T-Mobile’s G1, launch of the first phone that runs Android, an open-source, Google-designed operating system that runs web-savvy applications on a touchscreen-based phone.
Let’s take a look at what Android can do, and what it might mean for your phone when (or if) it arrives for your cell provider.
The first phone run by Google’s Linux-based phone OS, Android, is the HTC Dream, dubbed as the “G1” by T-Mobile. It’s available Oct. 22 for $179 (with a two-year contract), and its unlimited data contract runs $25/month (or $35/month with unlimited messaging), on top of a voice plan. T-Mobile will likely have Android to itself for at least a few months, but Sprint and other carriers are likely waiting in the wings. For details on the phone itself, see Gizmodo’s full details post on the G1/Dream, or check out the iPhone/Dream comparison in our Android round-up.
Android’s mobile apps
It’s probably not that surprising that Google apps—Gmail, Google Calendar, Maps, and the like—sit close to Android’s heart. In fact, activating the phone requires a Google account. It doesn’t work with Microsoft Exchange, at least not until some third-party hacker makes it work, and there’s no desktop-based syncing application—it’s all in the cloud.
“Compass View” for GMaps: Amongst other location-aware apps, Google’s own Maps implementation shines on Android. It can figure out where you are, of course, but turn on Street View, start walking around, and it updates to reflect which way you’re facing, giving you a live 3D map of where you need to walk. We won’t know if that would work on, say, the dashboard of a car for faux-GPS directions, but its seems pretty promising.
Push Gmail: The Dream/G1 has a heavier consumer focus than the iPhone, eliminating the need to create a faux-Exchange server for push email. Hook up your Gmail account (which can consolidate multiple email accounts into), and you’ve got a ready-built stream of your email messages wherever you’ve got G3 or Wi-Fi coverage.
Just so happens, I prepared for this by buying up a bunch of goog phone domains
sprintgooglemobile.net
googlemobilephones.net
googlemobilesprint.com
googlecellularstore.com
googlemobilephones.info
googlemobilephones.org
sprintgooglemobile.com
googlemobilephone.org
googlemobilephones.biz
googlecellphones.info
sprintgooglephone.com
sprintgooglephone.net
googlecellular.net
googlemobilephone.info
googlecash.mobi
and several more 🙂