Google Unveils First Android Phone

danieltdp writes "Google finally officially launched the first Android-enabled mobile device to hit the market. As expected, the first Android phone will be the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1), a device with a large touchscreen and a slide-out physical keypad that will run Google's new mobile platform." You might also not be at all surprised to know that Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store.

Comments

Like Android, don't like the G1

[GBC]

I am in the market for a new phone now and have been eagerly awaiting this first Android phone for some time. Whilst the G1 looked pretty clunky to me from leaked shots I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. However, based on today's presentation, I think I am going to wait and see.

My main issues:

1. Unless I misheard, this phone will require a gmail account to actually use it - even if you don't use their mail, calendar and chat apps. Call me paranoid, but I have no intention of giving Google even more info about me. If you need to register/log in using gmail before the phone becomes usable then that is a dealbreaker for me.

2. It also really bugs me that they haven't used a standard headphone jack. I know this is not a problem unique to this handset, but it annoys the hell out of me that manufacturers can't just use the standard jack size. I don't want multiple different headphones, one for each device, I want one set which I can use with all of them.

3. No Exchange support, tethering, desktop sync, video or Skype. Some or all of these would be nice at launch but I assume they will be added fairly quickly by others though given it is an open-source platform.

I think, on balance, I am going to wait until Android is available on other handsets or can be downloaded onto a handset of my choosing. The potential is still very much there with Android itself, but this version ain't it (at least for me). It is a shame really since I had such high hopes for the G1.

Re:Like Android, don't like the G1

[Idiomatick]

for #2 get bluetooth headphones, its much easier (I ran into the same problem on my phone).

Re:Like Android, don't like the G1

[Threni]

1) You don't need to provide any information when you get a Gmail account. Any information you're asked for you can lie about. You can set your account to forward all mail to a real account elsewhere if you don't want to miss anything from Google.

2) As you've noticed, hardly any phones come with a normal jack, so it's hardly a reason for not using this one.

3) Yeah, you might have to wait a month or so. Always good to do that anyway, unless you want to pay the early adopter premium and do all that lovely beta testing for them.

Re:Like Android, don't like the G1

[DrEldarion]

A paranoid person might think that the whole reason for Google releasing Android is so that it can get a bullet-proof correlation between a person's online and real life identities...

The far, far more likely explanation is that they see mobile internet as a huge front and they don't want to be left out if someone else takes over it. It doesn't have anything to do with associating identities, Google just wants people to use their search and click on their ads on phones as well as computers.

Re:Like Android, don't like the G1

[Dragonslicer]

...but being tied to this handset wastes that initial release PR boost.

How is Android tied to the Dream? HTC just happens to be the first company ready to announce a product, which doesn't even start shipping for another month. In theory, a company like Samsung or Nokia could make an announcement next week that an Android device will be shipping before the Dream. And since HTC is the one manufacturing the physical device, I would guess that they have more say in the exact release date than Google does.

Re:Like Android, don't like the G1

[cibyr]

The whole reason everyone wants a real headphone jack is to listen to music though, so no headphone jack and no A2DP means the 8GB of storage and the Amazon music store are pretty much useless.

Even if it did have A2DP support that's not a real solution anyway: A2DP headphones are expensive, and similarly priced corded headphones sound much better, are lighter (no batteries), and don't need recharging.

An adapter is a better solution than A2DP, but they still suck - they're bulky, add one more thing to carry, and usually don't stay plugged into the device as firmly as a standard 3.5mm headphone plug. HTC is by no means the only offender, though it looks like Sony Ericsson is going to finally get it right with the Xperia (and they even have a whole line of "walkman" phones without headphone jacks).

Re:Apple fanbois

[Ukab the Great]

Actually, we fanbois hope that this announcement will jar Apple out of its iPhone SDK NDA foolishness, since Apple will now have to compete with a platform that actually allows people to write programming books on it and lets its programmers to ask each other for help without fear of impending lawsuit.

Re:Apple fanbois

[Idiomatick]

It bugs me that it even seeped into the summary.
 
"Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store."
Haven't pretty much ALL phone companies had a store to download shit from for a looooooooong time before iphone or even ipod? Seriously you might as well say they are taking a page from microsofts book because they have a download store too. Come on now don't fall into this trap of thinking Apple did everything first (re. level sensing laptops).

The new mindshare leaders.

[lancejjj]

Everyone is comparing this new offering to the iPhone. But the interesting thing is that virtually no one compares it to the Blackberry - the new "has-been" of the so-called "Smart phone" industry.

