Today we had the last even of the Android Developer Labs ADL 2010 in Hong Kong – hosted by Google for free! I attended and I was more than surprised about how many Android developers and interested people actually showed up. Traditionally, the development community in Hong Kong is very small. Check out a part of the long registration line here:

And that’s actually after half of the participants already checked in. The venue was considerably crowded and I would say nearly 80% of the available seats were taken.

Below at the left side you can see a banner of the Hong Kong Google Technology User Group. Seems to sound like a nice idea, if you want to know about that, check it out here: Hongkong GTUG

As I didn’t follow previous ADL events I didn’t know that every registered participant gets a free Nexus One. To my surprise, Google had a big box with loads of N1 devices and I got another one – for free! Check out the developers lining up for the free Nexus One:

Below you can see all these dudes with white Nexus One boxes.

Nice event Google! The best step is definitely to give developers free phones. You can have the best simulator / emulator, but it is always a different experience when you run your application on a real phone. This is very important proper mobile application development. You need to use your application on a real phone – only then you figure out what you actually did wrong. Google definitely understood this. Thanks Google.

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• ADL 2010 on Twitter

Just some days ago we wrote about the Dream G2 Phone “Made in China” that looks like Android but isn’t one.

On that same show I took a flyer with their product showcase and it listed not just the fake Android phone. Bluelans actually plans to publish a real Android powered mobile phone in July 2009. At least that’s what they told me. I am not sure if they can hold their roadmap and release but it would be great to have another Android on the market! When I saw the fake one I first thought: “Why don’t they just take the free Android OS and put it on a phone rather than using a crappy Chinese OS and lots of programmers to wirte a fake Android User Interface?

Anyway, here is the data of the upcoming N12 SciPhone from Bluelans; if it will ever be released:

• Processor: Marvell Monahands (624MHz) + Qualcomm MSM6246
• Operating system: Android/ Windows Mobile
• Dimensions: 117*58*12.7
• Mode: UMTS-2100MHz, GSM-900/1800/1900 MHz
• Bearer: GSM, 3G(WCDMA)
• Display: WQVGA 240*400 pixels, 3.2 inch TFT 262K
• Main camera: 3.2M pixel
• Secondary Camera: 0.1M pixel
• Storage: ROM-256MB+64MB, RAM-256MB+64MB
• Extended Storage: Micro SD, up to 16GB
• USB: USB 2.0 high speed
• Bluetooth: Ver 2.0
• GPS: Yes
• WiFi: IEEE 802.11b/11g
• TV: CMMB
• Battery capacity: 1000mAh
• Standby time(GSM): Up to 220 hours
• Voice talk time(2G): Up to 170 minutes

Here you can download the original scanned Flyer which I took from the fair: N12 SciPhone with real Android OS Flyer.

A Chinese company called “Shenzhen Bluelans Communication Co., Ltd.” showed a mobile phone on their HK Electronics Fair booth called “Dream G2″:

I was checking this out and the user interface actually looks like Android, it works like Android and even the programs look like Android. However, it is NOT Android. I also took a flyer and here is the data sheet:

While the phone has GPRS/EDGE, WiFi a camera, email access, audio/video support, instant messangers, an FM radio as well as support Java applications; the interesting point in there is “Google Android style user interface”.

Price: HK$1,000 (US$130)
Website: www.mysciphone.com

Android Phone from Huawei
About a week ago Huawei announced an Android powered phone at the Mobile World Congress ‘09. Huawei is not really known outside of China except as a mobile infrastructure provider. Though many people outside the People’s Republic do not know that brand, everyone in China knows it. Being the biggest mobile phone market (more that 400 mio. mobile subscribers) speaks for itself. The phone itself looks like a direct iPhone copy but with a good OS

Android on ASUS Eee PC
Besides the Chinese dudes I just read from other (free) Chinese dudes in Taiwan over at ASUS. They are working on a custom version of Android to run it on their Eee PCs which come with Windows XP right now. Google’s Carolyn Penner said that Android hasn’t been designed for phone exclusively. It is rather been intended to run on any kind of mobile device – this would include the Eee PC as well. Especially on such extreme mobile device it is quite important to use as less resources as possible. Microsoft’s Windows – no matter if it is XP, Vista or even WM Mobile – was never really fast.

HTC Magic w/o SIM Lock
I just found: HTC confirmed that the Vodafone / HTC Magic will not come with a SIM Lock like the T-Mobile G1. This is good news!