A First Look at Google’s New Phone

On 23rd September in New York, Google and T-Mobile took the stage to unveil the first Android cellphone.

Android, of course, is Google’s new cellphone operating system, which over 30 phone companies and carriers have said they’ll adopt. I’ll have a full review when the time comes—I had only a few minutes to try the phone—but here are some first impressions.

Above all, feature-listers will be in heaven. The G1 with Android is clearly intended to be an iPhone knockoff—with all the chronic complaints addressed. Here’s your black slab, touch screen, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, slide your finger to unlock, icons on Home screen, over-the-air downloadable App store and music store, Google Maps, full-screen Web browsing, accelerometer that rotates the screen when you turn the phone 90 degrees, etc.

Yet here are the elements some people miss on the iPhone: a physical keyboard (hidden underneath the screen; you flip it out when necessary). A memory expansion card slot. A removable battery. Voice dialing.

They’ve even added a feature to Google Maps: in Street View (photos of actual locations taken from ground level), you can hold the phone perpendicular to the ground—and as you turn your body, the photo rotates, too, like a photographic compass, so that it matches what you’re seeing with your eyes. It’s amazing and actually useful, especially when you emerge from the subway and have no idea which way you’re facing.

At the same time, the G1 is not an iPhone. More features means more complexity; the G1 has five physical buttons on the face, not one. It’s got a trackball, arrow keys and the touch screen, too. It’s not a multitouch screen, so you lose all those niceties like pinching to zoom in and out. That keyboard and removable battery make the G1 a lot thicker and homelier than the iPhone.

And, of course, it’s not an iPod. It plays music, but doesn’t play video at all [UPDATE: except YouTube videos], let alone capture it, and there’s no way to buy TV shows or movies even if the phone could play them.

Finally, the G1 comes from T-Mobile. You complain about AT&T’s 3G network? T-Mobile’s 3G network covers only 19 cities so far, compared with AT&T’s 280.

But here’s the thing: Android, and the G1, are open. Open, open, open, in ways that would make Steve Jobs cringe. You can unlock this phone after 90 days—that is, use any SIM card from any carrier in it. The operating system is free and open-source, meaning that any company can make changes without consulting or paying Google. The App store is completely open, too; T-Mobile and Google say they won’t censor programs that they don’t approve of, as Apple does with the iPhone store. Yes, even if someone writes a Skype-like program that lets people avoid using up T-Mobile cellular voice minutes.

Android is not as beautiful or engaging as the iPhone’s software, but it’s infinitely superior to Windows Mobile—and it’s open. The Google G1 moible Android is only the first phone to use it, the first of many; it’s going to be an exciting ride.

Google's G1 Competes With iPhone and Mobile iTunes

Apple is getting competition to more than just the iPhone in the new Google phone announced by T-Mobile. Along with the announcement came word of a new mobile version of Amazon's MP3 music store, offering a strong alternative to the iTunes store on the iPhone.

The T-Mobile G1 also features a touch-screen, slick software, and a software store that make it appear a strong competitor to other smart phones. It arrives at a competitive price of $180 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.

Taking dead aim at the iPhone is T-Mobile's deal with Amazon. I'm already a fan of the Amazon store, where all tracks come without copy protection. The store is easy to use, a bit cheaper than Apple's, and now available for mobile phones—at least one, initially.

G1 owners will be able to browse Amazon's 6 million tracks across the T-Mobile network. The iTunes store is offline for iPhone users not on a Wi-Fi network. G1 users must be on a Wi-Fi network to download the music itself.

The G1 android has other unique capabilities, such as spinning the phone to spin around street-level photos available on Google Maps. And its tight integration with other Google applications looks promising. All of those are applications that could appear soon on other phones, including through the software store that Apple offers for the iPhone. Similarly, we can expect the Amazon store to appear on other phones.

But don't expect it to appear at Apple's App Store.

Google Dials Up New Mobile Phone - "Google G1"

The first phone powered by Google's new Android operating system was launched in New York City Tuesday by Google with U.S. carrier T-Mobile and cellphone maker HTC.

The first of the 'Google phones' is an HTC smartphone dubbed the G1, a touch-screen phone with a slide-out keyboard that T-Mobile is taking orders for at a price of $179 US.

The phone will be available from Oct. 22 in the U.S.; it will reach Britain with T-Mobile's UK unit in November and other European countries such as Germany, Netherlands and the Czech Republic in the first quarter of 2009.

The first of the 'Google phones,' an HTC smartphone, has been dubbed the G1.View Image

The first of the 'Google phones,' an HTC smartphone, has been dubbed the G1.

The phone, the latest entrant in a market hotly contested by Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone, is not available yet in Canada.

Asked if it plans to introduce the G1 in Canada, Rogers - the Canadian carrier with a GSM network which is what T-Mobile operates - declined to comment.

Google launched the Android operating system as the first open technology mobile operating system and one developed by the Open Handset Alliance of more than 30 technology and mobile companies.

The new phone offers the features of the competition including Internet browsing, GPS, contacts, short messaging, WiFi and others. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, free push Gmail, support for YouTube and a built-in compass.

The browser is based on the same technology as the recently released Chrome computer browser, but made for the mobile application.

The phone, which is available in three colours (black, white and brown), undercuts iPhone pricing and appeals to wireless Web users with Web surfing and a range of Google services.

"If we see more mobile Web usage we'll be happy," Google co-founder Sergey Brin told Reuters after arriving at the launch on rollerblades.

His company, a powerhouse in Web advertising, would benefit if Android led more cell users to spend time on the Web, no matter which phone they are using.

Google is well ahead of rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp in Web search on computers, but it wants to use Android to ensure this dominance carries over to the phone when mobile Web surfing becomes more popular.

But while no clear mobile Web winner has emerged so far, Google faces stiff competition from longer established phone players such as Nokia, Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and Microsoft, as well as Apple.

Analysts saw the device as a "good first step" rather than an iPhone killer, but some expect as many as 400,000 to be sold in the United States by year's end. A T-Mobile executive said the estimate was "not incredible."

"The G1 doesn't threaten Apple now, but Android has raised the bar for competing mobile platforms. The bigger concern here is for Microsoft and Nokia if Google can win over the hearts and minds of operators and developers," said Geoff Blaber, an analyst with British firm CCS Insight.

Both Google and Apple are wooing developers to create applications for their devices, but unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software, Google's Android is open to be changed by outside developers.

Asked if the user interface of future Google phones would look anything like the first one, Andy Rubin, who developed Android for Google, said: "It's completely replaceable."

For example, Leslie Grandy, T-Mobile USA's product development vice-president, sees the carrier selling a range of Google-powered phones in future, including more basic ones without a touch screen or full keyboards.

The new phone features Android Market, where customers can find and download free applications to expand and personalize their phones. T-Mobile's Grandy said the marketplace would eventually include applications that are sold for a fee.

"Because the platform is open, we think Android is somewhat future proof," Rubin, Google director of mobile platforms, told the audience at the launch.

A similar strategy helped increase the buzz around Apple's second-generation iPhone, which can support more than 3,000 applications available online.

Amazon.com's digital music store will be loaded on the Google's G1 Mobile, allowing users to search, download, buy and play more than six million songs, pitting it against iPhone's music player.

Android also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been solidly gaining ground. HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou told Reuters his company, which has concentrated on Windows phones so far, is already planning more Android and Windows devices.

Between the United States and the United Kingdom, Chou said he expects to have sold more than 400,000 G1s by year's end.

Android's biggest competitor is Symbian software, which represents 60 per cent of the smartphone market and which Nokia plans to buy out and open to other developers.