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Motorola Introduces Android Phones, Social Software
ruphus13 was among the readers sending word of Motorola's Android handsets yesterday, along with a "socially aware" application layer called MotoBlur. The Motorola Cliq is expected in a few weeks. T-Mobile is Motorola's carrier partner in the US. A second Android phone will be marketed in other countries under the name Dext. Reuters called the market's reaction to Motorola's announcement "muted." "Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, Co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of the company's Mobile Devices division, unveiled Motorola's Android platform play. ... Key to both of the phones, and key to Motorola's overall Android strategy, is a new interface and application layer called MotoBlur. It's focused on 'a single stream' for social networking features, software updates, messages, syncing, e-mails, videos, photos... The Cliq phone has a 5-megapixel camera, slide-out keyboard, 24 frame-per-second video capabilities, GPS, a headphone jack, an advanced browser from Google, integrated Exchange service, and Google roaming services including Google voice search, access to maps, Google calendar, and more. It also provides one-click access to Android Market and the thousands of Android applications there."
Troll or not, Windows 2000 is not much more obsolete than Windows XP in my opinion.
(Sorry, had to do it!)
Seriously, I wonder if this will become at all embedded in corporate america. So far, all I see (and use day/night) are blackberry devices. How long will that last? I'd love to see an android device in my business but have doubts about the adoption rate.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
...we are still limited to RIM and HTC. Boo.
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
Why name your UI innovation in a way that suggest that it makes things less clear? This looks like an interesting phone, but that seems to me to be a weird name for a UI. Also, I'd prefer to sacrifice the keyboard for a thinner profile, given that it has at least as good a screen keyboard implementation as the iPhone.
Floating face-down in a river of regret...and thoughts of you...
I can't say I'm surprised. After the RAZR fad passed and the Q flopped, Motorola had very few alternatives to turn to; Windows Mobile wasn't one of them. This could be their great restart, and I'd really like to see them make a strong comeback into the market.
Maybe they could set another first and make the Android flip-phone (like they did with the MPX200)...?
Yes, I've been wanting to buy a smartphone from a manufacturer that isn't a hardware company for some time; can you help me?
I hate Verizon, but it's what works here, so this is another phone I want but can't use.
Thanks for nothing, Motorola.
The motodetails were motoblurred in the motoannouncement. Would be interesting to see how it compares in meaningful features with other Android cellphones and from other platforms (iphone, latest blackberry, nokia n900, etc).
Also a social network specifically only for users of their phones starting from that model could not end being a so good idea, specially with already widely used social networks with mobile clients (i.e. facebook) and probably future ones (i would bet that Google wave will have an android, and other smartphones, client, and could shape part of itself to be a social network too). If it gets very popular could pump sales of course, but need to reach critical mass first, and the price to enter could be high.
Attention Google: if you want Android to challenge Apple, you have to get it on Verizon. Verizon is the only company with an infrastructure that can kick AT&T in the teeth.
But in truth, all it reveals is a sadly biased study, one which doesn't reveal its sources
So, here's some facts [linuxtoday.com].
LOL. It's funny how you claim that the Net Applications site is wrong because it's a "biased study, one which doesn't reveal its sources" and yet you post a link to a linuxtoday article that just has a bunch of people posting their random speculation with no sources and yet that's where you get "facts".
Seems like an interesting idea to me. There's no point attacking the iPhone head on, and this niche seems to be a good one to pick up. I know I wish my phone had better notification, and if it looked cool too, even better.
There's a "muted reaction" to these for the same reason Android device adoption has been disappointing.
Tying yourself to one of the smallest two of the "big four" wireless carriers in the United States (don't know if T-Mo or Sprint is smaller) is NOT a smart way to gain widespread adoption.
I would love to give an Android phone a chance for my next phone, but right now it's looking like my next phone (which will replace my current AT&T Tilt) will be AT&T's next WinMo-based HTC device. T-Mobile is NOT an option in my area, they have zero coverage from my workplace/apartment to about 10-15 miles down the highway. (For whatever reason, 75% of the time their roaming agreement with AT&T is nonfunctional in my area.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Nice thing about the new Android phones is that developers are writing apps with work together with other apps. Almost impossible on the iPhone unless Steve Jobs rids himself of his total control fixation. Give it 2 years or so for this tech to mature some more, get more apps out there and have HTC and others build phones with a lot of storage like Apple does and i'll be junking my iphone 3GS come 2011 when my contract expires.
iPhone is nice even for all it's shortcomings, but Apple's total control fixation is going to hurt it in the long run and leave it as a niche device only for the cult of steve fanboys
I've seen that same site posted many times to point out how IE's market share is declining.
