AT&T Shackles Android Again with HTC Aria

From PC World: After holding off on Android longer than any other major U.S. carrier, AT&T finally unveiled its first Android offering, the Motorola Backflip, earlier this year. While the company seemingly opened its arms to Android, however, it failed to actually embrace the platform's open nature.

Android, as those of us who use the operating system know, stands out from other smartphone alternatives due largely to its open and highly customizable constitution. You want something on your phone? You install it. No banning, no porn morality lectures, no need for an manufacturer's arbitrary blessing -- it's your device, and you use it the way you want.

With the Backflip, AT&T essentially took the Android software, subtracted that open principle, and slapped a price tag with the word "Android" on the back. Now, with AT&T's latest Android venture -- the HTC Aria -- the carrier's up to its old tricks again.

Like it did with the Backflip, AT&T has removed the option to install unofficial apps onto its new HTC Aria phone. If something's outside of the Android Market -- a beta program such as Swype, for example, or one of several tethering apps offered only through developers' Web sites -- you won't be able to install it; the option to do so is mysteriously missing from the "Applications" settings menu where it'd typically be found.

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