maggior;503000 Wrote: > There is some buzz going on the 'net about this job posting for a "super > star" android engineer: > http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=802709 > > I can't imagine Logitech changing direction and moving toward using > this platform for the squeezebox with SqueezeOS starting to stabilize.
Hmm, if only I'd seen that 'before asking about Android recently' (https://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?p=501765#post501765)! Android is just a Linux-based OS with a UI library and some apps included. I expect Logitech could run SqueezePlay on top of Android (instead of their Linux-based SqueezeOS) if they wanted, and I think that would be a good, smart interim step. 3rd-party development on SqueezePlay (the "jive" UI) has been limited compared to 3rd-party Perl/Squeezebox Server development, and SqueezeOS development has been very, very scarce. If Logitech merely moved the SqueezePlay UI to Android (and designed it to run well in the background, etc.) then customers would instantly gain access to many existing Android apps. Instead of writing a cool new app themselves or trying to encourage someone else to write one just for Squeezebox, Logitech could rely on the greater Android development community. They'd spend less, and customers would gain more -- especially since Android Market encompasses both free and paid apps (Logitech has not shown any interest in building an "app store" for Squeezebox, and even the "app gallery" for highlighting free apps seems to be losing momentum. As little interest as folks seem to have in developing "applets" for the new Squeezeboxes, I think it would be good to at least give 3rd party developers some hope that they could sell apps. Switching to Android would give developers that option, at least for apps not strongly tied to the SqueezePlay UI.) A lot of us talk about the value that 3rd-party code has always added to Squeezebox, and it's still true that 3rd-party work makes Squeezebox much more powerful than Sonos' black boxes. But 3rd-party Squeezebox work has always paled terribly compared with 3rd-party options for Logitech's other big digital media competitor, Apple's iPod Touch (and iPhone). When Sonos and Slim Devices launched, most people were happy to buy nice phones that were only good at making phone calls, but Apple has raised the bar for phones, and portable media players. Why shouldn't users now expect more of media players with power cords like SB Touch? Long-term, it might make sense to rewrite the SqueezePlay app as a native Android app -- Tom, Ben, Erland, and others have spent a fair bit of time chasing down UI bugs & weaknesses in Jive and SDL; maybe it would be better to let Google maintain the UI library. I don't know if Android is a viable option for Radio or Touch, though. Both have relatively small amounts of RAM (64 MB and 128 MB respectively, if I recall correctly). I say small because Android smartphone adopters complained that T-Mobile's first Android phones had "only" 192 MB, and the new Nexus One has 512 MB of RAM. Radio and Touch may be stuck with SqueezeOS, for better or worse. But I'd love to see an upgraded Touch running Android. If Logitech doesn't make an Android-based Squeezebox, I can easily imagine some other big company making an Android-based touchscreen "picture frame" with decent audio outputs, and somebody else porting squeezeslave to it. Soundbridge v2, with Picasa, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube built in. Sound good? Final thought: Google seems an interesting choice for a partnership with Logitech. On the one hand, Slim Devices and SMBU always competed with Apple, so Google would seem a natural ally. On the other hand, some former SMBU staff have been reassigned to the Logitech division responsible for products with iPod dock connectors... -- peterw http://www.tux.org/~peterw/ Free plugins: 'AllQuiet' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/AllQuiet.html) 'Auto Dim/AutoDisplay' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/AutoDisplay.html) 'BlankSaver' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/BlankSaver.html) 'ContextMenu' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/ContextMenu.html) 'DenonSerial' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/DenonSerial.html) 'FuzzyTime' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/FuzzyTime.html) 'KidsPlay' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/KidsPlay.html) 'KitchenTimer' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/KitchenTimer.html) 'PlayLog' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/PlayLog.html) 'PowerCenter/BottleRocket' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/PowerCenter.html) 'SaverSwitcher' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SaverSwitcher.html) 'SettingsManager' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SettingsManager.html) 'SleepFade' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SleepFade.html) 'StatusFirst' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/StatusFirst.html) 'SyncOptions' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/SyncOptions.html) 'VolumeLock' (http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/VolumeLock.html) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ peterw's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2107 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=73578 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
