Unofficial iPhone Blog

The T-Mobile G1 compares well in many ways to Apple’s iPhone 3G

Having been an iPhone 3G owner since July, I was prepared to not be too impressed with the
T-Mobile G1, the very first mobile phone to use Google’s Android software as its operating system.

But the G1 is a lot more exciting in person — sleeker than photos make it look, and the software is impressive for an initial version. No, it’s not as elegant as the iPhone, but of the touch-screen smart phones out there, it’s the closest contender yet.

I’ve been using a G1 for about a week, long enough to find things I like and things I think need fixing. The best news about the G1 is that not only can T-Mobile fix its flaws, so can any other skilled programmer.

That’s because, like the iPhone, the G1 has a place you can go to download new applications for it. The G1 Market is increasingly full of useful programs. But unlike Apple’s iTunes App Store, there’s no gatekeeper. Anyone can write a program and add it to the Market.

The G1’s handset is made by HTC, known for its bricklike phones with screens that slide up to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. That’s the design for the G1, though the screen slides out first and then up. It’s thicker than the iPhone but not as wide. The keys are small and round, making it difficult to type quickly. You also have to press down fairly hard.

The 3.2-inch screen is bright and its resolution crisp. As with the iPhone, the G1 can switch between landscape and portrait modes, but not automatically. To get into landscape mode, you must raise the screen. The G1 does have a motion sensor, so it’s not clear why it doesn’t switch automatically based on how you’re holding the phone.

The touch screen is not quite as responsive as the iPhone and it lacks some of the iPhone’s slicker multitouch capabilities — there’s no pinching or double-tapping to shrink or expand images and Web pages.

The G1 has an angled “chin” below the screen that includes a trackball; the traditional cell-phone answer and hang-up buttons; a home-screen button; a back button; and a menu button. I liked having additional buttons, though I sometimes became irritated with having to press the Menu button to get access to features in the G1’s applications.

As you’d expect, the phone comes with GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It will use
T-Mobile’s new 3G network, which is available at the moment in less than 20 markets, Houston being one of them. If it can’t find a 3G signal, it can connect to the older, slower Edge network.

Music lovers, take note that the G1 does not have a traditional headphone jack. Instead, it comes with a stereo headset that plugs into the same port used to charge the phone or connect it to a computer. If you want a better headset, you’ll have to buy an adapter. This is not uncommon in smart phones. For example, Samsung’s BlackJack I and II require an adapter for third-party headsets.

Audio quality is very good during calls. In fact, this is one of the best-sounding phones I’ve used in a long time.

Unlike the iPhone, the G1 has a replaceable battery. Battery life is a little better than the iPhone, lasting a good two days without charging, so long as you don’t make heavy use of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

The G1 also has expandable memory. It comes with a
1-gigabyte micro SD card and can take up to an 8-GB card. The iPhone’s memory is fixed, but its 16-GB model eclipses the G1’s storage capacity.

Google’s Android software is fun to use and includes most of the features you’ll want in a smart phone.

As you’d expect, the phone is heavily tied to Google’s services. When you set it up, you have to enter your Gmail account information — and if you don’t have a Gmail account, the phone will set one up.

If you have other e-mail services you want to access, you’ll need to use a different, included mail program. Why the two aren’t combined is a mystery, and it makes using multiple accounts a hassle.

The G1’s Web browser is based on Webkit, the same core component used in the iPhone’s Mobile Safari browser. This means that the G1 shows you Web sites as they are meant to be seen. Unfortunately, it also means you can’t see Web pages that use the ubiquitous Flash.

I found the applications included with the G1 to be … OK. Generally, they’re simple and uncluttered, but uninspired. As an example, the browser’s page viewer takes up the whole screen. On one hand, this means you have more room to view Web sites, but it also means that you must press the Menu button often to get to frequently used features.

Since you can’t pinch to zoom, Android puts plus and minus buttons onscreen. The zoom levels are imprecise, and I found myself hitting them multiple times. On the Web browser, a second button lets you box off a specific area to be enlarged.

The G1 doesn’t come with software required to connect to a computer. An included USB cable connects it to a Mac or a PC, and you can then access folders on the phone. That’s how you put music into it — just drag song files into the Music folder. I can appreciate the simplicity; manually dragging/dropping from a large library of songs gets old quickly.

If you want a G1, you may have to wait a while. It officially goes on sale Wednesday, but T-Mobile has said it’s sold out on pre-orders. It sold 1.5 million phones in advance, and it’s unclear whether you’ll be able to walk into a T-Mobile dealer next Wednesday and buy one.

If you do, you’ll pay $179 with a two-year contract. Usage plan pricing varies, but expect to pay a minimum of $55 a month for both voice and data.

And should you get one? If you’re an existing T-Mobile customer who has been thinking about an iPhone, you suddenly have a real decision to make. This is a great phone for consumers — for business users, not so much. It’s about at the same place the iPhone was in its initial release.

If you’ve been trying to decide between the iPhone 3G and the G1, I’d have to say that the former is far more elegant and polished. But the G1 holds a lot of promise, particularly with its open-software approach. There will be more Android-based phones coming, and those who aren’t wedded to any particular wireless carrier may want to wait until next year to see how things develop.

DWIGHT SILVERMAN

In the exciting new category of modern hand-held computers - devices that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a traditional phone - there so far has been only one serious option. But that will change Wednesday, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.

I have been testing the G1 extensively, in multiple cities and in multiple scenarios. In general, I like it and consider it a worthy competitor to the iPhone. Both devices run on fast 3G phone networks and include Wi-Fi. Both have smart-touch interfaces and robust Web browsers. Both have the ability to easily download third-party apps, or programs.

Tampa buyers should beware, however. T-Mobile does not yet have 3G service in the area, so surfing the Web will be extremely slow compared with the iPhone. The company says it will provide local high speed service soon.

But the two devices have different strengths and weaknesses, and are likely to attract different types of users.

If you’ve been lusting after the iPhone’s functionality, but didn’t like its virtual keyboard, its user interface or its U.S. carrier, AT&T, the G1 may be just the ticket for you. But it does have some significant downsides.

By far, the G1’s biggest differentiator is that it has a physical keyboard, which is revealed by sliding open the screen. The keyboard proved only fair in my tests, and is complemented by a BlackBerry-like trackball for navigation.

The G1 has a removable battery and uses removable, expandable memory cards. And it’s even a bit cheaper than its Apple rival: $179 versus $199. Its data plan also costs less - $25 a month versus $30 - and includes 400 free text messages, which cost extra on the iPhone.

The G1 has a slick, clever touch interface to go along with its keyboard, and it includes a powerful new operating system, called Android, which was built by Google.

It’s much easier to place a phone call on the G1. You can just start typing a contact name or phone number while on the home screen, sparing the need to enter the phone or contacts program.

This first Android phone, which was largely designed by Google and built by Taiwan-based HTC, also includes some key features Apple omitted. These include a limited ability to copy and paste text, and the ability to send photos to other phones without relying on e-mail. And, unlike AT&T, T-Mobile will even allow users to legally unlock the phone after 90 days and start using it on another carrier, provided you pay a hefty early-termination fee.

In my battery tests, the G1 lasted through the day, but I had to charge it every night.

However, the G1 also has downsides. It’s a chunky brick of a device. While it’s narrower than the iPhone and feels OK in the hand, it’s almost 20 percent heavier and nearly 30 percent thicker. It also has a smaller screen.

The G1 also skimps on memory. It comes with only 1 gigabyte of storage, just one-eighth of what the base iPhone offers. To increase the G1’s memory, you have to buy a larger memory card.

The G1 also is a greatly inferior multimedia device when compared with the iPhone. Its music player, while adequate, isn’t as nice as the built-in iPod on the iPhone. And it lacks a video player altogether.

And then there’s the network. T-Mobile offers 3G in just 20 U.S. metro areas.

Overall, the G1 is a good first effort, and a godsend for people who prefer physical keyboards or T-Mobile but want to be part of the new world of pocket computers.

Dan Morrill builds a simple application on the Android platform.

The competition for the iPhone is about to get interesting.

Last week saw the launch of the first phone developed on Google’s Android platform. And this week will see the introduction of the first touchscreen device from market leader Nokia.

Initial reactions to the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 were mixed but the overriding feeling is it’s not the polished device it might have been. Read more… »

Right after T-Mobile disclosed the first official details about the first Android-powered device, the comparisons between Google’s G1 and Apple’s iPhone has started pouring in. AppleInsider has even published an extensive analysis, comparing the two devices. Therefore, if you wanted to know which of the two devices is better, you should check this analysis. On the other hand, there is a small problem with this kind of analysis.

Google’s G1 is not just another smartphone, which aims to compete with the already-iconic iPhone. Google’s goal is not to launch just one or a dozen devices, but to create an alternative to the current mobile operating systems like Symbian or Windows Mobile.

And that’s why it would be more accurate to compare Google’s G1 with smartphone from Nokia or Windows Mobile partners.

Indeed, for the moment, iPhone is the most popular smartphone, so running a comparison between G1 and Apple’s device is legitimate, but let’s not forget that starting next year, there will be other devices powered by Android. Maybe, from the technical point of view, Google’s G1 is inferior to the iPhone, but also let’s not forget that we are comparing a newly-launched device with a phone which is already one-year old.

Maybe Google’s G1 is not as “sexy” or “cool” as the iPhone (although I personally have never understood what can be “sexy” about a piece of electronic), but what it matters is if G1 will make other mobile phone makers adopt Google’s OS.

In fact, those who should start worry about Google’s G1 are Microsoft and Nokia. Unlike Apple, who has created a smartphone, Google’s intention is not to be just another phone maker, but instead it aims to develop and control a mobile platform.

It seems like Google is playing the same game as Microsoft did in the early ‘80s: instead of creating another computer, why not develop a software that will be able to run on all computers. And, look how this played out for Microsoft.

So, there is nothing wrong with comparing G1 and iPhone, but keep in mind that we are not dealing with just another phone.

Google Mobile Browser On G Android

Although the Internet surfing community is already filled with the likes of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and others, many are saying that Google Chrome is not just another web browser.

Yes, Google’s official foray into the web browser arena has largely been met with positive press and it’s ready to make the leap to mobile.

This should really come as no surprise to anyone, but Google has announced that it will be bringing a mobile version of the newly released Chrome web browser into the mobile environment of Google Android smartphones. Both projects are based on the open-source Webkit rendering engine. They haven’t come up with a name yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just go with Chrome Mobile.

Interestingly, there isn’t much in terms of Google services integration in Chrome. It’s not preconfigured to use iGoogle, Gmail, or other Google goods. If that’s the case, will Google go light on Google when it comes to Android too?

Visa plans mobile software for Google’s Android phone

Visa Inc. plans to create software so people with Google Inc.’s new Android phones can monitor their bank accounts and receive ads for offers from businesses that want to sell them things.

San Francisco-based Visa (NYSE: V) is doing this work as part of a broad effort to make this type of service ubiquitous in the United States by year-end. The Android phone service will be tested first on customers with Chase Visa cards.

People with Chase Visa cards will be notified on their mobile devices about account activity, they’ll be solicited by merchants and they’ll be able to use map services to find businesses near them that accept Visa cards.

Android: First Step in Google’s Plan to Change Mobile World

A 2007 patent filing by Google (published just yesterday) sheds light on how Google aims to take over the wireless world - shaking from grounds up the wireless industry business model. It appears the Android OS was just a small part of Google’s plan for a wireless revolution.

It would have been too simple if Google launched the G1 phone, powered by its own Android mobile OS, existed just as an iPhone competitor. Android as an operating system is just the launching pad for what the search giant has planned for the wireless industry.

Google’s March 2007 “Flexible Communication Systems and Methods” patent, published for the first time yesterday, could eliminate the need of long-term contracts with wireless carriers, putting the users in control of each call of data transfer they make.

A Truly Open Handset

The patent describes how users will be able to automatically poll - in real-time before they make a wireless call - nearby wireless services and see what is the best price for a voice or data connection on their phone. Then they can make a decision based on various factors, such as price, reliability, bandwidth or coverage, and select the carrier they want to initiate the call with.

Users can automatically select the cheapest rate for each individual call you make, depending on where you are located. Also, users can be freed from the burden of a contract (like the two year one G1 comes with from T-Mobile) and decide which factors they consider when making a call, depending on their needs at that moment.

There are many other technicalities behind this patent. The initial connection to find out the best prices for the calls would have to be done via WiMax (Google invested $500 million in Sprint’s WiMaX network infrastructure, Wi-Fi or via a user selected default cellphone carrier.

The software behind this patent will have to be embedded into Android OS, which would make it more difficult for Google to team up with various carriers around the world to subsidize its phones. And all that, only if the wireless carriers decide they want to play ball with Google and that they can have profits at least as large as they do with the current business model they are running.
Visa will focus first on these three services — alerts, offers and location help. Later it plans to add the ability to actually buy things with the phones.

Google’s first Android-based phone was announced Tuesday and so far, the response has been mixed.

Some believe it’ll be the next big thing in the cell phone business because it adds some basics — such as a physical keyboard — that the iPhone is lacking. Others believe the G1 will fall flat on its face because it’s not unique and its omissions (Exchange support, for one) will make it lose out in the corporate space. (For a full comparison of the two devices, see “T-Mobile G1 Vs. Apple iPhone 3G.”)

I tend to agree on both counts. I think Android could be a major hit in the cell phone space, but the G1 won’t be able to stand up to Apple or RIM. It’s too underpowered and its obvious omissions tell me T-Mobile and Google rushed it before it was ready.

But Android is an entirely different story. At its core, Android is a platform that has tons of potential. It’s not only open (which is probably the best feature), it offers full Google integration, which is a key concept in today’s age of Google domination, and its touch-screen capabilities mean Apple isn’t the only other major company doing something unique in the market.

But my belief that Android will be a success goes far beyond the product itself. Call me crazy, but I can’t think of one reason why anyone would underestimate Google. Countless times, companies have ignored Google and let it slip into a market, only to learn when it’s too late that it’s the leader.

And while it’s easy for Apple and the rest to scoff now, you can bet that that’s exactly what Google wants.

Who would have thought that Google would become such a powerhouse in the tech industry? Ask.com certainly didn’t think it could happen and neither did Yahoo. AOL must have thought Google was just another flash in the pan. Oh how wrong they were.

And what about Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and the rest? Certainly Microsoft and Yahoo didn’t believe that a product called Gmail would make an impact, right? After all, why would anyone actually want to use an online email application from Google when they can use Outlook on any Windows machine in existence? Nice one, Microsoft.

Speaking of Microsoft, where was it when Google was building its online advertising empire? And why didn’t it stop Google in its tracks once the company started bringing Google Docs online to compete with Office? Oh, and what about that whole search thing? Didn’t Microsoft see that one coming?

Google has its grips in countless markets in the tech industry. It leads the way in search and advertising, but it’s a major player in online productivity apps, mapping solutions, and a slew of other places where the leader was supplanted without much worry. And although it’s still struggling with YouTube, we can’t forget that Google was the only company that had both the money and vision to acquire that site.

The key to Google’s success throughout the years is two-fold: it offered superior products because it understood what customers wanted, but it also capitalized on all its competitors that failed to believe that a company with that crazy name could become a powerhouse in any market.

Oh, how wrong they were.

And now, as Android finally hits store shelves next month, companies in the cell phone industry are making the same mistake. Microsoft claims it isn’t worried about Android (we’ve been down this road before, Microsoft), Apple doesn’t see it as a worry, and RIM has practically ignored it. All the while, Sergey and Larry have been forming alliances with companies that will see dozens of Android-based phones hit store shelves over the next few years.

Have any of these companies learned anything? Sure, the search and advertising business is much different that cell phone software, but Google’s knowledge about what the consumer wants hasn’t changed. Worse, Google’s understanding of what the market needs has gotten better over time.

At this point, I don’t know if Android will lead the way in the cell phone industry and I have no idea if Google will supplant Apple and the rest or face annihilation. But if I had to put money on the most likely outcome, I wouldn’t bet against Google. The company has been right too many times to bet against it.

Apple, RIM, Microsoft, and the rest need to wake up and realize that the G1’s success isn’t indicative of the future success of Google in the cell phone industry. Android is.

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 $179 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
$179 on October 22nd. (That’s with a two year contract.) Unlimited internet with “some messaging” will run $25/month. Unlimited internet and messaging is $35/month. Data plans will require voice plans.

Screen
The G1 sports a 3.17″ 65K color 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
4.60” x 2.16” x 0.62”; Weight: 5.6 ounces. 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 Market, 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.

