Flash Devices
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Talking About the Lack of Adobe Flash Support on the T-Mobile G1
T-Mobile G1
Yesterday T-Mobile announced the G1 which is the first Android based mobile phone and is expected to be available on the 22 October here in the US and in other European countries in early November.  The HTC device has some good hardware specs including 3G, WiFi, GPS, touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard and others.  There’s a lot of information available on-line from various sites that are covering the G1 and I encourage you to check it out.

What I would like to talk about is the lack of Adobe Flash support on the G1.  The G1 does not have support for Flash, however we are working closely with all handset manufacturers that support Android and are expecting in the future that Android based devices will ship with Adobe Flash support.  I can’t say when or who so if you ask I’ll tell you the same thing ;o)

If you look at the OEMs that are supporting Android, all major manufacturers that are current licensees of Flash today are using our technology for user interfaces and applications.  With 800 million devices shipped with Flash so far and 1 billion devices expected to ship by Q1 2009 there’s a lot of potential for developers to reach a lot of end-users.  The way in which consumers enjoy great experiences today via web browsing and applications on the desktop is moving to non-PC devices using our client technologies of AIR and Flash and that’s part of our Open Screen Project initiative.

As for the G1 I’m going to get one the day it comes out (hopefully) to check out the overall experience and how Google and T-Mobile have integrated their services into the device.

Are you planning on getting a G1 when it ships or waiting?

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15 comments

It is going to be released in the states next month, but there is no info about international release yet!

However, I'll probably wait for a couple of phones to come out before committing myself to one!

By Anonymous Riyadh Al Balushi , at Wed Sep 24, 02:56:00 PM PDT  

How come the G1 supports the Street View (Google Maps) but it does not have Flash? Isn't the Street View based on Flash?

By Blogger 3taim , at Sat Sep 27, 11:24:00 PM PDT  

Do you even have to ask me if I am getting one? :)

By Anonymous Scott Janousek , at Tue Sep 30, 08:12:00 AM PDT  

street view is just a bunch of images, so it can be run virtually anywhere with use of the google maps api. Flash is not required.

By Anonymous Anonymous , at Thu Oct 02, 04:59:00 AM PDT  

This post is directly from an T-Mobile Android G1. Runs smooth on Wi-Fi. Limited but useful apps available. The QWERTY key layout vs. handset design takes some getting used to. Can't wait to see the Flash support to allow a better web media experience.

By Anonymous Anonymous , at Sat Oct 18, 06:25:00 AM PDT  

I just got the phone and played with it all day. Adobe is not on it and cant download and I am mad. I cant watch any video except youtube crap. The sound thru the earbuds really stinks. The keyboard isnt raised enough to feel letters so you hit the wrong letters alot. Nice phone, but still no video. Just left sidekicks for this...not to happy with the g1.

By Anonymous Anonymous , at Wed Oct 22, 10:13:00 PM PDT  

Not happy...no flash..same old crap phones, just left sidekick for this...not happy..

By Anonymous Anonymous , at Wed Oct 22, 10:15:00 PM PDT  

another mobile red herring..i will have one next week...but not because i want it..sad really

By Blogger Andy Mac , at Thu Oct 23, 06:06:00 PM PDT  

Mr. Perry,

I purchased the G1 the day it came out and am nothing short of highly impressed, yet with one (huge) disappointment. NO FLASH PLAYER/SUPPORT.

I have been with t-mobile since 06 and was going to leave them for at&t early this year because of their sorry phone line-up. I thought to give them a little more time and since buying G1, I am extremely content that I stayed. For one, they have provided me with the first phone with 3 simple features I have desired for years: touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard, and a 3+ MP camera (even though lack of camera flash is unfortunate).

The fact that the new ANDROID OS is on this phone has only brought it greater to perfection. With Android, Google has given us consumers what we've longed for....freedom. Within a day of buying the phone, I downloaded at least 15 apps, just about all of them being, to some degree, either entertaining or practical.

That being said, I wanted to tell you that there is only one thing I constantly am irritated with about the phone, and that is lack of support from ADOBE, i.e. no Flash content support/player.
I was never too big a fan of YouTube. As a physician I prefer a variety of media sources, especially with medical references, news, etc. I can not access media from a single one as they ALL require flash players.

I presume that there is nothing from T-Mobile or even Google's end that can be done to resolve this. Right now the ball is in Adobe's court. For years, I have highly admired Adobe for its variety of highly useful software (flash, acrobat/reader, shockwave, etc) and for keeping the majority of it free for consumers.

Just about everyday, I check various Android App sites for releases on any programs that can support flash, constantly finding nada!

