As noted in a previous post, the gPhone, if it is developed, will incorporate the Android platform. The open source platform, developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance is along the same concept as Linux—a free source whose code can be modified and freely distributed by anyone who knows how to do that sort of thing.
In watching a demonstration video of phones using the Android platform, the different applications are very exciting. The aim, according to the video, is to use this platform to develop limitless numbers of “uPhones”—phones that will be completely customizable by the users in terms of what you need and want it to do.
The platform is planned to be run on a 3G wireless network, the same as the 3G iPhone that’s expected to debut sometime this summer. No single phone is expected to have the Android platform, which is perhaps why talk of an actual gPhone has died down.
Another fun feature is a virtual web browser history, akin to what we saw last year in all those promising MS Vista ads of the cascading windows. This is another feature that is a variation on the iPod and iTunes software that lets you do a visual scroll through album covers and the like.
The Android platform will also be able to mix 3D and 2D graphics, so you can play first-person shooter games on your phone! If that isn’t good living, I don’t know what is!