From what I understand, it's possible to install non-market andoird-apps:
http://www.blogsdna.com/1939/how-to-...d-g1-phone.htm

It's not nearly as straight forward as with maemo, but it is possible.

This may also be worth a browse:
http://www.talkandroid.com/android-sdk-install-guide/

}:^)~

Those are the instructions for the google G1 phone which is rooted. Other users will first have to gain root access to their phone which might create other problems for them. For example if your phone is rooted you can't install paid-for applications.

Android is setup to make the marketplace the gateway for applications to your phone. Sure there are various ways around it (for now) but it's an enormous difference and not one I favour. My phone is mine and if there's an easy accessible store of applications, great! But I don't want to be restricted to what Apple, Google or Palm think I should have.

Edit: Or what Nokia thinks I should have!

Yup, installing non-market Android apps is as difficult as selecting

Settings -> Applications -> Unknown Sources

Download file, click it.

Nonsense, my phone is a HTC Hero, not rooted, I can install whatever I want by doing exactly what I just said. And I have.

Yup. No more difficult than it is on Symbian (where you also have to tell it to allow installation of unverified apps). Otherwise, it's just a matter of downloading a file and clicking it.

You're no more tied to the Market on Android than you are to specific repositories on Maemo.

Fair enough guys, from my reading of people who have Android phones in locations where the marketplace is not yet available they seemed to have a lot of difficulty getting things onto their phones.

Well, they may be having problems buying software without the market. I'm not sure if many developers will sell their stuff directly. But it's not about installing, that option is really all that's needed.

I actually did need a certain software, contacted the developer and said that my country doesn't have the market yet, but I'd really like buy a program from him. He was pretty glad I contacted him and didn't go look for the app elsewhere, gave me his paypal account info, I paid him, he mailed me the installation file and I installing it just like I just said. But this was a one-person team, I'm sure the big companies don't do that.

This is maybe a bit unrelated, but I cannot understand why Google is being so slow in getting the Market to other countries. They should open it everywhere, I see the market as a huge benefit of the Android..and right now it's crippled in many countries. Getting access to the market's paid applications is actually the biggest reason I know why people root their Android phones here (you can change your country when you root your phone, pretend you're from the US, have full market, then just use your own credit card etc. to pay).

Edit: The Market's paid applications, is what I mean there...you can install the free software everywhere. But not buy stuff yet.

They open the market when a carrier in that country sells an Android device. It's a fairly arbitrary limitation, something I suspect is there because of the carriers.

johnkzin,

I am a gamer, so I love a good d-pad. That was one good thing about the Dash- the d-pad worked well for emulators

The Cliq and Droid's d-pads are not good and appear to not function as 8-way like the Dash d-pad does. The Dash's was called "4-way" too, but functioned as an 8-way d-pad. At least Cliq's is on the "correct" side.

I must admit that had the Droid's d-pad been on the left and functioned better, it would be killer for games due to 3430 chipset. I play NeoGeo, Capcom CPS2, MAME, GBA, Genesis, SNES and NES on my G1 and it does a good job when clocked to 528mhz. NeoGeo and Capcom CPS2 should play perfect with sound on the 3430.

Since Android already has very good emulators, it is just a good d-pad and chipset away from being an instant old school game system.

It's also a question of complying with a country's laws regarding collecting and remitting VAT or sales tax and complying with corporate tax laws in the country. I would not be surprised if the Markets are legally attached to the carrier in some countries to handle this.