I Touched The Google Phone

I got to spend some time with the Android platform at Mobile World Congress. Here's some video action so you can check it out for yourselves.The one thing I will say is, Android is fast, fast, fast. Like, OMG fast. Faster than any phone UI I've had a chance to play with before.

The device I saw at the ARM booth is a reference platform only, and in now way, shape, or form is a final build.

The basic UI is simple and intuitive. There is a dock, resembling the dock in Apple's OS X, that runs along the bottom of the screen. In it you see the phone's basic applications. Using the d-pad, you can zoom left and right through the items in the dock. The response is instant, and you can speed from one end of the dock to the other by pressing and holding the d-pad.

The applications were all in a basic form, and not yet fully realized. But everything was very speedy. The contacts database, the music player, Gmail, and other applications all opened immediately when selected.

Watch the video to see the UI in action.