It isn't like the Blackberry hasn't had any warning - the iPhone was announced more than 18 months ago, and there have been rumors about the Google-driven offering for nearly as long. How the shareholders of RIM can merely watch their company rest on its laurels is beyond me. RIM's death will be when Microsoft tries to acquire it.

In the 1980's, WANG was in nearly every office in America. They rested during the PC revolution, and within a couple years they were as good as dead. RIM has entered that territory. Yes, Blackberrys are still selling to corporate clients, who are traditionally slow to embrace new technologies. But other than the slow-movers out there, everyone can clearly see two very high-profile competitors - Apple and Google.

Looks bad for RIM.

Re:Apple fanbois

[pla]

Sure, $74/month may seem a little steep, but isn't it worth it to get a FREE phone?

Though sarcastic, you might not realize how accurately you've hit the nail...

In the US, we pretty much don't buy phones by themselves. The vast majority of people get them for "free" (or a penny, or $19.99-after-rebate, or some apparent pittance like that) bundled with a 2-year contract for service.

So, while Apple prohibited AT&T from giving the iPhone away with service, Google allowing T-Mobile and the like to bundle them means regular everyday people, rather than just Apple fans, may actually get one of these.

SSH? I want SSH!

[A nonymous Coward]

If it can run SSH, whether native or third party, and if there is some way to verify it's a real SSH, not infested by DHS or other snoops, that would be great.

Re:Apple fanbois

[Bandman]

s/apple/xerox/g

Re:Title finally write good

[randyest]

Psst: there's more than one moderator! There are, in fact, thousands of them! To expect them all to behave the same is, well, rather silly. To get upset about a single moderation to your post here is, well, rather sad.

Your finger you fool...

[argent]

Even if you could put a VoIP app on your phone,

The explorer turns to his trusty native guide, and points dramatically into the distance, and asks "what's that"... and from then on the mountain he was pointing at is known as "Mt YourFingerYouFool" in the local language...

The point isn't "you can't run Skype". That's just the finger. The mountain is "you can't just install anything you want on your open source Android phone".

Re:Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile pho

[Trashman]

It never fails. In every thread about Phones, There's always some Asshat that shows up that wants "Just a Phone" without the bells and whistles of whatever device is being talked about.

Never mind the fact is these devices exist and can be found easily. They still gripe, and more often than not, get modded up.

Re:Android == Dream Development Platform

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Our small startup was going to do iPhone apps with a nice chunk of funding from some venture capital types.

Android was a bit under the radar for awhile and the other people I am working with were caught up in the Apple marketing hype. But then more and more developer nightmare stories about dealing with Apple kept coming up. And these were above and beyond the absurd NDA crap and other secrecy Apple holds to with their product plans raised all sorts of alarms. Even the money guys were getting worried that they were going to dump all this cash into projects that were completely at the mercy and whim of Apple.

We were about to go out and waste money on expensive Macs for everyone - one of our guys was insisting on some 4 grand Mac laptop.

All those plans are now scrapped. We are all working on Android by simply downloading the free SDK and eclipse IDE and up and running on our own PCs. We don't have to waste time learning damn Objective-C that no one outside of the niche Mac dev community has any experience with and instead were able to jump right in with our existing Java skills.

The sky is the limit for Android. Solid technology base that is completely open. All the benefits of open source Linux without all the useless development and API fragmentation. The amount of interest from cellphone makers and people beyond the cellphone market in leveraging Android for their devices makes it clear that the huge amount of developer interest is just going to continue to grow rapidly.

Anything a user wants will be appearing on Android. It's so easy to modify for whatever end users need and desire.

Bye bye Apple and iPhone. Hello Android. Google really came through big time with this platform.

Okay. So how much more money are you going to make selling apps for Android over Apple? This is a serious question. For all of the nicities surrounding Android from a dev point of view, what are they doing to make your venture capitalists happy?

Re:Apple fanbois

[riceboy50]

Actually, all the Ron Paul supporters I know are more intelligent and informed than your average voter. By the GP's definition of fanboi, you'll definitely find a higher proportion supporting the two majors.

Re:Apple fanbois

[hobbit]

What's good for the developer is good for the customer, if it leads to a thriving marketplace.

What the App Store has done is given people with technical skills but no MBA (like myself) an opportunity to get paid for implementing their ideas.

What remains to be seen is whether the chaff will drown out the wheat in the Android Market without the auditing process of the iTunes Store. Ratings are all well and good on YouTube, but viral videos aren't viruses. Android prides itself on not being locked down, but you can't have it both ways...