And yet, it's the same site you used. How's that hypocritical?
If the source says anything negative against the Loonix ideology it must be biased and wrong, but when the same site shows something negative about the market share of a Microsoft product it is unquestionably posted everywhere to show how Micro$haft is dying!
The point wasn't that it was unquestionable -- though I think you'll find similar results elsewhere.
The point is that even if it were true, it doesn't bother me a lot -- Firefox is proof that we're doing ok, and if IE dies, I can write web services without thinking about Windows anymore. And since it's clearly not true, the whole argument implodes anyway.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Disclaimer: I work for Motorola. I'm giving up mod points to post this, as I think some people would consider it a conflict of interest if they knew.
That said, I've been long awaiting this change. I like the feature set - it approaches a consumer class camera (5 MP, 24 Hz video). It looks very functional, very usable. I'm not usually one to get excited about phones, but this looks quite good.
I've heard a lot of people bemoan the proprietary state of cellphone systems. Well, here's your chance to buy a Linux based phone, and show the manufacturers what you *really* want.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I would not trust Motorola to maintain the cloud services behind MotoBlur for very long. Neither phone manufacturers nor service providers, in my experience, do a very poor job in follow-through for software and software-based services (Apple, for the most part, excepted; RIM as well.) The strength of the Android platform has been that Google is providing those services, and Google is interested in continuity, long-term relationships with their customers, etc.
Trying to take the Google out of Android and making it a "custom brand" is a confidence-killer for me. The Samsung phone is more promising.
Find a third party willing to speak up for it and we will listen.
The site I linked to did cite sources, including zdnet. Unbiased enough?
The larger problem here is that there are some things which it's pretty much impossible to be both informed and unbiased about. For example, it's pretty hard to be aware of the situation of AIDS in Africa without being either a complete religious moron, or being appalled at the Pope telling people that condoms are not the answer. There really isn't a middle ground there.
However, we can't even begin to control for bias without at least citing sources.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Translation: "No one gives a shit".
How am I gonna do ssh on that? It doesn't even have number keys. It's everything that's wrong about the Blackberry plus the extra reliability issues from moving parts.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
I'm a bit of a Motorola fan, I've used their cell phones for years, but their problem for a long time has been that they produce solid hardware and total crap software.
So now we'll have great Moto hardware with wonderful Google software -- perfect world, right? Except Motorola decides to go and add "MotoBlur" to the Android software, and who knows how much of a train wreck that will be.
Anyways, I'll very much be looking forward to reviews of these devices.
If the MotoBlur service "goes away" I wonder how customizable this phone would be as a stand-alone Android device. Theoretically you can customize the home screens any way you like and still access your "Social Wonder" sites individually. Besides which, it would avoid keeping all of your credentials somewhere out on Verizon's servers.
The Razr was an innovative phone when it was released, no one else had a phone like it (similar to the iPhone when it was released). It was copied and mimicked ad-nauseam by a number of cell phone manufacturers. Motorola's problem is that they rode the Razr wave all the way back to the beach before they refocused any attention on R&D and their upcoming product portfolio. I worked for Moto Mobile Devices for 4 years, and towards the end, all the big wigs were telling us we had nothing in our 3G GSM product pipeline, and that's when I made the decision to leave. The Cliq, while seemingly a nice device that appears to at least somewhat compete with the iPhone, is by no means groundbreaking. It may help Motorola to start selling cell phones again, but I doubt it will bring them anywhere near the level of success enjoyed during the Razr centric times. To see them back on top, Motorola will have to continue delivering phones that best the Cliq and drive the market.
I would not trust Motorola to maintain the cloud services behind MotoBlur for very long. Neither phone manufacturers nor service providers, in my experience, do a very poor job in follow-through for software and software-based services (Apple, for the most part, excepted; RIM as well.) The strength of the Android platform has been that Google is providing those services, and Google is interested in continuity, long-term relationships with their customers, etc.
Well, if the MotoBlur app(s) are really just custom-made interfaces to the various social network sites using the publicly-available APIs, then you're really not relying on Moto for anything apart from app updates (as needed).