Whether or not such a two-sided conflict will actually play out in the larger mobile-phone industry, today Android vs. iPhone is the battle raging in the mind of every fanboy, gadget geek—and software developer. Since it has all the right themes for a Tolkien-esque epic whose outcome largely rests with small, furry-footed but pure-hearted creatures—developers—we asked the developers of popular mobile apps such as Pandora, TuneWiki and Instinctiv Shuffle, mostly people working on both platforms, to tell us whether it’s better to write for the no-strings-attached open Android or the more popular but catch-prone iPhone. Android may not be an overnight success, but iPhone had better watch its back.

Android: iPhone’s Refugee Camp

While Android’s open approach undoubtedly led some developers to pick it over the iPhone from the start, Apple’s byzantine approval process and perhaps anti-competitive protection of its own apps—Podcaster and MailWrangler being two of the most prominent—have definitely driven some devs into Android’s open arms, or at least made them stare longingly at it.

One such dev was the maker of the ridiculously popular Instictiv Shuffle app for jailbroken iPhones. Currently, iPhone apps aren’t allowed to touch a user’s music or iTunes functionality in any way. Instinctiv CEO Justin Smithline told us that “the minute we found out about the restrictions of the SDK…we started up an Android effort.” Nevertheless it was clear in our interview that they loved the iPhone platform, using the word “amazing” more than once to talk about it.

Free But Not Equal

One of the original dustups around Android was that the 50 finalists in the Android Developer Challenge received early, privileged access to SDK updates that the rest of the developer community didn’t get. While it makes sense that Google would want to fast-track Android’s potential killer apps in time for the launch, it also goes against Android’s atmosphere of openness.

It seems like there is some favoritism—whether it’s toward specific devs or just toward the best apps is uncertain. TuneWiki is a finalist and one of Android’s 10 most exciting apps. Amidst complaints about the lack of updates to Android’s SDK until the recent 0.9 release and Google’s secrecy, TuneWiki CEO Amnon Sarig told us that “I cannot say good enough things to say how [Google] treated us. They gave us whatever we wanted. They want us to succeed.”

Since TuneWiki looks like it’ll be a fantastic app, it’s hard to argue with this—why shouldn’t Google devote the most resources to the best and brightest, the stuff that’ll make its platform shine? Logically, it should, given how much of the platform’s success ultimately lies in the hands of developers. Depending on how you see Android’s raison d’tre, that might be deeply troubling philosophically, on the other hand.

Nuts and Bolts

One thing that every developer we talked to pretty much agreed about is that coding for Android is not exactly warm robotic apple pie. While it’s commonly assumed that Android development is done using run-of-the-mill Java, the developer of BreadCrumbz—a very cool image-based navigation app that’s one of the 50 finalists, told us that the Android framework is actually “very different” from a regular Java stack, so that even “experienced Java developers still need to learn.” TuneWiki’s devs agreed that there’s a learning curve, but both said that since it’s still Java at the end of the day, it’s a short one.

Instinctiv was more down on Android Java, compared to iPhone OS X, when it came to porting their app. When we talked to them before the release of the 0.9 SDK, they said that “Android is a mobile OS unlike the iPhone system, which is really kind of a desktop OS.” Because of Java, they lamented that it’ll be hard for Instinctiv Shuffle to do any really heavy lifting without bogging the system down, so they didn’t think they’ll be able to make it “as personalized” as the admittedly outlawed iPhone version.

Access to hardware appears to be much better than with the iPhone SDK, even though BreadCrumbz’s Amos Yoffe says that Android “doesn’t let you access the hardware directly, you go through Java APIs which are abstracted from the hardware.” He still says that it’s “pretty good.” TuneWiki devs raved that “Android doesn’t sandbox you like Apple does, so you have more flexibility.” Apps run in the background just fine, battery drain issues aside. And conversely to this freedom, security policies and threats should be interesting (and maybe terrifying for nail-biter types) to watch develop, though at the start, Android seems to strike a good balance between security and freedom (insert current events political joke here).

Flexibility is a huge thing for Android. One of its strongest points—that it’s going to run on a ton of phones with a rainbow of specs—might also prove to be one of its weak points, and perhaps the biggest challenge for developers. TuneWiki’s Sarig said that since the Dev challenge only provided them with a single set of specs, no one’s had to deal with the issue yet. It’s definitely looming, however.

