Google Unveils First Android Phone 546
danieltdp writes "Google finally officially launched the first Android-enabled mobile device to hit the market. As expected, the first Android phone will be the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1), a device with a large touchscreen and a slide-out physical keypad that will run Google's new mobile platform." You might also not be at all surprised to know that Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store.
Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:4, Insightful)
My main issues:
1. Unless I misheard, this phone will require a gmail account to actually use it - even if you don't use their mail, calendar and chat apps. Call me paranoid, but I have no intention of giving Google even more info about me. If you need to register/log in using gmail before the phone becomes usable then that is a dealbreaker for me.
2. It also really bugs me that they haven't used a standard headphone jack. I know this is not a problem unique to this handset, but it annoys the hell out of me that manufacturers can't just use the standard jack size. I don't want multiple different headphones, one for each device, I want one set which I can use with all of them.
3. No Exchange support, tethering, desktop sync, video or Skype. Some or all of these would be nice at launch but I assume they will be added fairly quickly by others though given it is an open-source platform.
I think, on balance, I am going to wait until Android is available on other handsets or can be downloaded onto a handset of my choosing. The potential is still very much there with Android itself, but this version ain't it (at least for me). It is a shame really since I had such high hopes for the G1.
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:4, Interesting)
Android can do whatever the phone can do.
This isn't bad for google, and I think it will be good for us.
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:5, Insightful)
...but being tied to this handset wastes that initial release PR boost.
How is Android tied to the Dream? HTC just happens to be the first company ready to announce a product, which doesn't even start shipping for another month. In theory, a company like Samsung or Nokia could make an announcement next week that an Android device will be shipping before the Dream. And since HTC is the one manufacturing the physical device, I would guess that they have more say in the exact release date than Google does.
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:5, Insightful)
for #2 get bluetooth headphones, its much easier (I ran into the same problem on my phone).
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:4, Informative)
Per the official announcement webcast, there's no A2DP profile support at launch, which makes this unfeasible.
Whereas you're right about there being no A2DP support, it doesn't affect bluetooth headsets [blogspot.com] which most consumers use for phone use, just those you'd use exclusively for music (stereo ones). You have to read down a bit in the developer post, but it does say that bluetooth headsets work fine.
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole reason everyone wants a real headphone jack is to listen to music though, so no headphone jack and no A2DP means the 8GB of storage and the Amazon music store are pretty much useless.
Even if it did have A2DP support that's not a real solution anyway: A2DP headphones are expensive, and similarly priced corded headphones sound much better, are lighter (no batteries), and don't need recharging.
An adapter is a better solution than A2DP, but they still suck - they're bulky, add one more thing to carry, and usually don't stay plugged into the device as firmly as a standard 3.5mm headphone plug. HTC is by no means the only offender, though it looks like Sony Ericsson is going to finally get it right with the Xperia (and they even have a whole line of "walkman" phones without headphone jacks).
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:5, Insightful)
1) You don't need to provide any information when you get a Gmail account. Any information you're asked for you can lie about. You can set your account to forward all mail to a real account elsewhere if you don't want to miss anything from Google.
2) As you've noticed, hardly any phones come with a normal jack, so it's hardly a reason for not using this one.
3) Yeah, you might have to wait a month or so. Always good to do that anyway, unless you want to pay the early adopter premium and do all that lovely beta testing for them.
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:4, Interesting)
The bottom line that it will be quite easy for T-Mobile and/or Google to associate all of your most personal information (real name, address, SSN, credit history) with all of the information that Google already collects (your search history, email/IM contacts, location).
A paranoid person might think that the whole reason for Google releasing Android is so that it can get a bullet-proof correlation between a person's online and real life identities...
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Like Android, don't like the G1 (Score:5, Interesting)
As you've noticed, hardly any phones come with a normal jack, so it's hardly a reason for not using this one.
Lots of phones come with 2.5 mm jacks, including other phones from HTC. It's a pretty standard kind of connector. Actually, I think there are fewer phones now with this jack than there used to be. I think the change happened because simple cell phones have mostly been displaced by fancy PDAish things that need a data connector. Having two connectors costs, so they combine data and voice in a proprietary connector.
