The T-Mobile G1 mobile phone arrived today, armed with Google’s brand new open source Android platform–the web giant’s first foray into cellular technology.
GalleyCat just wants to know: How can we read books on a Google-powered phone? Early reviews noted that the phone, “out of the box,” is limited–no word processor or video player, according to Popular Mechanics. Nevertheless, Android’s applications market is open for business. Hopefully, an e-reader will materialize in the platform’s playground for developers.
In the meantime, that same review spotted a nifty function that might help book lovers everywhere:
“Barcode Scanner allows you to ‘scan’ a book’s barcode using the phone’s camera, then brings up its Amazon page or a nearby retail location on Google Maps. We tried it on a few review books we have lying around (including some that aren’t out yet), and it worked every time.”