He admits that they’re going to “have to scale back for less powerful handsets,” though he doesn’t know to what extent, since no one’s seen the pile-of-rusted-bolts end of the Android hardware scale. BreadCrumbz’s Yoffe says that “it’s a bit early to say” if performance variance between handsets will be an issue, no one will really know “until we get our hands on real Android hardware.” The G1’s hodgepodge of interface methods—touchscreen, QWERTY and trackball—perhaps not so coincidentally gives developers a chance to experiment with multiple ways to interact with their app using a single device, though having to account for them all necessarily adds layers of complexity and consideration to creating apps.

Android vs. iPhone: The Final Battle
Pandora CTO Tom Conrad, who famously said “I need Android like I need a hole in the head,” actually takes a more measured approach to the platform war. He told us that “Generally, when I look at Android and the challenges we faced bringing Pandora to handsets,” it doesn’t seem to solve them. “It just adds another one to the mix.”

Critical for Android’s success is an easy-to-use app store and the killer apps to stock it. Conrad noted that while Pandora had been on a number of low-end phones for over two years, within 24 hours, their iPhone app had surpassed all of those users combined. They are currently taking a wait-and-see approach with Android, though he stressed that “absolutely, we want Pandora to be everywhere there are listeners.” TuneWiki similarly wants to achieve multi-platform ubiquity, though they’re much more juiced about both the iPhone and Android, saying, “We love them both.”

Whoever wins, it looks like the carriers will lose. Every dev agreed that the iPhone sparked a revolution that is changing the way US carriers operate. Android is a part of that now, and the two, even locked in competition, will push that revolution further. In that sense, at least, we all win something.

After months of hype, the first Android phone is finally here. T-Mobile unveiled its Google-powered G1 phone Tuesday morning, putting an end to all the speculation.

You don’t have to dig through all the specs and in-depth announcements, though—we’ve broken down all the biggest questions and answers for you right here. Read on and get the information you need.
When’s the G1 going to be available?

The T-Mobile G1 will be in T-Mobile stores and “selected retailers” in the U.S. on October 22. Existing T-Mobile customers will soon be able to pre-order the phone online. The G1 will launch in the U.K. in early November and throughout Europe in the first quarter of 2009.

How much will it cost?

The G1 is actually a little lower than what had previously been rumored. Pricing will start at $179 with a two-year T-Mobile contract.

How much are the data plans?

T-Mobile is offering two data plan options: a $25/month plan, which includes unlimited Internet usage and limited messaging, or a $35/month plan that upgrades to unlimited messaging. You have to sign up for one of T-Mobile’s voice plans as well.

What’s the deal with 3G coverage?

T-Mobile says its third-generation 3G network will be live in 22 markets by the time the G1 launches. That will include all major metropolitan areas and encompass 80 percent of the projected consumer base. The G1 phone will be available in areas not covered by 3G, as the phone also supports T-Mobile’s EDGEnetwork.

Does the phone work with WiFi?

Yes, the T-Mobile G1 will work over Wi-Fi connections.

What kind of navigation system does the G1 have?

The T-Mobile G1 features an iPhone-like touchscreen that lets you swipe across to navigate through menus and long-press to open options or drag-and-drop files. It also has a pull-out QWERTY keyboard and a navigation trackball.

What music options are built into the phone?

The G1 comes with integrated Amazon MP3 functionality, letting you surf through the site’s music store and do one-click ordering. Its default music player has options to search for related material on services such as Google or YouTube while a song is playing. Of course, a third-party app could ultimately replace that player if you so chose.

What instant messaging options are offered?

This first Android phone has Google Talk built into the platform and also supports AOL, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger.

Will the G1 function as a tethered modem?

The team indicates the G1 will not have tethering functionality as of now.

What about Microsoft program compatibility?

As of now, the Android platform offers support for Word and Excel documents, but not Exchange integration (enterprise e-mail). The Google team, however, indicated that third-party developers will likely create applications for these purposes in the near future.

What browser comes with the system?

Android’s default browser is an open-source browser (WebKit) based on the same foundation as Chrome, though it is not branded as such. Engineers describe it as a Chrome-like program that’s optimized for the small screen.

Will the G1 will limited to T-Mobile?

As of now, T-Mobile says the G1 will be SIM-locked to its network.