The second Google Android phone comes without any keyboard – after the rather disastrous hardware of the G1, HTC/Google decided to go with iPhone touchscreen hype. But unlike Apples geek gadget android can run multiple applications at once, also known as multitasking. This viral clip targeting the British market is quite funny, yet still I'm not impressed: using windows mobile on HTC hardware I've been enjoying these kinds of perks for quite some while now:
Luckily, I'm a member of the selected few bloggers who got one of the first T-Mobile G1 phones here Austria. While the device is already available in Great Britain and the UK, the market launch in Austria will take place in 2009, but there's no specific date yet. During the next weeks I'll blog about my experiences with this new geek toy – for starters, here's an unboxing-video:
The first thing that comes to mind is a comparison with the iPhone – but I must say quite frankly that I could never use this phone, as it the lacks the keyboard I need though badly. That's why I'm currently using a T-Mobile HTC MDA, which suits my mobile e-mailing needs much better. Luckily, the G1 has a built-in keyboard as well (the hardware is actually manufactured by HTC) which works quite well. Google doesn't focus on entertainment, there's only 256MB of built-in memory – it's all about the operating system: Android is open source software. Instead of implementing a “single-point-of-software-sale” model (hello iStore), big G is relying on the creativity of the developer community. The number of available apps is quite low, since the device is so new – but this will probably change rapidly. I'm positively surprised on first impression, but I have yet do sync the device with my pc and try some apps.
mobileblogger.at will go online soon – all postings will be aggregated on this site, and while most bloggers run German sites, there will also be some English reviews. Max, Michi, Luca, Peter, Helge, Robert, Martin, Georg and me got our phones yesterday. The official Feature-PDF is available on at T-Mobile US, I'm looking forwarding to testing the G1 under real live conditions – of course I'll keep you updated.