Android to invade in-home gadgets during 2009?
Tech exec claims OS' use not limited to smartphones
Gadget manufacturers will launch a range of Android-based devices for use in and around the home this year, according to a touchscreen gadget company.
Touch Revolution's Nimble: an Android-based in-home "desk-phone" prototype
Bill Brown, Vice President of Marketing at US-based firm Touch Revolution, claimed that a string of famous companies have inked plans to introduce home control devices, media control devices and home phones based on the Google-developed OS this year, according to a report by Forbes.
Every device in each of the three categories will feature a touch-sensitive display measuring between 4.3 and 10in, Brown added, and connect to the web over a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
The Android-based in-home gadgets will also come in a variety of designs, including some suitable for perching on a kitchen table, tablet PC-style designs and others for embedding into walls.
While Brown didn’t name any specific companies, he claimed to know that the home control devices group will incorporate technology designed to talk to lights, locks, security systems and air conditioning units.
Android-based media control gadgets will include personal video recorders and remote controls, Brown added. He also said that the OS will be used to update the humble home phone with a range of new features, which could potentially see it used as a digital photo frame.
The Google OS’ ease of use, openness, touch-centric features and, crucially, free distribution make it a very compelling system for manufacturers, Brown said.
Although Brown said that many such gadgets will start appearing in homes before the end of 2009, his insider’s forecast should be taken with a pinch of salt. Why? Because the forecast will undoubtedly help increase interest in the firm’s own such products.
Touch Revolution has already developed a “prototype desk-phone” with 7in touch-sensitive screen that, unsurprisingly, runs on Android. While the company hasn’t said when the device – called Nimble – will be available, it’s reasonable to assume that Brown’s working towards a pre-2010 launch. ®
COMMENTS
@Wrenchy
it's worth pointing out that your example of what they have given back is exactly the example he gave of the things they have taken as their own...
google have given a lot of free services, and i use many google services on a regular basis, however it is incorrect to claim they have given us an operating system when all they have released is just yet another linux distro
"an OS free from Windows and Unix/ *nix code "
"Creating an OS free from Windows and Unix/ *nix code and would be exceedingly difficult."
Difficult, but not impossible.
An OS with Verylittle Microsoft Software (but a bit more Unix software) could exist.
One could call it V M S, and it would have been, decades ago, everything that Windows NT wanted to but never ever will be - scalable, reliable, trustworthy, even affordable and supportable.
If only HP would admit that VMS still existed.
More sensibly, if only HP would port it to relevant members of HP's very own "industry standard server" family (Proliants), as well as those HP-derived IA64-based Superdome followons.
Ummm.
> Quote from Don Mitchell:
> Google seems to take a lot from the open source movement and give very little back.
Uhhhhh. Didn't they just give the world Android and the upcoming Chrome OS and pretty much every service they have to offer? Free?
> and fell back on tired old UNIX technology.
Isn't that the more proven, secure and robust choice available? Creating an OS free from Windows and Unix/ *nix code and would be exceedingly difficult.
Am I missing something here?
"I understand BT Vision customer UI is WinCE"
"I understand BT Vision customer UI is WinCE"
I believe that statement is true, it's certainly commonly believed.
I also believe that it is only true because BT engineering/commercial management are clueless and Microsoft management were desperate for a win in the set top box market. Hence some kind of a deal was worked out between the pair of HQs. I don't suppose much money changed hands, at least not in the direction normally associated with paying for a Windows licence.
How many Linux-based gadgets are in the average home today (visibly or invisibly)? A router, a NAS box, a TV, a satnav, a phone, etc...
How many WinCE based gadgets are in the average home today? There's no reason to use WinCE if it's invisible, so maybe we're looking at a satnav and a smartphone.
And why *not* have android as the OS in a few more gadgets? Better that than WinCE... where's the reset button...
want one with DSL
that would be great an' all if it was a "landline" phone with a DSL modem, with a few ethernet prts in the back, so as to double up as a router.
Oh, and cheap.
Kind of like an "Amstrad em@iler for the modern age.
