Opera mini arrives for Google’s Android, but there are no phones
By Susan Wilson
So are we looking at “Phantom of the Opera” here or what. Seriously, this is pretty amazing that we have an operating system and now an add on web browser and no actual phones. Oh, sure, there have been prototypes but nothing that is currently available. So the announcement that Opera has developed an Opera mini version for Android is a continuation of the “Android” publicity machine.
Its wonderful that Google’s Android is an Open Handset Alliance project developing a Linux based operating system for mobile phones. There is an impressive group of companies that are collaborating on this project. Handset manufacturers, LG, Motorola, HTC and Samsung are on board but none of them have an Android handset ready for market yet.
Several chip makers previewed Android on various chipsets at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress. Texas Instruments showed Android on a QWERTY type handset using their OMAP 850 chip running at 200 mhz and version running on another of their chips, the OMAP 3430. Qualcomm showed off the software on it’s MSM7201 chip and Marvell used their Xscale Monahans processor for its demonstration. The various mock handsets showed the software being used by both touch screen and non touch screen prototypes. Still there are no actual handsets in production.
Opera’s Android offering, although downloadable for developers, is not ready for consumers. Since there isn’t any real Android mobile phone in use, even running a beta of Opera mini for Android is impossible.
Unfortunately, Apple’s iPhone set the standard for promotional hype and Android’s collaborators from Google to Verizon are using Apples playbook. Here it comes. It’s coming. Any minute now. Just wait. Soon, real soon and while you wait, we even have software announcements for the non existent phone.
Wow. With that kind of hype, will the final cell phones and software be able to live up to all of the pre production mania?
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