There's a small inconvenience factor in having a proprietary headphone connector(you can usually find an adapter, and most of us use Bluetooth anyway). But I find the way manufacturers resist standardization (even within their own product lines) to be irksome. It would be lot easier for consumers if everybody used a USB-compatible connector for data and recharging, and a 2.5 mm jack for voice. It would raise costs slightly, but given the $400 typically charged for a smart phone (either directly or through a provider's loyalty plan), that's not really too much to ask. I believe it's actually required for phones sold in some countries.
OK, lack of standardization is par for gadget manufacturers. (How many different wall warts do you own? And how many gadgets have you fried by connecting the wrong one?) But one would hope that Do-No-Wrong Google would persuade its hardware partners to do better.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
None. Is that something you do on a regular basis?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You develop a reasonable software OS. You hand it off to hardware OEM. They fuck it up.
It happened to Windows with crapware. Now it happens to Android with the headphone jack.
Where did you see that? (Score:2)
Unless I misheard, this phone will require a gmail account to actually use it - even if you don't use their mail, calendar and chat apps.
I didn't get that, just that it only supported gmail, IMAP, and POP3.
But I wouldn't be surprised. If you don't trust Google, don't get Android.
Besides, do you really trust AT&T or T-Mobile more than Google?
Re:Where did you see that? (Score:5, Informative)
"A second big feature, or limitation, of the G1 depending on your point of view is that it is tightly tied to Googles web-based email, contacts and calendar programs. In fact, you must have a Google (GOOG) account to use the phone, and can only synchronize the phones calendar and address book with Google online services. Unlike the iPhone, it doesnt work with Microsoft Exchange, and it cant physically be synced with a PC-based calendar or contacts program, like Microsoft Outlook."
I am pretty sure Gizmodo picked up on it as well when they did their live blog of the announcement.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So can't you just install Evolution on it and be able to sync with Exchange (albeit through crappy OWA interface)?
The phone doesn't force you to use the software it ships with. Go ahead and install whatever calendar/address book you want. Stop acting like you're forced to used bundled software on an open platform.
Gmail: ways around it (Score:2)
Interview with Eric Schmidt at WSJ.com (Score:3, Insightful)
I watched an interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in which he said that the license for Android means that Yahoo could, for example, create their own version. (In the same interview, he said he would be happy if Microsoft built the next version of IE on Chrome).
Hopefully future vendors will drop the Google account requirement. There are rumors of a Sprint android phone, and AT&T has commented that they are considering it, for whatever that is worth.
Better would be to see something like OpenAndroi
full of dealbreakers (Score:3, Interesting)
The G1 is so full of dealbreakers, it's simply sad.
Instead of an open platform, this is just another locked-down money-sink.
No tethering? Even my Samsung Blackjack does it... running WM 5.0.
No video? Every other handset can record video.
No exchange support? Why in the world not?
But to me, it's the tethering issue that really breaks the bank. Does T-mobile really think that consumers will pay upwards of $50/month for each internet-capable device they own?
Look at the laptop broadband market - it's almost stri
Re:full of dealbreakers (Score:4, Informative)
No tethering app initially...but the T-Mobile CTO stated they weren't going to do anything to actively prevent it.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/23/t-mobiles-cto-on-g1-unlocking-and-tethering-plus-a-few-detai/ [engadget.com]
Is it really tied to google? (Score:3, Insightful)
My impression of the android platform was that all apps were equal. If that's the case, is there anything stopping you from stripping off the google ones and replacing them?
If all the google apps turn out to be open source (which it sounded like they were going to do) then that'd be even easier.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If all the google apps turn out to be open source (which it sounded like they were going to do) then that'd be even easier.
