AndroidBoards

The Android developer community is more than a bit upset these days with the way Google has been handling SDK releases. First it started with some minor complaints about the lack of SDK updates, but the fire has grown exponentially with recent news that Google has been “playing favorites” and releasing updated SDKs to the winners of the Developer Challenge and a select few others.

The news came through an unlikely means when Google’s Android advocate accidentally sent a note intended for the winning Developer Challenge developers to a much broader audience of developers.

“Ahhhh, now it makes sense,” one developer wrote on the Android forum. “So they’ve been making private SDK releases while the rest of us suffer with the pile of bugs from the 4+ month old release.”

Many developers have stated that they plan to leave their ambitious Android projects to take up the widely-available, well-made and popular SDK for the Apple iPhone. Google had better shape up - and quick - before the most important aspect of their entire project pulls away leaving the Android project in a smoldering heap.

Seriously, Google, get it together.

We forgot one little tidbit about the Developer Challenge update the other day: Each recipient gets $25k to finance the further production of their application(s). Not a small chunk of change for most of these guys who are typically one or two individuals collaborating on a single project.

Google has released a list of finalists and a detailed PDF containing all 46 of the recipients who consented to share their information with the public. One great apps listed include “AndroidScan”, which allows you to scan the barcode on many different products and find price comparison data in real time. Check the link for more, and get excited to seem some great new applications for Android. The judge names and companies which they represent were released also, check the link after the jump to see both the PDF and judges.

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