On Tuesday, T-Mobile had their event to launch the first Google Android phone on the market.  Coming to the US on October 22nd, the T-Mobile HTC G1 will be available in most T-Mobile stores for $179 ($20 less than the iPhone 3G) and, of course, will feature Google's Android operating system.  So, what does that mean?  Well, aside from having great compatibility with Google's applications (they described a normal Gmail experience - labels, email search, even Google Talk) they're pushing the open sourced nature of the Android operating system.

Most people, whether fair or not, are looking at Google's Android as a competitor to Apple's iPhone.  It's a hard justification to make since Android is just an operating system while the iPhone encapsulates both hardware and software, but given the nature of the two companies it's an easy conclusion to jump to (both are traditionally tech companies now trying to make a bid in the mobile phone industry).  The only reason I mention this is because, as I said, Android is open source.  That's a completely different approach than the one Apple took obviously.  Android will have the benefit of having developers making 3rd-party applications from day 1 as opposed to Apple's delayed delivery of the App Store this year.  My only question is the certification process with Android applications.  Sure Apple's system is generally a closed one, but that enables certification of applications so the store isn't filled with garbage that no one wants.  Of course you could assume that Android apps will basically be regulated by users.  If you go to download an application and everyone is saying it's terrible, chances are you'll stay away from it.

Anyways, back to the G1 and the T-Mobile event.  When I started watching the stream one of the first things the representative from T-Mobile mentioned was that they were offering a $25 limited data plan and a $35 full data plan.  This news made me very excited.  After all, a $35 phone plan with unlimited data?  What's not to love?  When Android was first announced there were a lot of musings about Google maybe giving free service with some ad placement, but cheap service was fine for me.  At least it would have been - one of the attendees was smart enough to ask whether their $25/$35 plans were standalone, or if they required a standard voice plan as well.  They require a voice plan.  So then, the T-Mobile plan is only slightly cheaper than the iPhone's data plans.  That's too bad, because I think if they had come out with cheap 3G access they could have gained a lot of interest from consumers still on the fence about getting an iPhone.

Some of the specifications of the G1 I noted while watching the stream were that it's compatible with Microsoft document formats, it does have wifi built-in despite being meant for 3G, and it has a fully-functioning web browser (like Safari) based on webkit.  Webkit is the base for Google Chrome so that's not entirely unexpected, and the representative from T-Mobile even referred to Android's web browser as a sort of "Chrome Lite."  The device also supports most audio file formats, even the default iTunes AAC, but it won't work with iTunes DRM-locked songs.  There's built-in GPS, an accelerometer, an application store (called the App Market), a touchscreen, and of course a camera.  So, at a glance, the G1 is comparable in features to the iPhone.

The question really comes down to user interface I think.  I'll give Google props for not going the obvious route and blatantly copying the iPhone, but instead taking their own approach.  It looks kind of similar to a PC desktop to me...not necessarily a variant of Windows, but it definitely has a ring of "this is your PC desktop on a phone."  The icons look like standard desktop icons.  The applications don't have that same uniformity as iPhone applications share with the rest of the phone's user interface.  Still I can't comment much on the UI because I haven't used one, I can only go off of what I've seen in videos like this:

So then, is the G1 important?  Yes.  It gives a lot of promise to people looking for an alternative and open source variation of the iPhone.  As I mentioned it shares a lot of the same features, just maybe not in as pretty of a package.  Given the open-source nature of the project there's no doubt in my mind that many of the issues I have with the Android operating system will be worked out in time, and for an initial release Android and the G1 are looking pretty good.  I'm hoping that Google works on bringing an Android-enabled device to Verizon sometime soon, because who knows - I might just get my own Google Android phone in the future.

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