Well, maybe, but maybe not. I've looked at a few small devices like this that had linux internally, and found that they were missing something important: a way to actually talk to the linux hiding inside via the usual CLI interface. If you can't enter things like ls or mv (or scp ;-) commands, you are limited to what the installed tools let you do. If there's no access to any shell,
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OK, I understood what PCB means in this context (printed circuit board), but I'm scratching my head on PHF. Public Health Foundation? Newport News Airport?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Apologies, Slashdot is a haven for acronyms that even I don't get so I didn't really think to expand mine.
PHF is Portable Hands-Free. It usually contains a couple of buttons, a microphone and a 3.5mm connector. ID is Industrial Design - the design of the device. Regarding regionalism, I'm British and customers generally call it hands-free kit or even remote control. In the mobile industry it's always called PHF, both here in the UK and the rest of the world.
Regarding the iPod's custom controller, if you loo
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
While this is annoying, the size of a modern cell phone really does make it pretty darn hard to put in a normal 3.5 mm jack. As much as I hate it, it's just too darn big.
...and yet the iPhone has one and is about the same dimensions, but significantly thinner. Sorry, it can be done and if T-Mobile gave a rat's ass about the total customer experience it would have been a design requirement.
Oblig (Score:2)
So it's Tivoised... (Score:4, Informative)
As expected, it's Tivoised...
There is currently no Skype compatibility, although T-Mobile did not specify whether such a thing would be allowed if a third-party were to develop it.
If it wasn't Tivoised, this wouldn't come up, because they wouldn't be able to prevent anyone from installing anything they want on it.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd get over it dude. Even if you could put a VoIP app on your phone, the latency is horrible. I have both a T-Mobile data card and a Blackberry I can tether, and using EDGE, I get around 1000-1300ms latency. Even with 3G, my understanding is that latency is over 100-200ms, and VoIP ain't workin' with that.
On AT&T my voice call latency to another cell phone on AT&T held up to my other ear is about 300-500 ms. You'd be surprised what's acceptable. 1 second of lag is sort of painful (use an international calling card if you want a preview of that), but 300-500 ms is pretty much normal feeling in most conversations.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
BTW, the (free) Truephone on iphone works great. Wifi only (without hacks) but that's a lot better than no VOIP at all.
Re:So it's Tivoised... (Score:5, Interesting)
I use skype on WM5 with Sprint's EVDO. Cheap international calls anywhere. Works fine with the occasional nuttiness and dropouts.
I love how people defend the abusive practices of google, apple, tmobile, etc. "But, but, theyre watching out for us. Clearly you cant have VoIP over a cell data network!"
Fuck yeah you can.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I love how people defend the abusive practices of google, apple, tmobile, etc. "But, but, theyre watching out for us. Clearly you cant have VoIP over a cell data network!"
Let's think about this. Apple and Google allow VoIP applications. Customers are happier and buy more phones and both companies make more money. Sounds like a win except, neither company has a cell pone network so they have to sell the idea to a partner like AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile who currently make more money charging exorbitant sums of money for regular voice calls.
Look, I think locking down phones like this sucks as much as the next guy, but seriously, this is on the cell network operators, not the
Your finger you fool... (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if you could put a VoIP app on your phone,
The explorer turns to his trusty native guide, and points dramatically into the distance, and asks "what's that"... and from then on the mountain he was pointing at is known as "Mt YourFingerYouFool" in the local language...
The point isn't "you can't run Skype". That's just the finger. The mountain is "you can't just install anything you want on your open source Android phone".
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
For what it's worth, I just called T-Mobile, and asked about it. They said you have to go through the android store to install software, and that updates will come via T-Mobile using over-the-air programming.
I asked if you can bypass either of these things and install your own modifications, and they said "no".
Hopefully the person I spoke to is misinformed. Otherwise, people won't even have the ability to test their apps on the phone w/out running their test binaries through google, let alone upgrade to n
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
> As expected, it's Tivoised...
Yup. If it gets totally pwned I'll look again at it, till then I keep my Visor and basic cell phone.
If I'm going to buy a computer I want to own it. They can keep control over the processor that does the cell phone modulation and network connectivity only because I realize that no carrier will ever allow a rogue firmware near their network because they were never designed to be secure against that sort of thing. But I won't accept SIM locking, if that can't be broken it'
But.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I heard that it doesn't support A2DP so no bluetooth stereo headsets.
