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Google Android Unveiled

September 23rd, 2008 · by David Bradley >> 6 Comments

google-android-mobileMobile Googlers will soon be able to get their grubby mits on an Android mobile – the T-Mobile G1 is the first cellphone to use Google’s mobile operating system, Android. The device has a touch screen (a la iPhone) but also a miniature QWERTY keyboard for those miniature touch typists out there.

According to the BBC, the handsets will be available in the UK just in time for Christmas and will be entirely free…for anyone spending at least 40 pounds (about $85) per month on a call/text/internet contract with T-mobile. It’s been a long time coming with Android applets announced as long ago as November 2007 to which users will have access.

The handset is wi-fi enabled, 3G, and has built-in support for YouTube, so no excuses for missing that latest viral marketing campaign during the morning commute. Whatever happened to doing The Times crossword or a Sudoko I wonder?

6 responses so far ↓

  • Jon // Sep 25, 2008 at 10:32 am

    I’m not convinced by the G1 as a serious “competitor” to the iPhone .

    The G1 dealbreaker for me would be the lack of multi-touch – in my Macbook Air and iPhone, multi-fingered scrolling, swiping and pinching have become an essential part of OS navigation. The G1 , I read, will never have multi-touch because the screen it uses doesn’t support it.

    Combine this with no video support except YouTube, and the old HTC trick of needing a proprietary adaptor to connect headphones, and you have a phone that is the future, but certainly not the present. G2, G3, maybe… but I’m steering clear of this one.

    And am I the only one who thinks it looks really flimsy and a bit weird? But then… I just bought an iPhone, so I’m hardly objective here.

    Oh and David, Times Crossword, Sudoku? Sure I do those things – on my iPhone.
    /advert

    - Jon

  • David Bradley // Sep 25, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    To be honest, neither am I, it looks kludgy and if, as you say, it lacks various of the features iPhone users enjoy, then it’s not going to be an iPhone killer in any way, shame or form; just as Chrome is not a Firefox killer.

  • Wayne Smallman // Sep 27, 2008 at 9:59 am

    Sadly, the T-Mobile G1 looks like a cheap all-in-one TV remote, bought from QVC…

  • David Bradley // Sep 28, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    It’s the fact that it has a bend and a join, it really does look cheap and 1980s…

  • Sören Born // Jun 12, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    Wer braucht ein iPhone wenn man ein G1 hat.
    G1 ist auf alle Fälle besser wie ein iPhone den Apfel hat ja jeder

  • David Bradley // Jun 12, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    Yep, I agree Soren, aren’t people bored with Apple’s so-called perfection…I hear MacBook users will soon have to pay for what is essentially a service pack to upgrade their operating system.

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