The ethos of open source looks like it’s going to be carried to the mainstream on the wings of the Google Android. It’s been announced that the first phones to use the Android software will be released in the USA in October, and it is believed that the first manufacturer to be offering it will be HTC and through the T-Mobile network.
The HTC Dream, as it is believed to be called, will include a touch screen and will have all of the core applications that Android offers (mail client, contact address book, and so on). What’s more, and because all applications are coded in Java and as open source software, there is bound to be a mass of applications available in a short space of time.
The HTC Dream is also said to include a QWERTY keyboard so it would seem that it’s going to be a smartphone presumably designed to fully take advantage of the open source framework. The initial core applications look functional and varied but the biggest potential advantage is the fact that it’s open source – if you’re familiar with Java then you can even knock out a couple of applications yourself.
