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Photos: Google Android comes out to play

Up close and personal with the prototypes at MWC...
By Natasha Lomas, Contributor
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1 of 9 Natasha Lomas/ZDNET

Up close and personal with the prototypes at MWC...

Texas Instruments drew the crowds to their booth at Mobile World Congress by demonstrating a prototype phone running Google's Android software platform...

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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2 of 9 Natasha Lomas/ZDNET

The prototype was iPod white and had a full Qwerty keyboard.

Even if this handset never makes it anywhere near the shops it generated a lot of excitement as conference delegates crowded round for their chance to get up close and personal with Google's Android.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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The graphical capabilities of Android were evident as the prototype was shown running a series of high-quality video clips.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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A music player was also shown off.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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The long number printed on the handset is an ID number for the prototype rather than a catchy brand name, said the Texas Instruments spokesman.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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The company said Android can spur innovation in the development community and has the potential to reduce software cost.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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7 of 9 Natasha Lomas/ZDNET

It also had a developer device on display (pictured above).

But this was not the only booth at Mobile World Congress where Android was being shown off...

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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There was more evidence of Android across the hall at the Qualcomm stand...

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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9 of 9 Natasha Lomas/ZDNET

... although this Android was still firmly attached to a motherboard.

The Qualcomm spokesman said the company is "working to enable rich, multimedia user interface functionality" which can be enabled by the graphical capabilities of Android.

The demo consisted of a web browser and a 3D globe app called 'World time' which could be spun by flicking a stylus across the touchscreen.

Photo credit: Natasha Lomas

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