Key features cut out of Android API

posted Aug 26th 2008 8:30pm by Benjamin Eckel
filed under: news

Google has decided that its initial release of the Android SDK will not include formal Bluetooth support or Google Talk. Bluetooth headsets will still work, but developers will not have access to the Bluetooth portion of the API. Google’s security researchers have announced that Google Talk was left out because of multiple security concerns. Bluetooth, on the other hand, was left out because the development team ran out of time.

Out of these two features, we think users are going to be most disappointed by the omission of Google Talk. Chatting has become one of the most useful features of new smart phones. The ability to just chat instead of sending a text message is one of the main attractions to phones like the iPhone, which has support for AIM.

[photo: dreamside]

Read

Comments [10]

tagged: android, bluetooth, google talk, GoogleTalk

Reader Comments

Google talk for chatting wasn’t pulled as I understand, just the API to access it.

Posted at 10:35 pm on Aug 26th, 2008 by ryan

Integrating IM as deeply as Google did wasn’t a very good idea to start with. I’m sure we’ll see less intrusive clients for all the various IM networks from the community though.

Posted at 11:13 pm on Aug 26th, 2008 by Michael Kirkland

I don’t see how this is a hack. Why are these here? I see enough news items repeated on /. and LifeHacker, I would prefer to not see them on a favorite site that is more for electronic hacking then news. The only news I am interested in seeing is about ‘cons like DefCon or MakerFaire. Sorry if this came out rude.

Posted at 11:29 pm on Aug 26th, 2008 by th3_d0c

Ryan is correct. Google Talk will still be included, but third party applications will not be able to use google talk as a platform for their messaging. Those applications can still use another chat protocol, like Jabber.

Posted at 11:31 pm on Aug 26th, 2008 by SnappyCrunch

so google’s army of medicine ball squatting free sushi eating uber hip nerds failed to meet their deadline. interesting.

Posted at 12:09 am on Aug 27th, 2008 by amk

Not only is it not a hack, it’s horribly summarized, and makes no mention of the reasoning behind the removal.

They dropped bluetooth after the new bluez changed the interface, because they realized they needed to put more thought into it before they locked themselves (and everyone else) into a setup for the next X years, and they dropped the talk service API over security concerns. You can still write your own Jabber client, and I’m sure someone will in short order (if they haven’t already)

They clearly stated they plan on bringing bluetooth back, and they clearly said they’ll bring back some sort of RPC, they just needed more time to get it right. The dev blog post (linked in the linked article) has a lot more info: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-information-on-apis-removed-in.html

Posted at 8:39 am on Aug 27th, 2008 by Charlie

Waiting to see Android on devices !!!

Posted at 11:10 am on Aug 27th, 2008 by Jash Sayani

agreed.. this article doesn’t really belong here. I dont’ really like the hackaday news trend as of late. more hacks, less news please :)

Posted at 12:59 pm on Aug 27th, 2008 by davidb

Just curious, would it be possible to dual boot android and windows mobile 6.1?

Posted at 2:18 pm on Aug 27th, 2008 by ACiD GRiM

I disagree about the propriety of the article in this blog. It is not a hack, but there has been so much anticipation of Android due to its potential hackability that news on its development is, I think, welcome. To those who disagree: is there a forum where you think this would be more appropriate?

Posted at 6:55 pm on Aug 30th, 2008 by Pope Antonio

Key features cut out of Android API

Recent Posts

Reader Comments

Leave a Reply

Hacks

Resources

RSS newsfeeds

Most commented on (30 days)

Recent comments