Smartphones getting smarter

SMARTPHONES are getting smarter than ever, and Google forsee more innovations are coming to the mobile operating systems (OSes).

According to Google Southeast Asia's head of marketing, Derek Callow, today's smartphones are now more powerful than computers were just a few decades ago, which means that with a good data connection, people can now access the power of a million computers right from their pocket. "We want to take advantage of these trends by innovating on the unique features a phone offers that regular desktop computers don't have," he said.

"Phones have become very sophisticated and next year five billion mobile phones will be in the market. Our goal is to build innovative mobile apps that work seamlessly across platforms, such as Goggles, Voice Search, Latitude and Maps for mobile," he said.

For example, phones have eyes through their built-in cameras, allowing us to develop products like Goggles so one can search the web through images.

Or transforming the microphone one normally use to talk with his/her friends, into a way for you to easily speak a search term into your phone. "We want to create compelling - almost magical - mobile applications across all platforms and devices so that users can easily access information wherever they might be," he added.

Commenting on the trends for mobile OS and the mobile phone market in Malaysia, Callow said the number of people accessing and searching the Web from their mobile phones is on the increase as more people use Android-powered devices and other mobiles and operating systems. "And increased adoption means more web searches and more opportunities for advertising revenue and growth.

This in turn, creates a better, more innovative web, whether people access it via PC or mobile, which is a win-win situation for all parties," he said. According to the latest third-party statistics, Malaysia achieved a 218 percent increase in mobile advertising revenue this year compared to 2009, garnering an overall growth of 103 percent in 2010.

"This increase not only holds true for Malaysia, but most parts of the world as well. With more than half of all new Internet connections now coming from mobile phones, mobile has quickly become a critical part of our business, and will continue to do so in 2011," said Callow. As for Android, the OS is delivered via a global partnership network of 27 OEMs and 169 carriers in 96 countries with 300,000 daily Android activations.

The OS now has over 100,000 apps. From an unknown operating system a couple of years back, Google Android is getting much attention these days among smartphone phone and tablet computer users. As of January this year, there are over 145 compatible Android devices around the world with global partnership network of 27 OEMs and 169 carriers in 96 countries and 300,000 daily activations.

"This is a long way from when we first introduced the first Android-powered device, the T-Mobile G1, in October 2008. We’re obviously very pleased by Android’s success, which is largely because it’s open source, so anyone can use it in their devices," he said. He said Google is fully committed the development in the mobile space.

"We have teams across the globe working to optimise Google’s products across all platforms and devices. We are also working on new innovations, such as Google Goggles and Voice Search, to take advantage of the unique features mobile devices offer," he added. What makes Android different is that it is open.

"The openness of Android drives innovation for developers, who can utilise its open source platform to create apps that cater to the needs of users, and for handphone manufacturers, who can use the flexibility Android provides to customise the experience on their devices," says Callow. "The more users become familiar with how the Android operating system on their phone can make the phone more powerful and yet easier to use, the more platform providers and handset manufacturers will need to innovate and compete to give users what they want. This will mean mobile phones should get better and better," he said.

There is also the appeal of App Inventor, a new tool in Google Labs that makes it easy for anyone, programmers and non-programmers, professionals and students, to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices. "For many people, their mobile phone and access to the Internet is always within reach. App Inventor for Android gives everyone, regardless of programming experience, the opportunity to control and reshape their communication experience," said Callow.

For the upcoming Android version that is Honeycomb, Goolge is said has optimised it for tablet form factors, featuring a brand new user interface designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes. "It also improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customisation. It will also feature the latest Google Mobile innovations including Google Maps 5.0 with 3D interaction, access to over three million Google eBooks, and Google Talk with video and voice chat," said Callow.

The other new verion Gingerbread, or Android 2.3, comes with a more refined user interface across the system, making it easier to learn, faster to use, and more power-efficient. There’s also faster, more intuitive text input and a redesigned soft keyboard for faster text input and editing, an updated set of standard applications that lets the user take new approaches to managing information and relationships and improved power management.

"Because they’re open source, Android availability in a country is determined by phone makers, not Google. It’s also up to the phone manufacturer to decide which version of Android to use on their products, whether device or tablet," he said.