I am looking for a new phone because my existing HTC smartphone (Win based) is crap and doesn't run putty. I need to be able to ssh into my linux servers and do remote work/maintenance on them. I would like to be able to run the CLI tools (irssi, mc, etc..)
I also need the following: Gmail contact/calender sync. (2-way), wifi VoIP
Nice to have: Gtalk and/or Skype
What phone should I get? The Nokia N900, this one, or anything else? I would even be willing to 'give-up' cell-phone usage in exchange for excellent wifi VoIP.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
MotoBlur:
In other words, every Blackberry made in the last three years, at least. A unified messages folder - what a novel idea.
I completely agree. I always felt that every new Motorola phone after the RAZR was...a derivative of the RAZR (or something like it). I wish that they had spent more time improving the firmware on these devices, or, at the very least, spending time on making other phones people would actually want.
The phone itself looks like it was designed in Taiwan, not by Motorola. Where is the great design team that gave us the Razr? The problem with Android phones isn't the software (which rocks), it's the hardware (which so far sucks big-time). Why would Moto put out another crappy plastic phone with a honking huge slide-out keyboard and tiny battery, when HTC already has that market covered with the T-Mobile G1? Also, T-Mobile isn't exactly the premier partner... why doesn't Verison wake up and get a good phone? They have the best network, happiest customers, and crap for phones. Why they can't get a clue is one of the great mysteries of the universe.
Anyway, I'll probably be forced to buy another iPhone after my crappy T-Mobile G1 gives up the ghost. I hate to go back to evil Apple and the AT&T dork squad. But, that's where we developers have access to the most customers. I'll just hold my nose and enjoy the beautiful hardware Apple designs.
Anyway, hurray for Moto for a headphone jack! That is the biggest reason T-Mobile customers will prefer the Moto device over both of HTCs.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
One of the common complaints about the G1 was that, while people liked the phone, they decided the battery life was just too short to be useful. How does the cliq fair in this department? You can have great features, but if the battery dies in 2 or 3 hours, no one will care.
Also, IIRC, another common complaint was no standard headset jack (I guess you could use a headset, but it had to plug in through USB port or some proprietary port or something, or else use BlueTooth). Did Moto learn from the HTC mistakes, and include the headset jack?
Sounds like one of the many apps in the "App Store" I would never put on my phone. Except it is integrated into the platform of my(not) phone. I watched a good deal of that webcast yesterday and what I saw was a bunch of eggheads rationalizing their price tags for forcing more data onto these already over-loaded networks($.20-.50 / MB...WTF???). What a grand favor these providers are doing us for, nevermind all the data mining potential each of the individual apps provide all rolled up into one aggregate sitting on Moto's servers.
I for one do not welcome our omniscient, cloud-dwelling overlords who have the uncanny ability to smile and look me in the eye, all the while sticking it to me hard and dry.
I was excited for the arrival of Android on VZW. Now I see I won't be buying a new phone with Moto's exceptional reception and the ability to function as an intertube appliance on Wifi b/c there will be some worthless "value-added" bundle and a required data package to tie in with the phone. So, I guess I will continue to save the $5 net access fee and use my phone like caveman used to do it, solely for making calls.
Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
...personal opinion on looks ignored...
it's the hardware (which so far sucks big-time).
Really shouldn't respond to this either as its 100% opinion and not fact. The hardware, while not stellar, is very nice. There is nothing wrong with the hardware. It absolutely does not "suck big-time".
a honking huge slide-out
More ignored...but believe it or not, many actually like to USE their phone which means a physical qwerty is required for this class ("smart") of use. Many are very excited about form and function on Motorola's Cliq. Is it for everyone? Hardly. But neither is the majority, "look at me, aren't I cool", iPhone owner. It boils down to preference. FACTUALLY speaking, only a qwerty provides maximum usability. Anything else is about style rather than function. If iphone-esk looks were all that mattered to phone owners, 95+% (made up stat to make point) of the market would disappear tomorrow. So once again, it boils down to preference. You prefer form over function, get an iPhone or one of the other iPhone-like Android phones (Hero, Galaxy, MyTouch, etc). You prefer functionality over form, then the iPhone is immediately crossed out and you have Android phones or one of the other smart phones (Palm, WinMo) available to choose from. Again, its preference...
and tiny battery
More ignored... Go get WiSyncPlus and actually use it, and you'll find your battery life is hugely increased. The simple fact is, the battery is plenty big, as is. G1s today can easily meet or exceed iPhone battery life when run under equivalent loads. And that's the problem, all current Android phones, by far, are under much heavier loads than an iPhone, simply because Android-like loads are impossible, because of Apple limitations, on an iPhone. And with those load limitations come huge application limitations. Again, its preference. What's important to you? Form or function? Once again, function and capability tends to always be Android biased.
It's all relative. If we hadn't seen such great phones from Moto in the past, and Apple currently, the G1 would rate pretty good (except for the stupid lack of a headphone jack). I'm just disappointed, because I don't want another medium-end phone like the G1, I want a polished thing of beauty and function like the original Razr and the current iPhone.
So, yes, form is important to me. My G1 mostly functions OK as a phone, except for poor volume (the original iPhone had this problem, too). It's the extras that don't compare: the camera, size, battery capacity, storage for music and photos, etc. Note that I haven't got any complaints about the OS, except that Google should grow a pair and duplicate the cool multi-touch and animation features of the iPhone, like the Palm Pre does.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
Interesting, how not Linux dies for getting king of the desktop, but the desktop dies (allegedly) and Linux becomes king of everything else. Phones, settop boxes, netbooks, you name it...
I'm very pleased with the development.
But of course I'll wait for Netcraft to confirm it. ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Would you mind elaborating on this? I'm not familiar with the Razr and after reading the Wikipedia article about it, I don't understand what made it stand out. It seems to be the same as any other phone out at that time, near as I can tell.
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
For example, it's pretty hard to be aware of the situation of AIDS in Africa without being either a complete religious moron, or being appalled at the Pope telling people that condoms are not the answer. There really isn't a middle ground there.
Right, no middle ground at all.
Mod points: Guaranteed to remove your sense of humor.
Side effects may include gullibility and temporary retardation
I must admit I expected a flamed response. Thanks for the surprise.
Keep an eye out for the Galaxy or the Shules (or was it the other upcoming Moto phone). Both are reported to have some nice specs. There are a couple of other models which have been leaked which blow the iPhone's specs out of the water. IIRC, HTC is soon to have a higher end Qualcomm offering too. By year end, world wide, there should be plenty of Android offers which easily excels way past any Apple offering, from a hardware perspective.
The Razr's innovation was its physical form factor. At time of launch, it was touted as the thinnest flip phone in the world. The software was the same crap that was being loaded onto all Moto GSM handsets during that time period. I believe it may have also had a unique metallic keypad but don't quote me on that. Nonetheless, it had some of that magic that made the iPhone a runaway success.
It was thin and wide instead of narrow and bulky.. In my experience (V3).. It also had good call quality, and was pretty rock solid and would not drop calls like some other phones.. The UI was ok, but a little odd to me.. But from a design perspective it felt good in your pocket or using it.. and was a top seller because of all the things I mentioned, regardless of the UI.. It also had a larger screen inside than other phones when it came out, as well as the little screen outside that would display the incoming call (for screening)... a Smart phone by no means.. but if I just wanted a basic phone with no 3g it would still be my choice, as long as it wasn't Sprints.. because I tried their version, and the UI seemed even worse to me.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Where is the great design team that gave us the Razr?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/09/cat_keynes_motorola/
In that case, I will continue to wait in anticipation! I am a big fan of the Android platform. I've just been very disappointed waiting since Nov of 2007 (the original big announcement) until now, still waiting for a leading edge hardware platform. With 75,000 apps on Apple's App Store, Android has fallen very far behind. Also, none of this is Google's fault, IMO. Google delivered the best competitor in phone OSes, and the handset manufacturers ignored it. So far, we only have Taiwan hand sets, and only then because Qualcom is a major investor in HTC, and even then, HTC reserved it's best work for Windows Mobile handsets (which frankly are more impressive than the G1). Also, while T-Mobile is an OK cell phone service provider, the major providers have completely ignored Android, and instead pursued obsolete proprietary offerings. They simply don't seem capable of understanding that the world has changed.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
And it runs Linux!
There is a modified Android image growing in popularity, for those willing to root their phone, called Cyanogen Mod. The developer has incorporated the BFS scheduler, by Con Kolivas. By replacing CFS with BFS, the performance boost and latency decreases is said to be HUGE; contrary to the petty retort by Ingo Molnar, to which I linked. While both Cyanogen Mod and BFS are still actively developed, IMO, they do wonders to validate Google's approach. First and foremost, is the fact it runs Linux, which is freely available and heavily developed. Secondly is the fact, both Linux and Android are open source which allows for such pairing and experimentation. I fully expect both camps will be richly rewarded from shared cooperation.
The problem with Android phones isn't the software (which rocks), it's the hardware (which so far sucks big-time).
Could you maybe enlighten us? What experience of yours prompted this opinion? I've got a myTouch and the hardware is fine. Actually my one complaint is on the software; so far the Android team has not enabled Bluetooth file browsing services. And even that's not a major deal because there are other ways to do what I need.
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
Whoa! Nice link! I guess Motorola is going through the same thing as Sony. I doubt Vista would have been such a wet blanket if Gates had been seriously involved like he use to be. Apple may fade rapidly after that great ass Jobs dies (I'll throw a party).
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
I didn't dispute Win7 marketshare.
I disputed Linux marketshare.
Measuring a free product by the number of sales is truly moronic.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Android has fallen very far behind.
They started out behind. How can they fall behind? With the exception of market sales, Android has met or beat every significant milestone established by Apple and their iPhone. There are now 10,000+ applications available for Android; though I personally believe maybe only 20%-30% are worth looking at. I hear the same thing about the App Store. So technically, that means its far, far harder to find quality applications on an iPhone. Thus far, Android is on schedule, if not ahead of schedule, to be ahead of the iPhone by 2012.
Google delivered the best competitor in phone OSes, and the handset manufacturers ignored it.
With just cause. Frankly, version of Android less than 1.5 were never ready for public consumption. And even Cupcake has some serious technical failings; though it does continue to get better and better. It appears the up coming release of Donut will finally allow the Android platform to exceed or meet iPhones in every category, not counting the categories where iPhone is simply not allowed to compete. Really, Android is brand new and the carriers were right to pass on it until recently, as frustrating as that is.
HTC reserved it's best work for Windows Mobile
That's not surprising. HTC, just like everyone else has been putting their toes in the water. Response has far exceeded expectations for HTC handsets and it now looks like at least one high end HTC handset will be available before the end of the year. Sorry, I don't recall the name...something HD and possibly another from that line. HTC needs MS until Android has proved its staying power. And even then, MS still sells units for them. It would be a bad decision for them to piss on MS while riding an unproven horse in the market.
Also, while T-Mobile is an OK cell phone service provider
By the end of this year, three of the largest US carriers will have at least one Android handset available. Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are all excited about their Android offerings. Verizon and Sprint have both announced plans. T-Mobile has announced a third handset. Even AT&T has publicly stated they misstepped with Android, and withdrew two handsets before they launched. Some are speculating AT&T will have an Android offering by Christmas...but that's just speculation. The more reasonable expectation is for AT&T to have an offering by first or second quarter of next year. Having said that, most expect AT&T to play the low to mid field for Android handsets, so as to not compete with their iPhone cash-cow. Furthermore, depending on whos paperwork you believe, Verizon is poised to have as many as three Android handsets available between now and the second quarter of next year.
Worldwide, over twenty Android handsets will be available before the end of this year. Its safe to say, unless something really horrific happens, 2010 will be the year of the Android.
Except, there is still the question of where the "real world data" is coming from?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
But, that's where we developers have access to the most customers.
Your reference that shows the Iphone is the number 1 selling phone in existence? There are more phones besides Android ones, you know.
And nothing beats the market of 2 billion Java phones. I know that Java has its limits, but it's good enough for most phone software - why do some people yearn for a return to the bad old days when every platform was incompatible with each other? I thought with phones, we were going to avoid that, but then the Iphone came along, not supporting the common standard that every other phone supports, and messed that up.
As a developer, I don't want to have to wait months for a company to "approve" my software, or perhaps refuse to allow it at all. I expect to be able to release what I like, and for it to Just Work.
