[mobile] Google's Android

[Petra~]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

Man, it was only a few years ago when I was saying "What the hell is Google? Just use Yahoo". I wish I had bought stocks back then

Also could someone take the time to explain how old Analog, which as I understood it, was an old wire system, to something that could do wifi? Would the broadcasting station need to change hardware to broadcast a digital signal and then consumers would need a receiver? Why didn't they just do that for digital cable? I never paid attention to any of that so i'm confused.

Even analog signals travel through the air at some point in time. This is huge (especially for cable companies) because this increases the amount of bandwidth that they can use to broadcast more HDTV/Digital channels. Basically in the same bandwidth that your cable companies are using to broadcast 90-150 analog channels you your house, they can fit 1000+ HD/Digital cannels in that same amount of space.

Analog is an ancient technology that has been tying up far too much bandwidth for far too long. Thankfully it will now be used for something that is actually useful to us right now...

[Tyen]

So Verizon and AT&T will be dominating the nationwide WiFi spectrum.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...dustryid=48696

The auction is not over until there are no bids, and there were still 42 bids in round 101, but they raised the ante only a little over $1,000 apiece. In previous rounds, the increases had been in the millions of dollars.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...dustryid=48696

I'll never forget Auction 35 when Alaska Native Wireless(really a front for AT&T) and Salmon PCS(a front for Cingular) bought most of the big licenses getting the small business discount of 35%. If you look at the financial disclosures, they listed 0 income and 0 assets. I still don't understand how the U.S. government allowed a company (Alaska Native Wireless + Salmon) to buy OVER $2 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF SPECTRUM EACH if they honestly had no income or assets, as they claimed in their ownershio filings. (public information on the FCC website)[ownership filing below under ExhibitC+D:]
ULS Application - PCS Broadband - 0000364320 - Alaska Native Wireless, L.L.C. - Administration
http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/35/charts/35press3.pdf

I'm thinking none of the spectrum will be open for another 5+ years because all of the retarded lawsuits that will ensue.

[Tyen]

More Info~

* The auction, known officially as Auction 73, is made possible by the move from analog to digital television, which frees swaths of bandwidth in the 700MHz range.

* This represents one of the last frontiers of nationwide RF spectrum that is expected to be available and practical for consumer use any time soon, which has generated intense interest and even more intense scrutiny.

* In an effort to stem collusion, the FCC is being extremely secretive about the applicants for bidding, saying only that there is a total of 214 bidders involved. They've also told bidders that they aren't allowed to publicly disclose anything about the auction or their bids before the auction's over, lest they forfeit the whole shebang.

* We do know that AT&T, Verizon, Cox, and most famously, Google are all committed to bidding.

* Auction 73 is broken into a total of five "blocks." Block C is by far the most coveted of the five because it contains the most bandwidth -- 22MHz in total, broken into two 11MHz pairs -- and also because it consists of fewer regions, making it easier to assemble a contiguous, nationwide network. Blocks A, B, and D should see some action, too, while Block E is the redheaded stepchild of the bunch with only one 6MHz piece of spectrum to its name.

* The FCC has ordered that the winner of the Block C auction must commit to creating an open-access network, meaning any device capable of supporting the appropriate protocols must be allowed to connect and enjoy 700MHz bliss.

* Bidding begins today, January 24, in two consecutive rounds. Starting tomorrow and each business day thereafter, there will be a total of three bidding rounds. After each round concludes, the FCC will disclose to bidders the current asking price for each block without revealing anything about the winning bidders. Bidding continues indefinitely until no additional bids are placed.

* The reserve price for Block A is $1.81 billion; Block B, $1.37 billion; Block C, a whopping $4.64 billion; Block D, $1.33 billion, and Block E, $904 million. If at the end of bidding any reserves have not been met, a new auction, Auction 76, will automatically be spawned. The FCC's open-access requirement on Block C would be dropped if it makes it through to Auction 76, fueling rumors that Google intends to bid it up to the reserve price then drop out. The date and new reserve prices for the remaining blocks would be decided when (and if) it's determined that Auction 76 is necessary.

* There is no "Buy it now!" button, we hear, and the FCC has a stellar feedback rating. Don't worry, bidders, the FCC isn't going to screw you on shipping and handling for the wireless spectrum you've already paid top dollar for.

Now about Block C, does that mean any device can get internet for free for absolutely no charge?

