Android comes to old blighty

The first Android-powered mobile phone now available in the UK

For all of you UK developers who have built mobile applications using the free Software Development Kit (SDK) for Android, the day you (and we!) have been waiting for has finally arrived. The first Android-powered mobile, the T-Mobile G1, officially went on sale in the UK on October 30th. Now, you can see what your app looks and feels like on a real Android-enabled phone!

This means that in addition to great pre-installed software - which includes a fully-functional web browser, touchscreen and keyboard options, Email client, and calendar - you will be able to write and easily deploy your own applications on the G1.

But you're not limited to what's pre-installed or even what you write yourself; the Android Market application allows you to browse hundreds of free applications and install them on your Android phone with a couple of taps of the touch-screen.

If you haven't yet played around with the SDK, now's the perfect time to get started. Already, we've seen some great Android apps from UK developers, including one from telegraph.co.uk, which provides an end user with the latest news, sport and finance from Britain's newspaper the Daily Telegraph.

In fact, the smart guys over at Umee, who had never used the Android SDK before, built this application in less than a week!

What will be next - an application that finds your nearest pub? Or perhaps a wifi-locator for your postcode? Get coding - we look forward to seeing your apps in the Android Market!

Mike Jennings
Developer Advocate