Google explains missing Android features

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 28 Aug 2008 at 08:57

The first Android handsets will ship without Google Talk and severely limited Bluetooth support, after the features were omitted from version one of the SDK.

Speaking on the Android Developer's blog, the company addressed the issue of the missing features claiming Google Talk apparently "has some fundamental security problems".

Principal among these is the fact that Google Talk currently doesn't offer an ability to interact with other Android users anonymously and for short periods of time. Friends have to be added to a contacts list for the application to work, giving them immediate access to your name and email address.

The developer also claims the first SDK of Android places too much responsibility on application developers to avoid security flaws, meaning that a flaw in an application would be far more exposed by Google Talk.

The company says it is looking at introducing "automated mechanisms that could be used to help protect vulnerable applications or stop the spread of malware", but that it simply ran out of time.

It is a similar story for Bluetooth, which currently supports headsets but nothing else. Apparently the Bluetooth API still needs some cleaning up, as rushing it for the release would "have locked us into that API for years to come".