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Is Anyone Buying T-Mobile's Googlephone?
Hugh Pickens writes "Laura Holson writes in the NY Times that she 'wandered down to the T-Mobile store at Ninth Ave. and 43rd St. in New York City to see what kind of crowds — if any — were lining up to buy the new T-Mobile G1 which went on sale Wednesday' and saw no lines out the door, no crowding at the counter, and a complete lack of crowds. The iPhone appears to still be the gold standard and Etan Horowitz writes that the G1 'doesn't do a great job showcasing its potential. It isn't as intuitive as the iPhone, and it may take average users a while to figure out basic and advanced shortcuts and features' and 'may appeal more to techies who value open-source products and don't mind a somewhat steep learning curve.' Part of the reason for slow interest may also be that T-Mobile's 3G high-speed data network won't be up and running in many cities until the end of the year."
Probably because T-Mobile and Google don't have the Apple hype-machine/blogosphere/rumor sites going insane over unreleased products?
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Most cell phone users don't know how to use their cameras, or calendar functions, or pair a device to their phones with bluetooth. How many iPhone users have I met who didn't know that their phones had Wifi, or thought that "Wifi" meant their cellular data plans?
I'm not going to base my opinion of a new device on how many people who don't even know how to use their dumb phones get excited about it.
1. People don't even know if they'll have jobs next week, would they really be taking on an expensive new phone and plan?
2. There's no absolute media saturation and frenzy over the G1. Apple is very adept at building their marketing campaigns into beasts like self-sustaining fusion reactions that produce more energy than they consume, like firestorms sucking all the oxygen out of the city. Media that doesn't even want to report on tech will end up reporting on the craze surrounding the tech.
3. The G1, while building on the success of Google, isn't coming with quite the same mac/ipod buzz that the iPhone had going with it. Again, this goes back to 2, Apple is building upon the wave of successful hype of previous products.
I hear that RIM is trying to improve upon their berries given all of this competition from Apple and Google. To that I say GREAT! The more competition the better. The last berry I used was a hell of a product but RIM has been floundering for a while now. I want to see them recapture the mojo instead of flaming out like Palm.
Personally, I don't know which phone I'll end up getting. I'm no longer working in a capacity that requires a company phone so I'm not likely to have another berry unless I change jobs. The iPhone is incredibly seductive but the data plan sucks and I don't like it being closed-architecture. I don't yet know enough about the G1 to know whether it'll be a good fit but I like what I've seen so far.
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It isn't available here in Finland, so... Yeah.
But well, I've never understood that culture in USA... Comparing products based on the day that they come out. Just like with movie theatres there, the most used way to determine if movie is successfull seems to be how well it sells during the first weekend: Before anyone has had the chance to see it and tell others if it is good or not.
I wouldn't think much based on just these days. Also, the "Steeper learning curve" and "Shortcuts might take some time to get used to..."... WTF? Does ANYONE think of those things when buying a phone? "I would buy that but the learning curve is too steep..."? I would understand if it was "The user interface is horrible" but this?
Apple has the perception in the eyes of the public of making exciting and innovative products. Part of that could be because it is true and part of it is because of marketing. So when Apple decides to enter a new industry, people get excited.
Now Google may be known for innovating and be a household name, but was the android phone marketed as being connected to Google? Not only than, but Google didn't design the physical phone, just the platform.
Or, to think of it another way, the major selling point for Android is that it is an open source platform for handheld devices. Does the general public get excited over open source? The reason for the lack of excitement over the first Android phone is pretty obvious when you think about it.
I'd like to hear more about the quirks...
Of course not, if you ordered one a couple of months ago you would already have it. Instead of madly lining up at some retail shop to buy your new piece of hip candy (and then still have to take the damn thing home to activate it), you can order it and wait for it to be delivered to your door.
Apple does make good products, but they also are very adept at engineering a crowd to harness for marketing purposes.
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Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. He didn't call them part of the driveby media, though, so I'll go with Fox.
Not sure what they mean about a non-intuitive interface. What more freakin' intuitive than a physical keyboard?
Is "pinching" intuitive before somebody shows it to you. But I guess it's just an article of faith that anything not done by Apple must, by definition, be less intuitive than the Apple version.
On the useless but cool front - I made a skype-out call from the G1 over my wifi network today. Try that with an iPhone. Granted, it's a phone, so sure, what's the point. But it's good to know that even if I terminate my cell plan, the phone isn't a useless brick.
Id totally buy one, but I'm an ATT customer, and they havn't released one for ATT yet. Ill gladly swap my sim into one if i could find an unlocked one.
In reality, every phone feels like a toy if you don't like it.
It's 100% subjective, and reflects on nothing. Some people with big or small hands or fingers feel certain phones feel like a toy. Does that mean they do to the other 99% of the users of said device? No. Does that mean it "feels cheap?" no.