And I can not find out if it has voice dialing. My old Samsung had great Voice dialing.
My current Sanyo's is just okay and my wife's Razor really doesn't work all that well.
Interesting chipset (Score:5, Interesting)
What I find most interesting, however, is their mention of an asymmetric dual-core processor, with one core optimized for specific phone functionality and the other designed as a general-purpose processor. If this works, it will be an interesting new trend and a big step forwards for phones, Linux, and Qualcomm, I believe. (Apparently, though, it still has a few issues... I wish luck to those design teams!)
Re:Interesting chipset (Score:5, Informative)
Note that this arrangement is often used to "insulate" portions of the software stack from possible GPL issues.
more from an Washington post article (Score:5, Informative)
This unveiling also brought some bad news for Android enthusiasts.
* Neither Google nor HTC nor T-Mobile will ship any sort of desktop-synchronization software with the phone, so your only way to get your address book and calendars onto the G1 will be to upload them to Gmail and Google Calendar. I can't believe that these companies are leaving a function this basic as a "third party opportunity."
* The G1, like the iPhone and T-Mobile's Sidekick, will have its SIM card slot locked to prevent the use of other carriers' subscriber-identity module cards. So if you don't like T-Mobile's network here or its roaming rates overseas, you'll either have to suck it up or hope somebody "jailbreaks" this phone in the same way that hackers have defeated the iPhone's SIM locking.
* The G1 will offer limited compatibility with some of the files you use most often. It will only be able to read Microsoft Office files, not edit them. And while its music player will be able to use MP3, Windows Media and AAC files, you'll need to wait for a third-party to provide some sort of add-on to sync your iTunes library to the phone. And iTunes Store downloads restricted with Apple's "digital rights management" locks won't play on the G1 (though the G1 is no different from other non-Apple devices in this respect; that's why you shouldn't buy Apple's DRM-ed downloads at all when you get the same music as an unlocked, open MP3 from Amazon's MP3 store).
* Its Bluetooth is as limited as the iPhone's. The G1 will initially support only hands-free kits, with "A2DP" stereo-sound output coming later on and, it seems, no plans for file transfer or other, more useful Bluetooth options.
It's about the software (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless you get third-party software, which is the whole selling point of this phone. How about this?
Android QuickOffice [talkandroid.com]
Or you can write your own app to do that, which is the whole selling point of this phone.
If this phone/OS lives up to the hype, all
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
bash, ssh, ping/traceroute/iptables etc, an eth0/ppp0 (for the 3G), wlan0 (for the wifi), and sane amounts of free storage.
Also, a simple version of gcc for my desktop that will allow me to compile apps for the phone.
There are so many phones "based on Linux" that don't let you get at the Linuxy goodness underneath. Personally, I don't care what a phone runs if I can't get at the OS easil
Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile phone? (Score:2, Interesting)
Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile phone? Could it? With the Android platform being open-source, I think it is just possible.
What is my dream mobile phone? It is JUST A FREAKIN' PHONE. No touch screen. No web browsing. Just a single line B&W LCD, maybe two lines for easier caller ID printing. And with big buttons.
Without a big fancy screen, the phone would cost less to make. That extra space could have a bigger fractal antenna pattern board or something for even better reception. And w
Re:Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile pho (Score:5, Funny)
Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile phone? Could it? With the Android platform being open-source, I think it is just possible.
Do Androids dream of electric sheep?
Re:Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile pho (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Basic enough? And it's only $40. You could go more basic with a Tracphone (unlock it, and it'll work on any GSM network).
Re: (Score:2)
> What is my dream mobile phone? It is JUST A FREAKIN' PHONE. No touch screen. No web browsing. Just a single line B&W LCD, maybe two lines for easier caller ID printing. And with big buttons.
The early 90's called. Motorola would like to sell you this thing:
http://www.handcellphone.com/archives/the-coolest-cell-phones-that-i-used-to-dreamed-of [handcellphone.com]
Just Answer the Call from 1998 (Score:5, Funny)
Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile phone? Could it? With the Android platform being open-source, I think it is just possible.
