Know what's not a part of the Android SDK? An incredibly clean interface with supersnappy response, auto-sync to my Mac and to MobileMe, and the ability to use the SDK on a personal music player (let's call it a "touch") rather than a phone.
They're both good. Let's both be quiet and let people discuss the iPhone, not Android.
Apple controls their hardware, their software, their packaging, the computer-related software (and hardware, in some cases) and, in short, the entire user experience.
Android is a phone operating system. It's a competitor like Windows Mobile is a competitor, which is to say it competes with one of the myriad things the iPhone is doing.
A comparison might make for a good separate article, but when somebody says "I like these features" the response isn't "Well this OS" has it, because the first guy obviously isn't saying "These are the features I absolutely need." They're just things that would make the iPhone even better.
This is why, every time I see an argument over Linux GUIs, I don't insert how much better OSX + iLife is as far as Unix systems go. There's a time and place for comparison, but simply saying "Hay guys Android does this" isn't adding to the conversation.
How can you evaluate an SDK? Compare it to a different SDK that provides a similar solution.
HackerNews is filled with such debates, like Java Vs. Python, Tables Vs. CSS...
The features above were part of the Andoird SDK beta, Background processes have been around for few years in other mobile platforms, I can get excited if Apple will come out with a killer features that are unique to their platofrom (e.g. Bonjure is a unique feature)
I know they're in the SDK beta. But Android doesn't stack up to the iPhone in other ways, so considering this isn't an article about iPhone versus Android, I dislike that it was brought into the conversation.
HackerNews is filled with such debates, like Java Vs. Python, Tables Vs. CSS...
I also get mad when people ask for CSS help and other people respond with "use tables", and when people post to a thread talking about, say, Ruby, and somebody posts saying "Python ftw".
I love debate - I write copious prose blocks when Mac vs Linux comes up, though even that is beginning to wear on me - but debate has its place, and it's not here. No need to interrupt a speculative discussion with smug, as I said above.
nobody asked for help -- this is an announcement of an announcement. pure hype in fact.
get real. android and iPhone aren't competition? the comment wasn't "ftw" it contained real information: that apple's wishlist is android's 1.0. sure android has its flaws too, and you accurately point them out, but to claim that it's somehow out of bounds to compare the two SDKs is really desperate.
They're both good. Let's both be quiet and let people discuss the iPhone, not Android.