"Android" Phones Unveiled, but Still Half-Baked

As promised, British chipmaker ARM and several other manufacturers are showing off their prototype "Android" devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. The verdict so far? Google's mobile Android platform looks solid, but we're probably months—and months—away from a retail Android phone.

Gizmodo got a hands-on with ARM's prototype: a white, BlackBerry-like smartphone mockup running on an aging ARM9 processor. From the looks of Gizmodo's video, the Android OS looks relatively speedy and slick, complete with a row of scrolling icons at the bottom of the screen for SMS messaging, Gmail, contacts, Web browser, application, and the like. Nice—and a good demonstration of how Android might run on a phone with only so-so horsepower—but not exactly envy-inducing.

Meanwhile, PhoneMag.com has a video of Qualcomm's Android prototype: an ungainly rig with a WVGA (800 by 480-pixel) display soldered onto a bulky, exposed circuit board—clearly, not something that'll fit in a jeans pocket. Still, the PhoneMag bloggers were impressed by the speedy Web browser and a demo of a spinning, 3D globe. Also of note: a home screen with a grid of tiny icons, versus the single scrolling row on ARM's prototype, highlighting the flexibility of the Android platform for phone developers.

Finally, PhoneMag checked out an Android prototype from Texas Instruments, this time running on an ARM11 processor (the chip family that powers such handsets as the Nokia N95 and the iPhone). As with ARM, TI had its prototype running in a generic-looking smartphone shell, along with the same scrolling row of icons on the home screen. However, TI managed to show off some videos on the phone's QVGA screen (including the trailer for "Mission: Impossible"), as well as a reasonably slick MP3 player. PhoneMag also learned that TI had another Android prototype capable of delivering HD video.

All well and good, but when will we see Android-based phones on store shelves? Well, based on the rough-hewn prototypes on display at Barcelona, we're probably looking at the end of 2008, at least. LG told Reuters that it'll have an Android phone on sale by early 2009 "at the latest," while phone makers such as HTC have said they're hoping to launch Android phones sometime this year.

Related:
Android Hands-On Video: It's Fast, It's Still Not There [Gizmodo]
Android at MWC: Hands-on with Qualcomm, ARM and TI [PhoneMag.com]