It DOESN'T mean that everyone is just gonna get free internet everywhere they go. That would be like one of the major carriers just giving away HSPA/EVDO data plans. The ONLY way it would be free is if someone like Google wins and provides it free of charge based on ad revenue or something like that.

People don't understand this, but one of google's goals is to make internet free or next to free for everyone. If they win, they could make it very cheap

So if Google can come in and offer nationwide WiMax for free (ad-supported) or a nominal fee, it will either bankrupt the telcos or force them into being actually competitive instead of colluding on price.

So who won the C - Block?

Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, speculates that the winning bid was placed by Verizon Wireless. None of the participants in the auction is allowed to talk to the press.

The auction is slated to end sometime in March, that's when we get to hear the juicy news.

We won’t know who the high bidder is until the auction is completed for all the other smaller licenses, which could take weeks. Since no more than one bid was received in each round, there may have been one company bidding all along. Or two companies may have been leapfrogging each other, at least for a while. Google has said it would bid for these frequencies, but companies are banned from talking about their bidding while the auction is active.

[Tyen]

Mobile TV partnered with Verizon's Vcast, can you say their coverage will be that much more bigger?

FLO TV - Get FLO TV Now!

[Draegan]

I just want an Iphone or an equivalent for Verizon. That's all I ask. Don't give me that Voyager bullshit either. That phone sucks.

[Warrian]

Is this the end for google's idea of entering the cellphone biz? Or will they just team up with Vz or AT&T?

Verizon, AT&T win wireless airwave auction - CNN.com

Originally Posted by CNN

Google Inc. was not among the winners, meaning the search engine giant will not be entering the cellular telephone business.

[Malakriss]

Losing wireless battle may be Google win - Yahoo! News

"Google still positioned itself to profit from the newly available airwaves by ensuring the bids for the so-called "C block" escalated to $4.6 billion. Reaching that price triggered a provision that requires the new wireless network to accommodate all mobile devices, including equipment using a software package called "Android" that is supposed to give Google a better opportunity to sell more advertising."

[Teger]

Originally Posted by Draegan

I just want an Iphone or an equivalent for Verizon. That's all I ask. Don't give me that Voyager bullshit either. That phone sucks.

HTC Touch works for Verizon, no?

[Zuuljin]

Originally Posted by Warrian

Is this the end for google's idea of entering the cellphone biz? Or will they just team up with Vz or AT&T?

Verizon, AT&T win wireless airwave auction - CNN.com

They were never trying to win. Read a bunch of the articles above. All they wanted was to bid the price higher than 4.6 billion or whatever, so that the network would remain open source for software. Google is a software company, not a hardware company.

I'll just quote what I did earlier:

Google got the FCC to agree to a stipulation: if the slice of airwaves Google was bidding for (known as C-Block) reached $4.6 billion, the winner would have to keep it "open access." This would allow companies and individuals to "use any wireless device and download any mobile broadband application, with no restrictions" on this block of wireless space, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement at the beginning of the auction process earlier this year.

Now Google can operate on that system without having to own it. So, in other words, Google won by bidding the piece of airspace to that level, and then getting out of the bidding. Google declined to comment on the negotiations.

I'm still kind of confused as to what this means though. Since verizon or whoever won the air space, yet anyone can use it, what was the point in buying it?

[Tyen]

You still have to pay verizon monthly to use the spectrum. It isn't free.

[Draegan]

Originally Posted by Teger

HTC Touch works for Verizon, no?

I havn't seen that. It's not available on the vz website with available phones in my area.

Has it not released yet?

[Draegan]

Looks like the HTC Touch for Verizon will be released sometime in April.

XV6900 Release Date

[Malakriss]

I have a question for the Android coders, I want to display an image pulled from the internet on the screen. The specific image is google's Chart API. How exactly do you go about this?

Example URL: http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?c...s|Sleep|School

Edit: GDI, I was googling for the better part of an hour and finally found anddev's tutorial.
Reply post includes Google API access by converting "|" to "%7C"
Loading images from remote server/web :: anddev.org - Android Development Community | Android Tutorials

[Jooka]

First LIVE images and videos of FULLSCREEN Android demos!¿|¿Android Community

some awesome new videos showing off android.

[Gauss]

Originally Posted by Tyen

You still have to pay verizon monthly to use the spectrum. It isn't free.

Yeah I'm not quite sure when people got the idea that open == free

Edit: ^ Thanks for the link. Still won't make me buy more than a basic cell phone, but I'm sure people other than myself would find them quite interesting to have.