Google 1st banned all tethering applications from Android Market, and then later backtracks and is now allowing tethering applications for users outside of the T-Mobile US network.
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-allowing-tethering-applications-non-t-mobile-users
Interesting issue – in the USA, T-Mobile offer the G1 on an unlimited plan – so I guess allowing tethering would mean you can run your broadband from home via your phone – and downloading lots of content for your home PC is probably not what T-Mobile would have wanted.
So I can imagine that this might be why these applications got yanked.
In any case, I’m actually growing a slow dislike for Android and might be tempted to ditch the phone and buy an iPhone (shock horror!) . I might seriously look into when iPhone 3.0 comes out or perhaps when Cupcake (the next Android release) is available… I’m not yet sure.
I’ll list my current Android dislikes..
- The phone requires a reboot every 2nd day – otherwise it crashes and apps fail to run.
- The phone features (ie call history, ending/answering etc) are too basic.
- The operating system isn’t fully open – http://andblogs.net/2009/04/android-and-open-source/
- Concerns that the App store might become more and more like Apples, restricted or limited.
- Too slow – the phone generally seems slow and sluggish (probably due to point 1.)
For me, I’m keen to see it get better, but I’m now having doubts given the pace of change and lack of openness that it doesn’t have – this will cause Android to slowly die if developers and the community have doubts – as they may as well stick with Apple and gain the massive market share that iPhone already has.
With the increasing pressure from Palm and the global slow down, I think Google have a prime opportunity right now to take a significant lead, but they need to act soon, as being 3rd in the race means you may as well be last.
I updated a the GXT ChartWidget (http://code.google.com/p/ext-ux-ofcgxt/) demo to showcase adding a new row. All I did was add a button and tell the store to add a new Model. The rest was automated by the Store/Model providers and listeners.
