Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > September > 23
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Google phone has landed
It seemed like forever (and two iPhone generations) since Google announced a platform for mobile phones called “Android.”
When they said it would be out in about a year, I mentally checked out and thought, “Great, let me know when you have something we can play with.”
The day has come. Today, T-Mobile and Google unveiled the G1 phone (previously known unofficially as “The G-Phone),” which runs the Android software and is a direct attack on Apple’s iPhone.
It costs $179 ($20 cheaper than the lowest-priced iPhone) and, not surprisingly, comes bundled with Google services like YouTube, Gmail and even Google Maps Street View.
Data plans will run $25-$35 and you can only get the phone for $179 with a two-year data and voice plan. You can get your hands on here starting Oct. 22. It’ll roll out in other countries in the months to follow.
Here’s what I like based on what I know so far:
- It’s got a full keyboard, accessible when you slide the top panel, similar to the Sidekick phone (a phone I’ve always secretly coveted).
- Street View will be very handy to have on the go.
- The Android platform could be the home of some very cool apps via the Android Market and seems much less restrictive to developers than the Apple App Store.
- Amazon’s MP3 store is built into the device and you can buy and download songs over Wi-Fi. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been buying DRM-free songs from the Amazon store much more often than I’ve been buying music from the Apple Store of late. This might be a great killer app.
- The phone’s design looks fairly clean and uncluttered, though it won’t win any beauty contests next to the iPhone or even some of the more recent Blackberry models.
- Over-the-air sync’ing. Yes! Awesome. But how well will it work? We’ll have to see.
- Expandable via micro-SD memory. Good move. I hate having to worry about filling up the memory on my phone.
What I don’t like so far:
- “Android Market” sounds like the place where you’d buy pleasurebots in “Blade Runner.”
- No headphone jack!?
- $25-$35 still feels like too much for a data plan, even if it’s 3G and even if it’s competitive with that AT&T and Apple charge on the 3G iPhone.
- The phone has a camera, but no video capability. Come on, Google. That’s just lame.
- If you really wanted to undercut the iPhone, you’d make it $99 or cheaper.
You can read more about the unveiling on Wired, see a hands-on preview at Engadget and some photos and videos below. Go Android crazy!
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