T-Mobile G1 Announced

The highly-anticipated Android is having its first debut. It will come in the form an HTC phone made for T-mobile. This phone is called the T-Mobile G1, and is supposed to be the first real competition for the iPhone.

The G1 will be available in late October and will cost around $180. Here are the specifications:

• HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
• WiFi
• 3D graphics acceleration
• 1GB integrated storage plus microSD expansion
• 3-megapixel camera
• Android Market for on-device app purchases
• Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
• Push Gmail support with full HTML client
• Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
• Google Maps with Street View
• No Microsoft Exchange support
• No desktop synchronization -- it all happens over the air

There are some great upsides to this phone. 1st, the biggest, is that it is open source. This means you can do whatever you what to it, as well as upload any apps to the "Android Marketplace" with no restrictions. This is good so that you'll never be in need of an app, but is also somewhat bad because you'll have to sort through thousands of garbage-apps before finding one worth keeping.

Another great thing about the T-Mobile G1 is its integration with Google. It has a GTalk app, a Gmail app, among others. It has a touch screen, slide out keyboard, and expandable memory.

There are some downsides however:

• It runs on the very scarce and spotty T-Mobile 3G network.
• No headphone jack!
• You'll have to sort through some worse apps before finding keepers, due to a lack of restrictions and rejection processes.
• The memory is expandable to only 8GB.
• The Android marketplace used to install apps is, for now, very flawed and glitchy.
  
• It is larger and heavier than the iPhone, with a smaller screen.
• No video support, as with the iPhone.
• No multi-touch functionality
• No desktop or 3G syncing or downloading, wirelessly with WiFi is the only way.
  
• Since its the first-generation, things will be a little bit slower and less stable than in later models.
• UPDATE: The data, while being advertised as unlimited, may be capped off at the minuscule amount of 1GB.
  

That's about all there is to say about the T-Mobile G1, Android's first phone. Its open source, with a large app marketplace, a decent camera, and a physical keyboard. But I think that a lack of a headphone jack, a truly comprehensive 3G network, lots of memory, and the bulky size will prevent some users from buying the G1, but I am sure that the G4 or G5 will be near-perfect, and will be worth ditching the iPhone for. But, for now, I believe that the iPhone is superior to T-Mobile's G1.


Links:

• Official Site
• Gizmodo
• Engadget
• PC World's iPhone vs. T-Mobile G1
  

Updates: Here is a really good hands-on video with the G1 that I stumbled upon:




Also, Gizmodo pointed out something very interesting; the main promotional image for the T-Mobile G1 has inconsistent clocks with different times. Click on the link, or here is the image:


And yet another update! The ad for this phone is funny, and somewhat pokes fun at Apple. They call it "Funnerer" and "Connecteder". Here's the commercial: