T-Mobile introducing first Android-based mobile handset (live)

[AppleInsider]

T-Mobile is currently holding a press conference to introduce the first mobile phone based on Google's open Android platform.

A Live Feed of the event is available. This article will be updated with notes of interest from the presentation.

Notes of interest

Since Android is an open platform that's extensible by individual developers, Google believes Android phones will be "future proof."

The United States leads the world in voice and text message consumption, yet internet penetrations still lags. Today Google, HTC and T-Mobile are looking to "change all that" with the G1 -- the first Android-based mobile handset.



Some of the G1's interface features:

Long press on touch screen to open up new features or delve deeper into features.

Frame photos and drop them to the home screen.



Drag and drop any application.

Window shade feature allows users to keep applications active, like instant message clients.

Street view and Traffic view in Google Maps.

Compass mode moves Google Map scenes as the user moves.



Global search function searches the entire handset.

On-screen controls for zooming sections of websites.

Multiple websites can be opened simultaneously.

"Long press" for sending email links from the browser.



Android Market has user reviews like the App Store.

Priced below iPhone at $179

G1 will cost $179.

$35 for a data package with unlimited internet and text messaging. $25 for a data package with limited messaging and unlimited data.

Existing T-Mobile customers can order over T-Mobile's site beginning today and have it shipped to them.

G1 will be available in 22 US markets beginning October 22nd from select T-Mobile stores and third-party retailers. Early November for UK, across Europe in Q1 2009.

Hardware features, software features and limitations

Will be SIM-locked to T-Mobile.

Includes Wi-Fi.

Will be available for non-3G markets, but 3G is preferred experience.

Will include Push Gmail and IMAP.

Allows viewing of Microsoft Office documents and PDFs.

No desktop syncing app -- all syncing over the back end and the network.

Syncs well with Google services such as Gmail, Calendar, etc.

Supports Bluetooth handsfree; A2DP coming later.

Dual-band and Quad-band so it will work on any GSM and GPS network in the world.

Built-in accelerometer.

Will include "Chrome Lite" browser based on Webkit.

First implementation of 'online presence' through GoogleTalk on a mobile phone.

Supports AAC, WMA, MP3, but content from iTunes would need to be DRM-free to be compatible.

Google has a focused Android software roadmap for the next two years and will release the platform as open source next month when the first G1 handsets hit the market.

Advertising

T-Mobile will launch biggest marketing campaign for a mobile device ever.

Other

Google expects G1 to be more of a consumer device than an enterprise device -- no Exchange support.

Google co-founder keeps referring to the Android Marketplace as "The App Store."

They're taking a lot of onstage "joint photographs" at random intervals during the press conference -- very odd.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[bigmc6000]

1) The idea that any piece of hardware is "future proof" is laughable.
2) I'd like to be able to keep multiple active internet windows open
3) I don't really care about global search but some seem to
4) I don't really care about background processing, which I'm still not sure I'd even want, sometimes people are just a little *too* connected IMO especially considering the drain on both battery and processor capability

Eh well, at least this gets more people away from Windoze Mobile right?

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

1) The idea that any piece of hardware is "future proof" is laughable.
2) I'd like to be able to keep multiple active internet windows open
3) I don't really care about global search but some seem to
4) I don't really care about background processing, which I'm still not sure I'd even want, sometimes people are just a little *too* connected IMO especially considering the drain on both battery and processor capability

Eh well, at least this gets more people away from Windoze Mobile right?

But will the push work?

[bdkennedy1]

That is a really crappy looking phone, but not bad for a first attempt.

iPhone has nothing to worry about. Microsoft has everything to worry about.

[stukdog]

Push Gmail? Yes, Please!

[retroneo]

the next iphone NEEDS a hardware compass for street view.

Street View Compass Mode is awesome.

[Mazda 3s]

Video walkthrough of the interface:

http://gizmodo.com/5053612/t+mobile-...?autoplay=true

[F1Turbo]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

1) The idea that any piece of hardware is "future proof" is laughable.
2) I'd like to be able to keep multiple active internet windows open
3) I don't really care about global search but some seem to
4) I don't really care about background processing, which I'm still not sure I'd even want, sometimes people are just a little *too* connected IMO especially considering the drain on both battery and processor capability

Eh well, at least this gets more people away from Windoze Mobile right?

Count me as one of those who care about global search. I could do this in 1996 with my original Palm Pilot, but sadly cannot with my iPhone 12 years later.

[Mazda 3s]

Ohh, and it has Copy & Paste

[MariusX86]

HTC Dream On

[sc54321]

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

Ohh, and it has Copy & Paste

copy and paste is something I miss

[CREB]

If it were not for the fact that I dislike T-Mobile (and AT&T for that matter) both my wife and I like all features a great deal. The GUI needs refinement, but the other aspects have my wife wanting to purchase one, and I would too, but no T-Mobile for this family.

[Tauron]

That picture placemens/resize feature is laughable. Basically this thing uses all sorts of cumbersome touch commands to avoid infringing on Apple patents. It is garbage.

[Purple Wolf]

1) Does Android sync with Mac OS X Address Book/iCal/Safari/Mail?

2) Maybe Apple will learn from Android and the iPhone will improve and catch up. Feature leapfrog between competitors is not the worst possible world.

3) Price competition, too (especially long-term data costs…).

4) How is T-Mobile net service compared to AT&T?

[wbrasington]

[tongue in cheek]

It doesn't work with Exchange and it doesn't support flash.
It only has 1 gig of memory and you need to buy another battery.
Forget it, nobody will buy it.


[/tongue in cheek]

[Virgil-TB2]

I was kind of impressed by the videos actually. Android phones are the first phones to have most of the same features as the iPhone and to actually have a few features that the iPhone doesn't have. That being said, I found the interface waaay confusing also. It just wasn't clear what was happening or what was supposed to be done, whereas in Apple's demo videos everything that happens is clear and simple.

One thing to remember though is that Apple's demo of their push email and syncing services was easily as impressive as this is, but as of yet (for me and many many others), doesn't actually work yet. Apple's mail clients, both on the desktop, in the cloud, and on the mobile are a confusing mish-mash of cobbled together junk for the most part, despite the slick demos and happy-smily help videos on the Apple web site. I wouldn't expect Android to be any different. Likely they only "sort-of" work at this point, just like Apple's stuff.

Also, I notice they do the same thing Apple does which is make the web pages, and the maps load about four times faster in the demo, than they actually do in real life situations, even when you are using Wi-Fi.

Finally, if you watch carefully, the person fingering the interface is being very, very careful with their positioning and pausing ever so slightly with each touch. That is a complete give-away that the touch screen might not be that responsive if they have to handle it so gently.

[Hattig]

The iPhone doesn't have anything to worry about.

BlackBerry doesn't have anything to worry about.

Windows Mobile has everything to worry about, because this OS will kill off any hopes they had of expanding into the consumer market, and BlackBerry and now iPhone are eating their business market.

Symbian will probably keep on ticking but I personally feel as if the writing is on the wall, in the long term.

Android is still clearly a very young mobile phone OS, so it is lacking features (cut and paste aside) and shine. I think we should revisit in a year's time to see how they're doing, and what their choices (background apps on a memory, cpu and especially battery limited device!) result in.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by F1Turbo

Count me as one of those who care about global search. I could do this in 1996 with my original Palm Pilot, but sadly cannot with my iPhone 12 years later.

I used to get over 40mpg on the highway with my 90 civic and here we are today and the brand new civic is listed at 34mpg (http://www.edmunds.com/new/2008/hond...chlanding.html) - wth?!?! it's 18 years later and the fuel economy has actually become WORSE?!?!

Anyway - aside from searching in Safari what would you be searching for? (I really am curious, I can't think of any application other than that).

[Pachomius]

this is really pitiful - only 1 gig of memory? that gets rid of the $20 of savings. Besides, the phone looks like a clunker - and moving parts are never good.

[Tauron]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

I was kind of impressed by the videos actually. Android phones are the first phones to have most of the same features as the iPhone and to actually have a few features that the iPhone doesn't have. That being said, I found the interface waaay confusing also. It just wasn't clear what was happening or what was supposed to be done, whereas in Apple's demo videos everything that happens is clear and simple.

One thing to remember though is that Apple's demo of their push email and syncing services was easily as impressive as this is, but as of yet (for me and many many others), doesn't actually work yet. Apple's mail clients, both on the desktop, in the cloud, and on the mobile are a confusing mish-mash of cobbled together junk for the most part, despite the slick demos and happy-smily help videos on the Apple web site. I wouldn't expect Android to be any different. Likely they only "sort-of" work at this point, just like Apple's stuff.

Also, I notice they do the same thing Apple does which is make the web pages, and the maps load about four times faster in the demo, than they actually do in real life situations, even when you are using Wi-Fi.

Finally, if you watch carefully, the person fingering the interface is being very, very careful with their positioning and pausing ever so slightly with each touch. That is a complete give-away that the touch screen might not be that responsive if they have to handle it so gently.

Exactly. What most people don't realize is that one touch screen is not equal to another. The iphone touchscreen is much more sensitive and has a wide dynamic range of pressures which helps it be a lot more accurate than other touch screens, which are basically just on/off. This is just another example of how Apple focuses on the overall package while others focus on how many feature boxes they can check in the add brochure.

[mrjoec123]

Originally Posted by retroneo

the next iphone NEEDS a hardware compass for street view.

Street View Compass Mode is awesome.

Really? Seems like a silly gimmick to me. What's the big deal about swinging around and having the street view move with me? It's actually easier to use your hands to swing around at that point. Especially if I'm looking at the map while I'm walking forward, as I often do when I'm trying to find a place. Why would I want to stop and turn around?

Now street view in general would be a nice addition to the iPhone. And the accelerometer already in every iPhone would make the compass feature very easy to implement. But I don't care if they actually do.

Keep in mind, not all Android phones are going to have an accelerometer. Or a touch screen, for that matter. The hardware will vary from device to device.

[mrjoec123]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

I used to get over 40mpg on the highway with my 90 civic and here we are today and the brand new civic is listed at 34mpg (http://www.edmunds.com/new/2008/hond...chlanding.html) - wth?!?! it's 18 years later and the fuel economy has actually become WORSE?!?!

Anyway - aside from searching in Safari what would you be searching for? (I really am curious, I can't think of any application other than that).

Searching through Mail would be the big obvious one. It's really inconvenient to not be able to quickly find an old email I've filed away on the iPhone. Global search is probably the iPhone's biggest missing feature (along with cut and paste).

[Superbass]

Originally Posted by Pachomius

this is really pitiful - only 1 gig of memory? that gets rid of the $20 of savings. Besides, the phone looks like a clunker - and moving parts are never good.

He wrote "tounge in cheek" before and after that post - maybe you should google what that means!

Anways, lots of the fanboys immediately bashing Android, that's no surprise.

The best part about Android is that it's open-source, and will soon be on a ton of different handsets, so folks won't have to wait for apple to improve the interface (no cut and paste for a year, mail functions spotty at best, also one year and counting), and won't have to pay $3000 over the life of the contract for this interface. I'm waiting for FLAC support in Android, which will be the deal-breaker for me.

[mrjoec123]

Originally Posted by Pachomius

this is really pitiful - only 1 gig of memory? that gets rid of the $20 of savings. Besides, the phone looks like a clunker - and moving parts are never good.

I agree. I thought the iPhone would spell the end of phones with barely enough memory to hold contacts and notes. There's simply no excuse for any smart phone not to have at least 8 GB built in at this point.

And don't give me that crap about memory cards. Who wants to a)carry around spare cards, b) remember which card has the files I want, c) play around with swapping them in and out all the time? Even if you add just one large card and leave it in, you instantly up the price of the device beyond the iPhone.

With today's RAM prices, there's no excuse for 1GB.

[BlackSummerNight]

You've gotta be kidding. All phones are missing features, and ALL other mobile players should be worried...yes APPLE included.

Originally Posted by Hattig

The iPhone doesn't have anything to worry about.
BlackBerry doesn't have anything to worry about.

Windows Mobile has everything to worry about, because this OS will kill off any hopes they had of expanding into the consumer market, and BlackBerry and now iPhone are eating their business market.

Symbian will probably keep on ticking but I personally feel as if the writing is on the wall, in the long term.

Android is still clearly a very young mobile phone OS, so it is lacking features (cut and paste aside) and shine. I think we should revisit in a year's time to see how they're doing, and what their choices (background apps on a memory, cpu and especially battery limited device!) result in.

[Pachomius]

Originally Posted by Superbass

He wrote "tounge in cheek" before and after that post - maybe you should google what that means!

Anways, lots of the fanboys immediately bashing Android, that's no surprise.

The best part about Android is that it's open-source, and will soon be on a ton of different handsets, so folks won't have to wait for apple to improve the interface (no cut and paste for a year, mail functions spotty at best, also one year and counting), and won't have to pay $3000 over the life of the contract for this interface. I'm waiting for FLAC support in Android, which will be the deal-breaker for me.

thank you for being so smart and pointing that out to me - I fully understand what tongue in cheek means. Maybe you should have noticed that my post was not a response to that post but was a completely independent comment. Fan boy- is that supposed to be an insult? I may be one, but I also don't own an iPhone.

Can you find where in my post that I attacked android? Yah, I didn't. I attacked 1gig of memory. To me, this seems like the thing all the other companies cut out of their phone to make it "cheaper" than the iPhone. Once you have to buy that memory, the phone becomes more expensive - simple as that.

BTW - I know a good 4th grade teacher if you need one :-)

[city]

Originally Posted by wbrasington

[tongue in cheek]

It doesn't work with Exchange and it doesn't support flash.
It only has 1 gig of memory and you need to buy another battery.
Forget it, nobody will buy it.


[/tongue in cheek]

My friend works at Google. She will buy it.

[breeze]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

Eh well, at least this gets more people away from Windoze Mobile right?

Good, so now the consumer that stiil is on the fence about the iPhone will decide between an Android Gooaphone, Blackberry or an iPhone… The rest of them can kiss their asses goodbye.