Hence, if you (or any of your colleagues) have any say in the Adobe Corp., that may help expedite (within a week or 2 :) ) the availability of flash on the android web browser, I, and surely millions of other g1/android users will be nothing short of highly grateful and appreciate to both you and the Adobe Corp. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Dr. R. Singh M.D. (Bethesda, Maryland)

By Anonymous R. Singh , at Fri Oct 24, 08:11:00 PM PDT  

Just takes a firmware update to get flash support. It'll come as well as 16 gb support that's what I expect

By Anonymous Anonymous , at Sun Oct 26, 12:13:00 AM PDT  

Well Dr Signh,

I am a Flash Developer and what I can say is, it isn't entirely up to Adobe to make sure their Flash reader supports all browsers. Yet they do have the power to be envolved into developing a plugin. Technically the ball is in Androids court. Also Adobe doesn't want to be left out as well. Yet you also have to look at licensing rights etc... legal stuff.

I am sure they have some guy locked in the basement given only water until he has created a plugin. Only giving a cookie crumb when he has showed some progress.

From my understanding they are still working on the I Touch plugin. The G1 is limited in it's video output. While I am not sure if it is more Direct X or OpenGL based or a mix depending on the application. You can bet Microsoft probaly isn't going to share their DirectX with a competitor.

While simple flash banners are easier and less resource hungry. A large complex website all in flash or certain flash media with controls are a little more trickier to emulate. Plus a touch screen to worry about. Flash recognizes mouse handlers and events. I am not sure how Flash will respond to touch screen implementation. Unless it just reads cues from the cursor movement.

Flashlite 3 just now became availible for Windows Mobile back last March or April and it took quite a while. Touch screen does work with FlashLite 3.

Maybe if you voice your opinion loud enough Android will start a collaboration with Adobe to develope a plugin for their Android browser. OR since Android is open source, it won't be long before some savvy guru of coding creates one.

The thing is that the G1 already supports Java. Java and Flash are almost to some degree the same animal. BUT Java scripting embeded into almost every webpage it is essential part of all browsers these days. Take this comment box. It is all Java.

While Java and Flash use a variant of ECMAScript. Flash back in the day was a little clunkier. With Actions Script 3 from Flash 8 on. Flash sometimes is resource demanding. While simple banners should have no issue on a gadget like the G1. I can say those really sophisticated and complex websites entirely out of flash. I just don't see them running that smoothly even on a PDA.

Basically it is something they can just rush into developement. Trust me I can't wait. I was also misguided by the sales person when I bought it taking them at their word Flash was going to be enabled at the release. I have a lot of customers I built Flash sites for asking me about changing or building both html pages with a Intro page to choose which which to display so not to miss out on someone that maybe trying to view their page on the go.

I hope it won't be too long but if it isn't already in developement, it could be a year I would say before it happens.

By Blogger Vonz , at Mon Oct 27, 07:27:00 PM PDT  

I have had this phone for a few days and I love everything about it espeiallly the Android Market. This gives the device lots of potential for growth. Flash, and Voice over wiFi! is it possible that the g1 can take care of VoWiFi as well? I can get on the internet but not make calles!

By Blogger mgeorge.design , at Tue Oct 28, 12:26:00 PM PDT  

Thanks, Vonz! That last post of yours was helpful.

By Blogger Jane Says , at Sun Nov 02, 02:54:00 AM PST  

I am an application developer. I have worked with Java, JavaScript, ActionScript 3.0, PHP, Visual Basic, C++, C#. I want to clarify some of the miss leading information that has been posted.

Java and JavaScript are two different technologies. They shar e the first four letters. Browsers don't support Java natively. It requires a plugin and a Java runtime. Most modern browsers will support JavaScript without any need for a plugin. The syntax for Java and JavaScript is different. Java is closer to C++. Java is NOT based on ECMAScript.

JavaScript and ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) are based on ECMAScript. ActionScript 3.0 is the latest native language for Flash, Flex, and AIR development. The Flash player will also support ActionScript 2.0. ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0 are different. AS3 is much more powerful than AS2.

As a Flash developer and fan I am waiting for Flash support on Android.

By Blogger JT , at Fri Nov 14, 06:57:00 AM PST  

Well not to go to war or start an argument. I think you should do more homework. Yes Flash Actionscript and Javascript are a both a variant and derived from ECMAScript. As far as Syntax goes.

I may have dropped the ball on Java and Java scripting. They are two different entities. Yet I know the difference.

By Blogger Vonz , at Fri Feb 20, 10:57:00 AM PST  

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