Google Android Phones Debut

The first phones using Google’s Android software go on show at the Mobile World Congress.

Is it the wave of the future? Several manufacturers seem to think so, because they were showing mobile phones using the Google Android software yesterday at theMobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.   Texas Instruments and Qualcomm are among the dozen companies with prototype handsets using the software on display.   Developed by a group of companies, including Google, Android is afree software system based on Linux open-source that was launched last November. Developers have access to the code that underlies the software, allowing many people to work on applications. Thefirst handsets using it are expected to hit the market later this year.   Ian Drew of ARM told the BBC that the phone on display was just a prototype.  "What we are demonstrating on the Android platform is maps, browser, camera applications, multimedia, e-mail, and calendar – basically everything you’d expect on a mobile phone."  Indeed, open-source might be the wave of the future for phones. Limo, the new software from the Mobile Linux Foundation, will debut at 3GSM, it wasannounced, with seven manufacturers, including Samsung and LG, offering 18 different devices.