The danger of open source is that a platform becomes fragmented and the implementations can be of varying quality. Google has been talking for a year about unifying the Android user experience again, though it has been wary of clamping down too firmly on its partners’ customized activities, for fear of alienating support.
There were many reports that Android 3.0 or Honeycomb, which is currently targeted only at tablets, would impose stricter rules over the UI, even possibly restricting vendor overlays like HTC Sense and Motoblur. That has not happened and would be a dangerous game to play with powerful OEMs ‘ even Microsoft, which has taken that stance for WP7, has been forced to compromise to get Nokia on board. But for device makers further down the food chain, Google does seem to be limiting their freedom of action in order to create consistent quality standards and user experience for Android tablets ‘ but with obvious weakening of the platform’s open source credentials.
Google has decided to delay broad release of Honeycomb, a move that has reawakened fury over a ‘two-tier approach.’ Developers and OEMs claim that, in a truly open source environment, they should get equal access to new releases, but in fact, Google is restricting Honeycomb, for now, to its primary partners, such as Motorola, HTC and Samsung. This is having the knock-on effect of limiting the numbers of apps available specifically tailored to large-screen Honeycomb (there are only about 100 according to some reports).
Google said it was holding back on general release of Honeycomb’s open source code because it still had ‘more work to do’ before the OS was ready for “other device types including phones.’ But this is not just about reuniting Android, with a single version applicable to small and large screens. Many Android supporters want to use it for tablets, just like Motorola and co, but will now have to wait for an unspecified time to be able to go beyond the basic reference design. Lack of access to the code will make it harder to differentiate products and, given that there may be an update to Honeycomb before year end, they will have little time to get a return on their investment.
A large mobile vendor from Taiwan complained to EETimes: ‘Google refused to give out any information about Honeycomb, and the end result was no one could deviate from the reference design.’
Google’s aim is clearly to ensure quality control but the firm has some tough choices ahead ‘ whether to stick to its open source credentials and continue to draw on the benefits of a huge open development community; or whether to ensure that the Android brand is consistent and well regarded, like Apple’s, which means asserting full control over the platform, who can use it and what they can do to change it.
Google is not referring to any of these issues of quality versus quantity in Android vendors and devices. It insists the issues are purely technical, and center on making Honeycomb suited to the whole range of gadgets, not just tablets. In an interview with BusinessWeek, Android chief Andy Rubin indicated this could take several months to resolve.
He said: ‘To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design trade-offs. We didn’t want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones.’ So Google took a ‘shortcut’ and released an OS suited only to tablets. He added that, if Google were to open up the Honeycomb code now, it could not prevent developers from putting it on phones and ‘creating a really bad user experience. We have no idea if it will even work on phones’.
Google is probably fighting a losing battle if it seeks to assert full control over the Android user experience, a mission that would inevitably be seen as a bid to ensure pole position for its own services, branding and search box. There is a whole sub-industry growing up around UI tools for Android partners, such as the new Surface UX from MobiWire (formerly Sagem Wireless). This ‘aggregates and contextualises multiple feeds from apps and connected services to deliver an intuitive user experience that takes full advantage of Android’s multitasking capabilities,’ says the firm. Rather like WP7, it aims to limit the number of times users need to dive in and out of individual apps, instead ‘surfacing’ content on the homescreen and connecting users directly to cloud-based digital assets.
‘We are already in a post-app world where silos of data are being superseded by an aggregated, real time, multitasking user experience,’ said Jerome Nadel, EVP of user experience at MobiWire. ‘As we look beyond apps, the user interface is a dynamic environment where multiple feeds of data, content and services come together to create a definable experience.’
Patented features include the ability to tag certain apps to separate them from the user’s store and bring them closer to the homescreen, plus a ‘switcher’ for easy movement between open apps, and a menu button with personalized shortcuts that remain visible on any pane. Surface UX runs on Android 2.3 and can be used by device makers, retailers, consumer and content brands and other entities looking for a customized experience. The platform will be available on Android 3.0 tablets in the second half of the year.