CES

The Techland Fortune/CNN Blog has an interview up with Android deity Andy Rubin (is ANDroid named that 'cause of him?) straight from the back-room dealings at CES. There are some great bits of info in there...

...On HTC producing the first Android phone:

Well I’m not sure if we said they would be first, but second half of 2008 is what we’re targeting for phones.

...On SDK bug-tracking:

In a couple of weeks we’ll have an online mechanism. We thought it was more important to get the SDK out there in developers hands first.

...On Android's lofty goals:

Software takes a lot of time to develop, and the software cost of a cell phone is about 20 percent. That is impacting consumers and making cell phones more expensive. The trickle-down effect is that it’s actually making data plans more expensive. By building a complete stack and having it be more open where there’s not a single vendor that’s selling it - we’re actually giving it away for free - we feel that it opens up the market in a way that benefits the consumers. It will make cell phones and data plans cheaper.

...On the issue of fragmentation:

If we’re worried about not fragmenting and not creating anything new then we’d still be using tubes in our radios and you’d have to warm up the TV.

It's a short interview, but action-packed.

So it seems like the first big Android-related news to come out of CES is this Wistron NeWeb GW4 linux-rocking smartphone that Slashgear was all over a couple of days ago.

The feature list sounds close to what I've been waiting for: WiFi, touchscreen, bluetooth, full QWERTY. No word on GPS or what kind of expansion memory it accepts, however, and it doesn't even offer EDGE (hurtin'). Honestly, I don't find it as ugly as a lot of other commentators do, especially not the white version which has a clean, spare, sharp-edged kinda look (like a nice SUSE desktop). It looks quite like my beloved HTC S621.

The hype is around the fact that it's running a Linux 2.6 kernel, which makes it ideal for a little Android action down the road.

But who is Wistron NeWeb Corporation? Where did these guys come from? Well, Taiwan, apparently. I've never heard of them, but a year ago I'd never heard of HTC, either. As their website proclaims, they ake all kinds of stuff. In fact, the list includes basically every variety of electronic device yet conceived by God or man. And, if you're looking for a good time, check out their about page, which reads like the bizarre love-child of an undergrad business paper and the back of an instant noodle package.

[via AndroidGuys]

A round-up of the salient news I missed due to the effects of alcohol:

Dec 26: Two Google-booked stands at the Mobile World Congress expo and an APCMag article get everyone in a tizzy with the prospect of possible Android handset revealings in February.
Dec 28: HTC earnings in trouble? [via AndroidGuys]
Dec 29: HTC perhaps impatient with the lack of polish on Android? Are handset manufacturers, like developers, just whiny bitches? [via AndroidGuys]
Jan 1: First video of Android running Amarok is released.
Jan 2: In a brilliant show of technical prowess obviously designed to quell persistent grumbling from the peanut gallery about the quality, or lack-thereof, of the Android project, the Android Developer Challenge submission site just doesn't work.
Jan 2: A ruling is issued in the Qualcomm vs. Broadcom thing. [via Google Phone]
Jan 7: CES starts.