

Some of the known features of the HTC Omni include the 32 bit Qualcomm MSM7200 Chipset, in addition to a 800 x 480 px TFT 262 color touchscreen, and a querty keyboard 65 keys, but defintely without the Windows button. More features include :

• 256 MB ROM
• 128 RAM
• GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850, UMTS1900, UMTS2100 connectivity
• CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA data support
• SDIO, microSD, TransFlash expansion slots
• USB 2.0 client, 60Mbit/s , USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 802.11b, 802.11g
• NMEA 0183 , 20 channels built-in GPS
• 3.1 Mpx camera with LED flash
• 640×480 VGA secondary camera
• Dimensions: 81 x 130 x 16 mm

These are the known features of the first revealed HTC Omni, but there will be probably changes before seeing the Handset in second half 2008 running with Android. Hoping to see more teasers of this new gadget, because from the current pictures only we really can’t see much.

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