The iPhone believe it or not is only in it’s infancy ( 1year…)it will develop into a staple that everyone can build (customize) to fit their fancy or need,just by downloading their software of choice. The iphone developer kit is OSX which is solid and proven and has a massive happy developer base. The iPhone will reign supreme for at least the next 4 years and will become as ubiquitous as the walkman the iPod etc…

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by mrjoec123

Searching through Mail would be the big obvious one. It's really inconvenient to not be able to quickly find an old email I've filed away on the iPhone. Global search is probably the iPhone's biggest missing feature (along with cut and paste).

So why do they call it "global" I understand the search application for Contacts, Safari and Mail (and I suppose Notes if anybody even uses those for any real purpose, only time I've ever used it is for grocery list). Is the goal to search for John Smith and get a Spotlight-esque window that shows John Smith the contact, his home page and a list of the 5 last emails you got from him?

Well, actually, now that I think about it a Spotlight-eqsue search would be kind of cool. Ok, I'm on board!

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by breeze

Good, so now the consumer that stiil is on the fence about the iPhone will decide between an Android Gooaphone, Blackberry or an iPhone… The rest of them can kiss their asses goodbye.

The iPhone believe it or not is only in it’s infancy ( 1year…)it will develop into a staple that everyone can build (customize) to fit their fancy or need,just by downloading their software of choice. The iphone developer kit is OSX which is solid and proven and has a massive happy developer base. The iPhone will reign supreme for at least the next 4 years and will become as ubiquitous as the walkman the iPod etc…

I'd say that's a little too optimistic. I think there will be enough iPhonys running around that Apple won't rule the market. Apple may be the inspirer of innovation in the sector but I don't think they are going to "reign supreme" in any sort of the way. When it comes to phones it's not quite as cut and dry as mp3 players or CD players. People have needs and wants when it comes to phones and despite how awesome the iPhone may be there are some people who won't accept a touch screen until it's the only option and won't accept the candy-bar form factor until it's the only choice.

The iPhone will certainly make a dent but it's going to be a long time until they exceed RIM's userbase.

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by city

My friend works at Google. She will buy it.

Is that why people call it the Google phone?
Only people from Google, willing to pay the same amount as other phones but have 3G service from T-Mobile available.....will buy it?


PS:The tongue in cheek part had nothing to do with the feature limitations.
I do know some people will buy it.
But it is 1 gig out of the box, doesn't work with exchange, and doesn't support flash.
All of those things were complete non-starters for a lot of postings about the iPhone.

The real selling point, and the only one I see, is the thing works on only one carrier with limited 3G service.
If you have that carrier, in an area with 3G..... it's better than the iPhone no matter what else.
That's NOT a lot of people......

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

The iPhone will certainly make a dent but it's going to be a long time until they exceed RIM's userbase.

Yup.
It's going to take a long time.
Could take close to a year!

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by wbrasington

Yup.
It's going to take a long time.
Could take close to a year!

Well I said user base - not new sales. The apple user base is much higher than their % of new sales.

Of course the iPhone is being bought mostly by people who didn't own "smart phones" before so it's less about RIM losing customers and the iPhone expanding the "smart phone" category.

[macFanDave]

once I see that an app that simulates Fart Sounds is available on the Android Market, I'm getting rid of my iPhone which is bound to the App Store where someone's definition of good taste rules.

I feel oppressed that I cannot get a fart sound app!

By the way, shouldn't the guy who kept referring to the Android Market as "the App Store" be sued for misusing Apple's trademark?

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

Well I said user base - not new sales. The apple user base is much higher than their % of new sales.

I said user base, not new sales.

[Mazda 3s]

LOL @ the ad making fun of Jobs' "funner" comment when launching the new iPods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHgZr3SXCA

[iVlad]

Steve Jobs was right that iPhone is 5 years ahead of any phone device at the moment. Because in 5 years we all gonna forget what is Copy&Paste.

Thinking Different, it is.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by wbrasington

I said user base, not new sales.

well I'd like to know what kind of Kool-Aid you're drinking then because it's going to take much, much longer than 1 year to eclipse RIM's user base.

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

well I'd like to know what kind of Kool-Aid you're drinking then because it's going to take much, much longer than 1 year to eclipse RIM's user base.

Just exactly how many subscription users do you think RIM has anyway?

[noriyori]

Originally Posted by CREB

If it were not for the fact that I dislike T-Mobile (and AT&T for that matter) both my wife and I like all features a great deal. The GUI needs refinement, but the other aspects have my wife wanting to purchase one, and I would too, but no T-Mobile for this family.

as an open-source OS, I'm sure it will be hacked in no time...
Just look at how fast the iphone hacks were released on a closed OS.