A series of YouTube videos gives us our first look at what the Android phone OS actually looks like -- and it looks phenomenally cool.
The 'preview' SDK has everything you need to create and test your Android apps, along with an emulator that will let you see what your phone apps will look like when deployed.
The development is done in Java (they suggest Eclipse but it's not required), and Google have provided tight integration with all the phone features (including GPS, phone, camera, ...) as well as Google services like XMPP and Google Maps.
Along with the SDK, documentation, discussion group, and developer blog; Google has also announced a 'Developers Challenge', where the top 50 in development apps share up US$10million in prizes. Shit, there go my weekends for the next 6 months.
I'll post more once I've had a chance to play with the SDK. The power and ease of use of this development environment is going to be a big factor in the future success of any future 'gPhones'. Certainly this free and open approach to phone app development, with total access to the phone's resources, is a giant step away from what's been available up until now.
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