The long-awaited HTC Dream, the first commercial handset running Google’s Android operating system, will be coming to T-Mobile as the G1 for $US179 on October 22nd. Featuring a 3-inch touchscreen, internet navigation buttons and a full QWERTY keypad, the smartphone market has finally broken free of Symbian, Windows Mobile and the sweet clutches of fruit companies. Read on for the details, and you can decide whether or not the competition is a good thing.
Features:
Date and Pricing
$US179 on October 22nd. (That’s with a two year contract.) Unlimited internet with “some messaging” will run $US25/month. Unlimited internet and messaging is $US35/month. Data plans will require voice plans.
Screen
The G1 sports a 3.17″ 65K colour touchscreen that runs in HVGA (480×320) resolution.
Battery Life
You can talk for 5 hours, or keep the phone in standby for 130 hours.
Camera
3.1MP, or right around 35mm 4×6 print quality.
Frequency Fun
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA
850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100Mhz
Dimensions
11.7 x 5.49 x 1.6 cm; Weight: 159 grams. And available in white, black and brown.
Storage
1GB MicroSD card preinstalled. Supports 8GB MicroSD.
GPS
Of course, what would Google Maps be without it?
Google Maps
As we’ve seen in a recent update, the G1′s Maps application will integrate Street View so you can see where you are going. But in an industry first, a built-in compass orients the map to your position. North is always up!
Android Market
Similar to the iPhone’s mobile App Store, the Android Market will allow downloading of various Android apps from the phone, to the phone.
Amazon MP3 Store
Amazon’s MP3 store will be preloaded on every G1, allowing the download of 6 million DRM-free tracks with singles starting at 89 cents. Downloading music requires a Wi-Fi connection, previewing can be done over T-Mobile’s network.
YouTube
Yup, it’s on there.
Other Apps
ShopSavvy: designed to help people do comparative shopping
Ecorio: developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and view what their carbon footprint looks like
BreadCrumbz: enables people to create a step-by-step visual map using photos; customers can create their own routes, share them with friends or with the world
Hi Jaak
Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 4:41 AMHow many Google-engineers does it take to tell the time?
Look at the analog clock telling us the time to be ten past nine and the digital clock telling us it is 2:47….
Ssiballloma
Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 9:20 AMHi Jaak the analog clock might be some other country’s time…noob!
khalid
Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 8:26 PMcan i buy g1 with out T-Mobile to use it on MTN ?????
tom
Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 2:23 AM@Ssiballloma: right.. so they picked that one timezone that differs 7:36 minutes?
karl
Monday, September 29, 2008 at 8:23 AMthe hands are backward…idiots
samrod
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 11:51 PMhaahaha….timezone, wrong time….
karl is the only one with a accurate eye
Aaron E-J
Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 11:00 PMI would also like to get an unlocked one, that is if works with MTN or Zain,
fatkids
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 2:39 PMthis phone is an iphone rip-off. Your never guna get on youtube with the crappy sevice tmobile has. Android?? what is this?!?! tmobile:0 apple: alot more than tmobile has accomplished
lol@fatkids
Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 12:22 AMlol fatkids, nice way to put it considering google has released android, an open source mobile operating system running under linux (yes linux) and yet apple encrypts their firmware, i believe i will be going with the free alternative kay? =]