T-Mobile G1 Out! September 24, 2008
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones, Google , trackback
The T-Mobile G1!!!
Forget all that iPhone 3G update stuff- that’s old news now 
Yesterday Google and T-Mobile, along with HTC, officially announced the T-Mobile G1 (previously called the HTC Dream) onto the world. This bad boy is loaded! So whats it all about and how does it compare to the iPhone 3G? Read on to find out!
Features:
- Sidekick-like Design with 3 inch Touchscreen + Keyboard- This phone looks really nice, and with a full touchscreen and full keyboard, it is a best of both worlds (especially for big texters- this is AWESOME!). The phone is also available in 3 colors- black, white and brown.
G1 Open with Keyboard
- T-Mobile 3G!- This is the first real (read: smartphone–phone designed for web browsing) phone to feature the new 3G network on T-Mobile. This new T-Mobile network is also growing quick — 3G is already available in many areas like New York and Los Angeles — but T-Mobile is also aiming for at least 27 areas around the country by the end of 2008 (for whole list of cities see our post here).
- Wi-Fi- Wouldn’t be a T-Mobile phone without it.
- 3D Graphics- This could really make the phone a great portable video game system (and rival to the iPhone in this category as well). And this also helps with…
- Google Maps Street View- Its a Google phone remember? Not only is this the a phone with the standard Google Maps and built-in GPS, but, probably in thanks to T-Mobile’s 3G network, it is the first to let you view live street pix! Yes, this isn’t available for every street (think more for major areas like Times Square in New York), but hey- it still is pretty cool. See the computer version for yourself here.
- 3 Megapixel Camera- Higher camera than the 2 megapixel iPhone 3G and has auto-focus built in to help get rid of blurry photos.
- Android Market- Think of this as the App Store for Android. This is like the Apple App Store in pretty much every way, allowing downloads straight to the phone, and containing both free and paid apps (Whoo!!!). If this App Store gets as many applications for the phone as the iPhone/iPod Touch has, then the G1 could seriously give Apple a run for its money.
- Real Web Browsing- Yes, this phone is designed for the web as well. It’s based a bit on Google Chrome as well as the Webkit used in Apple’s Safari, but based on the videos of the browser in action (see here), this is very do-able, but not as nice as the iPhone’s Safari browser.
- T-Mobile myFaves support- Gotta have your Fave 5 right?
myFaves on the G1
- Mp3 and Video Player with 1 GB of built in memory- This is ready to rock out of the box. We know: 1 GB is not as nice as 8 or 16 like on the iPhone 3G, but this phone also has a MicroSDHC card slot that could take in 32 GB of memory on a microSD card! Eat that iPhone. O, and this also has YouTube built in for all your internet video fun.
- Amazon Mp3 App- One of my personal favorite features on this phone, the ability to download over 6 million songs straight to the device, though only on Wi-Fi. However, you can use the the slower EDGE network, or the new speedy 3G network to sample songs, something you currently can’t do with the iPhone 3G. Songs will cost $0.89, and you can download full albums for $5.99-$9.99, another music-buying option that the iPhone fails to offer.
Amazon Mp3 on the G1
Price and Release:
The cost of this device/superphone is a not too bad at $179.99 with a 2 year contract from T-Mobile or $399.99 without a 2 year contract, and it comes out in under a month- October 22.
Couple of notes on this: 1. Current T-Mobile customers: you can pre order your phone today, just head to the G1′s site here. 2. Wanna use the internet on your phone? Well, aren’t you happy today. Unlike Apple and AT&T, who charge an arm and a leg for the iPhone 3G with their $70 a month data plan, T-Mobile is only charging $24.99 for UNLIMITED internet (not sure where T-Mobile will cap this at, but the iPhone doesn’t even come close to this) AND some text messages (not known exactly how much, but better than the iPhone 3G, where this is yet another charge).
Comparison to iPhone 3G
The million dollar question: is this better than the iPhone 3G, arguably the current “king” of the cell phone market?
As of right now, a strong maybe, though I haven’t yet used a T-Mobile G1 and therefore can’t verify if these features match–or surpass perhaps– how it sounds on paper.
So if I haven’t even seen a G1, why would I say it could better than the iPhone 3G? Couple reasons:
- It has a real keyboard– I, like most of you, am a pretty big texter and having a real physical keyboard is a nice addition to the touchscreen keyboard, and is very welcome to me.
- Price– Plain and simple: I’m an average teen who isn’t made of cash and really can’t afford to pay Apple and AT&T’s $70 a month for just internet with a couple hundred minutes on top of the $200-$300 I’m putting down for the phone and texting (which isn’t included). From what came out today on the G1, even if I don’t want internet, I will only pay $179.99 and not the full price of $399. That contrasts to the iPhone 3G, where if you don’t wanna pay the $70 a month, you need to pay the full price of $600-$700 (depending on if you get the 8 or 16 GB model). And if I do want the internet for the G1, its only $25 for unlimited, not $70 a month.
Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone 3G still is a great device, and will only get better with the App Store and what you can add to it (Not to mention what it has that the G1 doesn’t: a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack, multi-touch, and of course iTunes sync). But for me to buy one — and if there was no $70 a month obligation I would (I am on AT&T) — I would need to get it without that $600 or $700 full price, even if it means paying a little more for the phone itself upfront.
Hey, that just one man’s opinion; what’s yours? Is this gonna be your next phone, going to go for iPhone 3G, LG Dare for Verizon or Samsung Instinct for Sprint instead? A different phone altogether? Let us know in the comments.
Info and pix from Engadget.com, and Mobile Devices Today.com which also has a full hands-on review of the T-Mobile G1.
Comments»
I was gonna pick up this phone since I have T-Mobile, but it’s a disappointment so I’ll be sticking with my Blackberry until something better comes along…
do u have to pay to go on google with the new g1
they say u dont have to pay for internet for the g1 is that true or not
I have a g1 and I have to pay for a data plan to use the internet. Although it does have wifi which than you can just use it instead of a data plan but you have to always be near somewhere that has free wifi to use the internet.