Well... we both agree Apple is evil, then? Just because Steve Jobs has the genius to understand how to build a future monopoly in the cell phone space, while the rest of the industry sat with their thumbs up their butts.... that doesn't make him any less of an a-hole.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
Steve Jobs is an a-hole. The one thing the real Steve Jobs could never do, is admit this.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
Actually, I hope the myTouch is a big improvement over the G1. I've never played with a myTouch (there have to be jokes to make over that sentence). The bigger screen and lack of a keyboard are features I want. Also, the battery is slightly bigger, but still only a pathetic portion of the total volume compared to an iPhone. I would consider upgrading, but when I found it didn't have a freaking headphone jack, I just couldn't. I'll never again make the mistake of buying a phone without one.
Anyway, since you asked, I had one of the earliest G1s. Before that, I had an iPhone. So, in comparison to the iPhone (which isn't really fair, it's like comparing to a Ferrari) here's what sucks:
- No headphone jack. Are you kidding me? How incredibly stupid do the HTC people have to be to keep this super-important feature off the new myTouch?
- The speaker is too quiet. I had this problem with my original iPhone, too. Crud gets in that speaker slot, and you can't hear a conversation in any noisy environment.
- While the phone is as big as an iPhone, the battery is about 1/3 the size.
- While the phone is as big as an iPhone, the screen is only 2.5", compared to 3.5" for the iPhone. Size matters.
- I prefer a slim design without a slide-out keyboard. I know this is a religious war, but it's fixed for me in the myTouch.
- The whole phone is built out of plastic. I pay too much for this phone to get a cheap feeling PoS.
- The camera in my phone sucks big-time. Even in the small screen, images appear clear in the middle, but faded on the edges, and the colour sucks, and I'm colour blind!
- My 1st generation iPhone had 8 gig of flash. My G1 had 0. I had to pay $$ for the micro-sd card. Micro-sd is both expensive, and lacks high-capacity cards.
- The iPhone has all kinds of cool peripherals, like the stereo we bought for our iPods, and my car, which has an iPhone plug. This isn't really a problem with the G1, but let's face it... Apple is leveraginig their lead.
All and all, the G1 is the third best phone I've owned, given the technology at the time. My old razr was awesome, but I wanted to kill people at Verison for charging me to use my own camera. My iPhone was just awesome, until freaking Apple borked it. All in all, though I'm whining a lot, I've had more satisfaction from my lame G1 than any other phone.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
I looked at the G1 and found it too big and clumsy, For me, the Mytouch is a *much* nicer piece of hardware.
The MyTouch screen is 3.2", not 2.5.
The lack of a headphone jack is silly, but for me at any rate not a deal breaker (there's an adapter).
I'm thrilled with my MyTouch.
You could always go with the Palm Pre (or Pixi...but that doesn't have wifi and has a smaller screen).
The slim form factor was key to its success, but looking at the big picture, the Razr was nothing like the iPhone.
I'm somewhat of an Android-handset nerd, so I have been following a few recently.
This has the advantage of being perhaps the second QWERTY phone since HTC Dream/Dev Phone, but..
It doesn't look very good to me. Just seems to be missing the "slick" sort of interface RAZR has.
I see what they are trying to do (MOTOBLUR being like HTC's Sense UI), but it just looks like a less nice version of Hero's Interface, and the handset sort of looks chunky/ugly and the T-Mobile and Motorola logo seems like one too many to me.
The backup stuff (All contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up on the MOTOBLUR secure server) seems nice but, I seem to already have all of this apart from Home Screen customizations on my Dev Phone (Contacts, Emails all synced with Gmail).
Seems like it has both a D-Pad and trackball, which is good. The track ball being on the left is probably a bad idea, as anyone with a HTC Dream will know that its placed in a good position to quickly scroll and type (albeit; the track ball being hard to use and mostly useless anyway).
Anyway, the only reason i'd buy this over a HTC Hero (/Sense UI) is the QWERTY. I'll be keeping an eye out for the DEXT (and the Motorola Sholes which has rumors floating around about it being the flagship phone for the Android 2.0 release). Still waiting for a good looking QWERTY phone to replace my ugly Dev Phone (but if these images of Sholes are real, Motorola will have my attention: http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/motorola-sholes-android-phone-headed-for-verizon/)
No, that's lame. Massively lame. or as I say Massi-lame. As in, "No Iphone for me, its massi-lame".
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Good points...
:-) And of course, it just carries on playing in the background should you want to spend time in the browser (which the iPhone version can't). It's early days for mobile music streaming, of course, but the offline playlists work like a charm if you don't have signal or want to save the battery.
I've had a G1 since they became available in the UK last November.
