Is Anyone Buying T-Mobile's Googlephone? 454
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."
I love it (Score:5, Interesting)
I pre-ordered my G1 and I love it. It's a marriage of a Blackberry and the iPhone and while it's true that there are some differences and a few quirks at first...you get over them real quick. It really is pretty easy to use.
I've started playing with the SDK too and they have it integrated nicely with Eclipse and it's really a very nice set up.
I'm a big fan.
T-Mobile's network is useless (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't care how good the phone is. T-Mobile's coverage is too sparse to make it attractive.
Poor Service (Score:5, Interesting)
I won't be buying one, because any phone from T-Mobile is no longer in the running for me. They are my current provider, but (unlike every other provider) their service area near me has been shrinking rather than growing. Places I had service last year are now consistently "emergency call only" areas. We're talking about a good quarter of the state. On top of that, they had the nerve to send me advertising text messages telling me how they've expanded their coverage. I am currently contract free, so if another provider comes out with a good Android phone, I'll look into it, but who cares how good it is if it has no service.
Maybe it's the service (Score:1, Interesting)
I like the phone. Tmobile out here however is simply horrible. On their coverage map they just show everywhere the eye can see has awesome coverage, but if you drive around town you find you basically have no service for the most part. At least ATT and verizon both show accurate coverage maps.
Got mine.... and love it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Battery life doesn't seem to be stellar, but the great aps and easy installation make up for it.
Love the smooth keyboard -- which includes a number bar!
The integrated GPS is kick ass.
The only downside is that the network is a little spotty -- but I knew that when I got it.
Prior to the G1, the only options were to continue pining for an Iphone to replace my Blackberry or pay the termination fee with my existing carrier and then switch. Now I'm glad I made the switch and didn't blow the money on terminating my existing T-mobile service.
No months of hype == no long lines (Score:4, Interesting)
Google didn't hype the G1 for months, unlike Apple. And, Google didn't have a launching pad product, aka the iPod.
1.5 Million Pre-orders (Score:5, Interesting)
Mini Review (Score:2, Interesting)
I did get one yesterday. I knew I wanted one, just did not know when.
Stopped(on a whim) in at the local store waited an hour and was out the door with one.
There was not iphone rush but I did not thing the hype was a big.
I had very specific needs that the iphone did not do well(ssh, vnc, real keyboard)
Also, know that I usually take the wait and see approach to tech and not an early adopter.
I am very tech savvy
So far I am very pleased. It is mostly intuitive. I am find the menu key/scroll/click awkward.
Can't yet comment about the "Store" but code.google has meet my immediate needs with little fuss.
Still missing backup(pc or sdcard) and sync(to pc not google). This should be easy and obvious it is not so I am still working on it.
Also missing is one touch wifi and bluetooth see palm, they are buried in the settings menu.
Battery life is short in data mode, get a car charge, and one the desk at work.
Some interface tuning is definitely needed.
Re:I love it (Score:3, Interesting)
FWIW, I did a lot of android dev. earlier this year and really like the system - I just doubt the commercial appeal/necessity.
T-Mobile isn't customer friendly (Score:3, Interesting)
T-Mobile also is doing its best to put little barbs in people's way. I'm out of contract and checked what it would take for me to get a G1. I can get it for the same price as a new customer, which is good, but T-Mobile tossed silly things like "transaction fees" into the cart when I got closer to the checkout point. While it's a minuscule amount in the big picture, it really did piss me off as a completely fake charge.
Not to mention the on-hold time with their customer service and totally useless voice response system.
Re:Because they're not Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought Walt Mossberg [allthingsd.com] was pretty positive about it, and the gyst was that this really is a handheld computer. I have neither a G1 nor an iPhone, but I'm watching them closely. I'm a math teacher, and I would love to have a handheld Wifi-equipped computer to just slide under an overhead projector and demo stuff to my students. (Yeah, as if they don't all already have iPhones! Actually, only a few do.) The G1 lacks enough storage for me, but the data plan is more attractive. The iPhone has the storage but the data plan is a potential nightmare. Maybe an iPod Touch... Anyway, I'd expect the G1 and iPhone to converge in terms of features and data plans over the next few releases.
At any rate, I love seeing real competition in this space, AND neither is Microsoft. I expect the success of the iPhone and G1 to show my students and colleagues that there are alternatives to Windows.
I ordered one (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No wonder it's not selling (Score:1, Interesting)
Typical of a Google Product (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, I think we're just seeing that Google's product launches tend to have similar paths whether they are software or hardware. (I know the G1 phone isn't technically a Google product, but realistically, yes, it is.)
Google products tend to launch with rough edges, but with enough "Wow!" to generate buzz and interest. Initial comments tend to range from "Hey, that's cool!" to "Eh, [such and such] does that too, and Google's has less features." Over time, they tend to steadily polish up and turn into really stellar product offerings farther down the road. Look at Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Calendar, GMail, Google Reader, and so on.
And while some of their software products go flop (Google Lively, anyone?), most of them tend to take that steady, measured approach to a solid, highly usable product. The G1 phone seems to be on that same path.
Not a big suprise. (Score:3, Interesting)
The iPhone is attractive to the general public.
Android phones are attractive to techies.
