T-Mobile today held a press conference in midtown Manhattan to unveil the first commercially available handset to run Google's eagerly awaited open Android OS.
The new G1 handset is available today for pre-order by T-Mobile. The phone will become available on October 22nd, in white, brown, and black.
Third-party apps will be available for the handset on that date as well, through Google's Andrpoid Marketplace beta, including the Amazon MP3 store; GPS router tracker, BreadCrumbz; comparative shopping app, ShopSavvy; and carbon footprint calculator, Ecorio.
"Android is bringing Google advances and strategies to the mobile phone," said Google's director of mobile platforms, Andy Rubin. "Founders and developers will be able to use it as a platform and developers will be able to modify the platform, make the platform better. Because it is open, it's future-proof."
The phone will also come loaded with mobile versions of a number of Google apps, including Gmail and Maps.
The G1 will sport a $179 price tag with a two-year contract, at launch. Two plans will be available, including a $25 unlimited Web/Internet package with some messaging, and a $25 unlimited data and messaging plan. The phone will be available on both sides of the Atlantic.
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September 24, 2008 3:01 AM
And I just bought a Nokia... damn :)
September 24, 2008 8:19 AM
Looks nice, but having a sidekick now, this looks like a slider sidekick with a big screen. Can someone point out the differences?
September 24, 2008 11:12 AM
Elvis, it's totally different inside. I've been calling it an "iPhone in a Sidekick body." The software is much more powerful than Sidekick - there will be hundreds of applications to help it do a lot of "tiny computer" like things. More down to earth, it has a much better Web browser, much faster Internet access with 3G and Wi-Fi, a better camera, better e-mail (no 6MB limit!), connectivity to Google services like Gmail, maps and calendar ... etc etc. It looks like a Sidekick, but it doesn't act like a Sidekick.
September 24, 2008 10:31 PM
Looks great - I will probably buy one.
September 27, 2008 7:30 AM
I like G1 phone, its cool but I has old sidekick2 still good runner .Everyone wanted G1 but let to know if good or not I has one sidekick2 never bored that why.
I wanting buy it when my sidekick is broke first.
November 15, 2008 1:43 AM
no freaking navi, i'm pissed that lesser sprint phones have it and this doesn't, come on t mobile and htc, get your s*** together, other than that the phone is freaking awesome.