It's been a bittersweet experience, but I try to remember I'm judging three entities as one thing - Google, T-Mobile, and HTC.
Android seems a good, solid mobile OS - even if it doesn't have the interface aesthetics of the iPhone [ Big G : are talented graphic designers _that_ expensive? ]. T-Mobile 3G is mostly good, but can be patchy. In central London, though? Irritating.
HTC seems to be the weakest link... The hardware does feel cheap. A bit snapped off long ago - the silly USB cover panel. As others have mentioned, the lack of headphone jack is annoying. Sure, you can get an adapter for a few bucks on EBay. I'm on my fifth now... they just fall apart. If you want one that lets you charge USB and listen to music, you need a larger one. An extra chunky appendage on an already chunky handset that would send shudders of revulsion through Cupertino.
The battery life limits the usefulness of the device. Reading books on the web [O'R Safari mobile - great] and listening to music in the background, I can expect three to four hours. I haven't compared that to the stamina of the iPhone. Perhaps it's par for the course. I've taken to carrying one of these around with me.
The slide out keyboard is useful if I have a SSH session with ConnectBot, and also email, but for simpler text input (search, etc), I like the new on-screen keyboard. Pinpoint accuracy not needed... prod in roughly the same area as your letter, and it will offer word suggestions that are quite accurate after a few letters. The slide-out keyboard can be annoying. In some light conditions, the key background illumination is so bright that you can't actually see the keycaps. Crazy stuff.
The default music player looks like someone hacked it together over a weekend. Laughable compared to iTunes. Thankfully, Spotify mobile was launched last Monday. It's fantastic.... very slick. Who can resist carrying 5 million tracks around?
I hope the above doesn't sound too negative... I really am confident in the Android platform. I'm looking forward to the handsets due to emerge next year... perhaps I'll be offered an upgrade. At that point, my G1 is granted admittance to my dusty smartphone museum, to join the Nokia Communicator 9000, 9200, Palm Treo 600 & 650, and the Blackberry. Oh well, at least they're getting smaller....
Information wants to be beer.
The story says shares rose 6.5% on Friday. So the initial response (i.e. for a day) was muted, but overall the response was very positive. No matter what your opinion on Android and Motorola, at least get your shit straight, at least for the people here who obviously don't read past your blurb.
Obviously it's referring to a once very popular company, that then went into a bit of a decline, but is now making a comeback with their reunion phone.
The myTouch is a little smaller, a little lighter than the G1 due to lack of a hard keyboard, and that's one reason I waited for it. (I'd have had a G1 but I was still under a previous contract with TMobile, and by the time I was eligible for the full discount the myTouch had been announced so I figured I could wait another month or two for what clearly would be a better phone.)
It also has a nice solid feel to it, more so than my previous phones (Nokia). Who cares if you get that feel from a plastic case?
Your point that "Android phones...so far suck" needs to be backed up with negative points for all current Android phones, not just the G1. Otherwise it's a little unfair; with an open software architecture you're going to (eventually) have a wide range of implementations, from Yugos to Ferraris.
There's a headphone adapter for the USB port. It's not a big deal, really. I just leave the adapter attached to the headphones when not in use.
No complaints from me about the myTouch speaker. Volume is OK, and I certainly don't look to a phone's speaker for high fidelity. I never used a G1 other than to try it out in a store so I can't comment about that.
As long as the battery's big enough to get me a full day's use (even with GPS and Bluetooth always on, I usually have a decent charge left at the end of the day, battery icon around half full depending on how heavily used), smaller = lighter is better.
I don't know where you get 2.5" for the screen. Both the G1 and myTouch have 3.2" screens. I don't think the screen is small enough to suck. I have presbyopia (not too advanced yet) but I can read the myTouch screen *without* my glasses.
To be honest, I haven't gone out of my way to test this camera's quality; I took one picture in my backyard the first day I got it but it was low light (about half an hour after sunset) so not a good example. I do plan to try it out on some nature subjects when I go on a road trip in a couple of weeks.
I'm confused. Either the G1 "sucks", "is the third best phone" you've owned, or has given you "more satisfaction...than any other phone". But all three?
But thanks for answering me with some specifics. I only think it's overgeneralizing to apply these critiques to all Android phones.
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
Did they really *not* include the adapter *with* the G1? The myTouch came with the adapter. I believe you can by a new one, retail, for a few bucks.
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!