May 28th 2008, 8:51 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today at Google's I/O conference, a live demonstration of a phone running the Android platform showed off some of the new mobile operating system's capabilities. One feature is a user-defined, gesture-based unlock capability. Users can create a password using their finger on the screen, and then use that pattern to unlock the phone. It will also have a compass tool that automatically roams with the phone while a user looks at photographic images of a city map. The demonstration took place on a touch screen device, but Google said that Android will also work on devices that use trackballs for navigation. Google said that work on the platform is nearly complete, but would not confirm a date or timeframe when it might be available for consumers.

more at Associated Press »