Its not exactly a big suprise that there aren't crowds waitting for them, the percentage of techies in the world is relatively low so theres no way its going to have any sort sales numbers like the iPhone.
Technies know about it, the rest of the world doesn't care, and won't care until its as sexy and user friendly as the iPhone. This isn't the year of the Android phone any more than its the year of the Linux desktop, and for the exact same reasons. The general public doesn't care about anything they have to offer and wants features that neither have to offer.
Re:Simple answer (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, that is exactly what Ballmer [youtube.com] said about the iPhone.
Interestingly enough, after saying Apple had no chance competing with the millions of WinMo phones, he said Zune would have no trouble competing with hundreds of millions of iPods.
Why wait like sheep when they took preorders? (Score:2, Interesting)
And they've been taking preorders for weeks now?
I bought one using our corporate discount - 15% off, with a $179 and one year, no activation fee contract. Between the handset savings, the one year contract (a big plus IMO, since I can get a subsidized phone next year), and the cheaper data plan - it's several hundred dollars cheaper than the iPhone.
I'll have it tomorrow. Sure, I'll miss a day, but I also won't have to wait outside online in the cold hoping for admiration from the sheeple surrounding me.
Because it's ugly and clunky (Score:1, Interesting)
Understand that if you're going to compete with the iPhone, you need to at least match its high end, high quality design and build. The G1 looks clunky and outright ugly. Android is great and, hopefully, it'll be put to better use in more beautiful phones.
But right now, no one in their right mind should spend this amount of money on a phone that looks like a bad Chinese knock-off of the iPhone with less features.
(Even the G1 logo is horrible! They could've at least hired a professional graphic designer and advertising agency.)
Re:I was an iPhone user (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Because they're not Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
My point is that Holson is missing a lot of background information.
Re:I bought it (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.t-mobile.com/International/LongDistanceOverview.aspx [t-mobile.com]
Skype rates are about the same (also with a small per-month fee): http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/callrates/ [skype.com]
I know someone who is Returning a G1 (Score:2, Interesting)
It's just not a good phone. (Score:4, Interesting)
The G1 doesn't work as a phone. Why would people buy it? T-Mobile excluded UMA aka t-mobile at home from the G1, effectively making it a paperweight in most suburbs. Combine that with the unattractive price point and the fact that many people who would be interested in this device are currently shackled to the iPhone and you've got a product nobody can use or wants to buy.
A Better Plan (Score:3, Interesting)
I would buy a G1 if they offered the following:
This would be similar to other T-Mobile pay-as-you-go plans. It would allow them to offer a much, much lower total cost of ownership over two years of use. I can't see any reason they couldn't make a modest profit under a plan like this. However, they won't offer this because they want to make a huge profit instead.
Re:Because they're not Apple (Score:4, Interesting)
I just talked to them to find out when mine is supposed to ship. Apparently the shipped out about 35,000 of them yesterday and almost 60,000 today.
That just came from a regular call center rep, but if it's true then they are making quite an impact given how little hype there is in the real world.
Re:Because they're not Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
Checking around here, most dealer stores had their initial orders pre-sold, and I could have bought one yesterday at 5pm. But, they warned me, they epxected to sell out today. Company stores were different.
And just so you know, I think iPhone fanboyz and G-Phone freaks are different. I'll be buying a G-Phone, and I don't need to stand in line for three days, bring a solar-powered cappuchino machine, or have my picture taken for Gizmodo. There's a Starbucks next to the T-Mobile store, I have a day job and can't take the time off, don't need to be 'first', and hey, it is really just a FREEKIN PHONE, OK???
whew.
ps- I hope someone will make an SSH client for it. I could dig a real keyboard to compile a kernel while I'm in the car...
Re:probably because it's not *innovative* (Score:2, Interesting)
Seriously, what's unique about it?
Just about everything on your list was available here in Asia (specifically Taiwan, Korea, and Japan) on phones for years before the iPhone "revolutionized" the phone industry. People here still wonder what all the iPhone hype is about.
While I don't own a G1, the reviews seem to be hot on the fact that setup is super simple and all these functions "just work" after you put in your GMail address. There have been 1.5 million G1 pre-orders, so I don't think you can say "there's no compelling reason to buy a Google phone" for anyone but yourself.
Re:My co-worker got one (Score:3, Interesting)
Here's the deal: You have two pieces of plastic that need to fit together. If the two pieces were exactly the right sizes, they would fit hand in glove. But the factor never really makes pieces exactly the right size and the cheap factory you picked is all over the place. You have to design in a tolerance, otherwise you'll be throwing out too many pieces. That's not a rare defect and it's not subjective. Those tolerances are listed in some mechanical specs somewhere.
Also, there are quite a few phones that have no moving pieces save buttons, but you missed my point completely. It's quite easy to get the joints and the movement just plain wrong. The same way that some phones have bugs in software, others might a flaw in their mechanical design.
Re:Because they're not Apple (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps the reason for no lines may be that the suppliers were ready ahead of time for the consumer demand; something Apple deliberately does not do, in order to make their customers think "I have to get one NOW, before everyone else does!".
This also says something about the target audience for each product. A good portion of the Apple crowd needs to have the latest gadget or they won't be cool, whereas the people most interested in Android are more focused on the potential utility of the product.