Meanwhile, the apps on this thing alone motivate me to want to get it. I'm trying to sell off my E61i to get a G1.
Probably because T-Mobile and Google don't have the Apple hype-machine/blogosphere/rumor sites going insane over unreleased products?
Er...or it could be that the G1 just isn't innovative or unique.
Seriously, what's unique about it?
Apple slowly wedged their foot in the door with iTunes and Quicktime and has built upon each success. Meanwhile, Google has been the 500lb gorilla, but given away every product they offer (and made it work on every other cell phone) and there's no compelling reason to buy a Google phone.
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The iPhone is Apple's one and only phone and it's on one provider. The G1 is the first phone with Google's Android operating system. In a few months there will probably better Android phones. If Google thinks it has a something really great here, they might as well let the hype build slowly. In fact, they probably want to rely on the phone companies to hype their phones.
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Why the hell would you overhype a version 1.0 product? So you can buy a $600 dumbphone from Apple?
People who bought a rev 1 iPhone got SCREWED. Then the price dropped and Lord Steve gave people credit to spend on more of his garbage. Then Rev 1 of the 3G turned out to be a bigger turd because it got crappy signal, dropped calls, has bad battery life, and crappy apps that crash the phone.
So, moral, don't buy rev 1.
People are writing it off as a failure because there aren't crowds and lines forming to buy it? Seriously?
Seems just about every product ever made would be an utter failure going by that metric.
Maybe not
The iPhone is NOT any more intuitive than any other phone. It is not intuitive to use two fingers spreading in and out to zoom in and out. It is not intuitive to change the screen orientation by rotating it if it only works when holding the unit somewhat vertical. (That drove my daughter nuts until I explained how gravity works with the phone.)
The iPod is NOT any more intuitive than any other music player. It is not intuitive to have to return to the now-playing screen to change the volume. It is not intuitive to run your finger around a circle to change volume or select items. And not being able to edit play lists is just inexcusable.
The Apple was NOT any more intuitive than any other computer. Dragging the CD to the trashcan to eject it was not intuitive. People exposed to Windows did not deal well with the lack of right click and that silly Apple key until shown what they were for.
Intuitive means directly apprehended or instinctive. Something is not intuitive if basic features require demonstration or having to read the manual. Apple products have some cool features that once exposed to can make them easier to use. That isn't intuitive, it's user friendly.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
So which is it? The way a lot of people on Slashdot make it seem, no one can do what the iPhone is doing because it will be a knock off but if it isn't like the iphone it's junk. I think Google made a bad choice using this phone as the first phone to have android but I am optimistic that there will be better phones that will incorporate android down the line. Comparing android to the Iphone is a bit unfair because of what each one does. Google is not going after hardware innovation, they are just putting the potential capabilities in software so that it can run on phones that can further utilize them. Even though I am a t-mobile subscriber I also think starting with T-mobile wasn't the best choice either since T-mobile USA is a subsidiary that seems to be afraid of success. They always stock the ugliest most hideous phones and try to push their own branded junk (Sidekick, Shadow, Wing). I only hope that more phones start getting behind Android and starts the momentum as well as t-mobile starts surpassing being the half-assed wireless company (although their rates aren't bad and they are the most open carrier).
Google will be competing more with Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile, rather than the Iphone since the Iphone stands in a market all it's own, 1 phone 1 platform. It's the same way as Ubuntu going after the Windows market rather than explictly the Apple market because again, 1 Macintosh 1 Platform. The Iphone will never be diverse enough to gain a majority marketshare if it is going to stay with AT&T and more importantly because it is just 1 phone.
Does this Android phone support T-Mobile@Home? I suppose it should but haven't seen any confirmation of that.
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Because false hype makes the product better.
It did with the iPhone. False hype led to the jailbreaking effort and eventually got Apple to do something they originally didn't want to do: "Mere mortals" developing native ABI applications for the iPhone. It turned the iPhone into a developer platform instead of a toy.
+++ATH0
Hmmm "G1" vs "3G." Which is better? Well this one is third generation, and this one is first . . . which should I get?
It's not 100% subjective. I've never handled a G1, but of course the build quality varies in some products. Cheap and thin plastic pieces will bend or give more than they should. Poor mechanical design may mean that moving parts don't move smoothly, don't lock in position, or move too much. High tolerances for sloppy manufacturing may mean the pieces fit together loosely, so they shift subtly as you use the device.
All of that resembles normal wear on an older item. It's no surprise that people will say things like "it feels like it's about to fall apart" because it reminds them of other things that actually fell apart.
Conversely, the iPhone is very tightly integrated. It has no real moving pieces and the connections are extremely snug. It does not feel like 20 different pieces of plastic and metal stuck together, it feels like one solid unit. That makes a difference.