Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > September > 24 > Entry
T-Mobile/Google phone backlash has already begun
Only a day after it was announced and a month before it even is due to hit stores, the new T-Mobile G1 phone, the first to use the Google Android platform, is already taking knocks from the tech press and potential customers.
At $179 and boasting what Google has called a more open developer platform than Apple’s App Store, the G1 is an obvious competitor to the mighty iPhone. But despite the phone’s low price, 3G capabilities and Google brains, it’s not perfect.
Some (including me) have already complained about the lack of a standard headphone jack (the first iPhone’s recessed jack was the source of much frustration and many annoying adapter purchases), about the phone’s looks and even a fine-print policy that Internet speeds will be slowed for users who hit a limit of more than 1 gigabyte of data downloaded per month.
Wired called yesterday’s debut disappointing, pointing out that the phone is thicker and heavier than an iPhone and that the supposedly “Open” platform is locking out the use of voice-over-IP. It also is not currently said to support video playback or recording.
Cnet posted a feature listing what the new phone doesn’t include.
Nobody expects that these potential missteps will be fixed in the month before launch, but it’s important to note that this isn’t the Google phone. It’s one of potentially dozens of handsets we’ll be seeing over the next year using Android. And as a first step, it’s not a bad one.
At $179, it’s certainly not an incredibly expensive gamble the way the $600 iPhone was at launch. Sure, you’ll be locked into a two-year contract with data fees that start at $25 on top of your voice rates per month, but hey, you’re rolling with the big smartphone dogs now!
Some will be compelled to go with the G1 simply as an alternative to owning an iPhone. People will tinker with it. Some will love it and swear it’s better than an iPhone while others will buy it and instantly regret being tied to this Android anchor for two years.
But I’m pretty confident that better Android handsets are on the way that will improve on this design while refining the features that people want. Heck, we may even get a real headphone jack down the line.
I didn’t buy an iPhone until more than six months after it debuted and many new features had been added through software updates. Likewise, I wouldn’t buy a G1 at launch, especially with the promise that better, more full-featured Android phones are likely on the way.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
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By Sheila Scarborough
September 25, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
DON'T jump on the new and shiny immediately?
Let some other eager beaver be your beta tester?
It will get both cheaper and better in just a few months?
Ya think? :)