Despite trying to keep a low profile, Google’s presence was powerfully felt at the World Mobile Congress as several chip makers demonstrated the capabilities of Google’s highly anticipated Android open-source operating system for mobile devices.

The prototypes being demonstrated Tuesday at the world’s largest mobile conference by Texas Instruments Inc. and Qualcomm Corp. looked nothing like the sure-to-be sleek cell phones that will debut the open source operating system — though no one wanted to say when that will be.

But both U.S-based chipmakers agreed that the capabilities should push the marriage of the Web with mobile devices to new levels as Google stakes out its place in the wireless world.

At Texas Instruments stands, company official Ramesh Iyer demonstrated to an eager and pressing crowd the ease with which a user will be able to navigate Web pages from mobile phone running Android — full size Web pages, not those resized for mobiles — by running

a finger by the display. The TI prototype is embedded in a clunky black box containing its flagship processor the OMAP3430 multimedia applications processor, the kit that TI sends out to developers to come up with applications.

The real beauty of Android, he said, was that it contains all the fundamental building blocks you need for a mobile phone. As such, TI was able to put Android on top of its processor inside of a week, he said. And he estimates they could cut down the development of a smart phone, which combines Web applications with traditional voice features, typically up to 18 months, to six or seven months.

“What we are trying to show is that you can develop software and customize the applications. That is the beauty: It makes the concept of developing and customizing software very easy,” Iyer said.

From the chipmaker’s point of view, Android…

Orginal post by Top Tech News