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Game on, for real this time - Nexus One has OpenGL ES 2.0 support
Why am I writing about hardware on Download Squad? Well, because I'm sick and tired of people squinting their eyes at the mobile market in a vain attempt to understand why Apple's tabula rasa has lobbed a shiny multi-touch grenade into the space. U.S. "Droid Does" TV ads are touting all the things the iPhone doesn't do. But what is it the Pre and various Android-based phones lack? A proper 3D engine that makes it easy for developers to write awesome games in a short amount of time. Enter OpenGL ES 2.0, a royalty-free, cross-platform API for just this sort of work (or play, as it were).
Heck, OpenGL ES 1.1 wasn't too shabby, either, since that is what powers everything before the 3GS and recent refresh of iPod touch models (not the 8GB version, however). The point is that OpenGL provides a known, viable 3D foundation for developers to make games on the iPhone (or anything else that'll throw a little horsepower at it).
As you may know, games are often an afterthought on mobile phones for a variety of reasons -- one of those happens to be the ever-shifting sands of hardware specs and platform support. With the iPhone and then iPod Touch, Apple made the target quite simple: write your stuff in Objective-C using Xcode and use OpenGL's libraries for your 3D work. The interface was totally up to the developer.
Smart developers like Pangea simply took existing code and -- with a minimal effort in rework -- were able to shrink hits like Cro Mag Racer onto a mobile device. This was possible, in no small part, because of OpenGL!
To me, seeing Cro-Mag in the store was a watershed moment. It should have been for the industry, but instead they have busied themselves with craptacular touchscreens, weirdo UI's and a bevy of "features" that no normal human would want on their phone.
So when I read the One True Googlephone, the Nexus One, has OpenGL ES 2.0 support, I leaned forward. The draft 'N' support in Wi-Fi is cool, as is the FM transmitter, I guess.
But that gaming bit -- don't underestimate that market. In my opinion the gaming industry on the iPhone is a key component of the platform's success. When I can play Ridge Racer on a Google phone, wake me up.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsMatthew NawrockiDec 16th 2009 6:49PM
Hey! What's with the Amiga Boing Ball on this article? :P
iGateDec 16th 2009 8:27PM
an example of OpenGL graphics?
Josh ChambersDec 17th 2009 8:50AM
Solid. That's been one of the biggest inhibitors for me in adopting Android. I'm not even a huge gamer - but the 3D aspects affect other apps as well. Or, I should say, the poor 3D abilities *limit* the possibilities of other apps as well.
My next question...when will they stop reserving only 256MB of space for apps?
NickDec 17th 2009 12:20PM
With Android 2.1 or 2.5 a feature called A2S (App2SD) is expected.
This will unlock the ability to save your apps on external memory.
NuShrikeJan 20th 2010 1:44PM
Doesn't matter if the hardware has OpenGL ES 2.0 support. As HTC/Qualcomm had already demonstrated on the HTC Kaiser (htcclassaction.org), until the OS has drivers/support for that hardware capability, YOU DON'T GET IT. Especially when Qualcomm charges extra for advanced hardware support and sues the crap out of everybody for using that IP without first paying up.
From all the research I've done on Android, it's only OpenGL ES v1.0 with software-FPU for the near future even though the snapdragon hardware is much, much beyond that.
The only real OS that gets full-hardware access is the iPhone OS, and in catchup, Windows Mobile.