Kogan aborts Agora Android launch indefinitely
Breaking News: Kogan has aborted its Android based Agora launch citing a number of “potential future interoperability issues“. This pull out was most likely as a result of their meeting with Google which probably pointed out the screen flaws and how applications may not look natural. Ruslan Kogan, of Kogan Electronics cited the following:
the handset needed to be redesigned “to ensure its compatibility with all future Android applications.
One potential issue is that developers may create applications for the Android operating system at a higher resolution and screen size than the Agora provides in its current form.
That reason is no surprise to me as I’ve pointed that out in my earliar post about icons being excessively large. I guess it was much suited for the Android OS. Nokia E71, a similar kind of phone also sports a 320×240 pixel screen. But Operating system does matter. The question is, what were they thinking? This hardware screen resolution could have been settled months ago.
The Agora reached a very late stage of development, manufacturing had commenced and we were within days of shipping the product to customers. But it now seems certain the current Agora specifications will limit its compatibility or interoperability in the near future
Its a pity Agora couldnt see the light of day. It was much speculated that it would be the second Android phone. It was really a close call between the retail OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner (I call it the retail version since the Developer testing edition is already being offered by IDA Systems at $279 and all other openmoko affiliates) , the Agora and perhaps Lenovo OPhone, Qigi and some more lesser_known_manufacturers. The race is slimming down. With the big ones’ like Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson not coming out with their android babies until atleast the second half of 2009.
So which is gonna be the second Android phone?
[via theAge]
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