Elanso

John Chan from Cnet Asia has been given a tour of Android by Google's Andy Rubin. However, the touchscreen handset that the software was demoed on was deemed out of bounds—FYI, it's veeery similar to an HTC TyTN II. Anyway, this is what he had to say about the software.

The Android user interface, like any other mobile phone's, has an information bar at the top which tells you how much battery you have left, which network you're on and what time it is. The main screen area is a blank slate much like the desktop space on a PC. Swiping the finger at the sides of the screen will move this desktop around as it is larger than the actual resolution of the LCD. As expected, there are many Google applications by default, 20 in total, according to Rubin. These include a YouTube program with which you can search and view all YouTube clips, a Gmail app and Google Maps.

An exclamation mark appears in the corner of the screen when the phone wants to tell you something—new mail, warnings, and system errors. Click on the exclamation mark and a menu drops down with the information.

Chan also says that you can run multiple apps pretty smoothly. He witnessed Google Maps running at the same time as a photo and music application, and says that this works because Android "freeze dries" the apps that are running in the background, so they don't drain the system resources. [hardwarezone.com and CNET Asia via Engadget]