Dude, Android has nothing to do with your dream phone. The Nokia 5190 was pretty much doing what you wanted it to 10 years ago. Pick one up off of eBay for less than $30 and be happy, unless you're worried that the extra features like SMS and Snake will interfere with your experience. Tell all your Slashdot friends who also just want a phone, too.
Android == Dream Development Platform (Score:3, Interesting)
Our small startup was going to do iPhone apps with a nice chunk of funding from some venture capital types.
Android was a bit under the radar for awhile and the other people I am working with were caught up in the Apple marketing hype. But then more and more developer nightmare stories about dealing with Apple kept coming up. And these were above and beyond the absurd NDA crap and other secrecy Apple holds to with their product plans raised all sorts of alarms. Even the money guys were getting worried that t
Re:Android == Dream Development Platform (Score:5, Insightful)
Our small startup was going to do iPhone apps with a nice chunk of funding from some venture capital types.
Android was a bit under the radar for awhile and the other people I am working with were caught up in the Apple marketing hype. But then more and more developer nightmare stories about dealing with Apple kept coming up. And these were above and beyond the absurd NDA crap and other secrecy Apple holds to with their product plans raised all sorts of alarms. Even the money guys were getting worried that they were going to dump all this cash into projects that were completely at the mercy and whim of Apple.
We were about to go out and waste money on expensive Macs for everyone - one of our guys was insisting on some 4 grand Mac laptop.
All those plans are now scrapped. We are all working on Android by simply downloading the free SDK and eclipse IDE and up and running on our own PCs. We don't have to waste time learning damn Objective-C that no one outside of the niche Mac dev community has any experience with and instead were able to jump right in with our existing Java skills.
The sky is the limit for Android. Solid technology base that is completely open. All the benefits of open source Linux without all the useless development and API fragmentation. The amount of interest from cellphone makers and people beyond the cellphone market in leveraging Android for their devices makes it clear that the huge amount of developer interest is just going to continue to grow rapidly.
Anything a user wants will be appearing on Android. It's so easy to modify for whatever end users need and desire.
Bye bye Apple and iPhone. Hello Android. Google really came through big time with this platform.
Okay. So how much more money are you going to make selling apps for Android over Apple? This is a serious question. For all of the nicities surrounding Android from a dev point of view, what are they doing to make your venture capitalists happy?
Re:Could this possibly lead to my dream mobile pho (Score:4, Insightful)
It never fails. In every thread about Phones, There's always some Asshat that shows up that wants "Just a Phone" without the bells and whistles of whatever device is being talked about.
Never mind the fact is these devices exist and can be found easily. They still gripe, and more often than not, get modded up.
app store and stupid editors (Score:5, Funny)
You might also not be at all surprised to know that Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store.
That's right, I'm not suprised. It was on the front page of Slashdot awhile back.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/30/1335231 [slashdot.org]
comment about editors and reading Slashdot goes here.
This might be cool in a year or so (Score:2)
Slide out full keyboard, touch screen, and not running Windows Mobile. So far, so good.
Once the majority of the bugs are worked out, and they release a GSM version, it could be really cool.
Now to carefully make my current phone last one more year...
Re:This might be cool in a year or so (Score:4, Informative)
The new mindshare leaders. (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone is comparing this new offering to the iPhone. But the interesting thing is that virtually no one compares it to the Blackberry - the new "has-been" of the so-called "Smart phone" industry.
It isn't like the Blackberry hasn't had any warning - the iPhone was announced more than 18 months ago, and there have been rumors about the Google-driven offering for nearly as long. How the shareholders of RIM can merely watch their company rest on its laurels is beyond me. RIM's death will be when Microsoft tries to acquire it.
In the 1980's, WANG was in nearly every office in America. They rested during the PC revolution, and within a couple years they were as good as dead. RIM has entered that territory. Yes, Blackberrys are still selling to corporate clients, who are traditionally slow to embrace new technologies. But other than the slow-movers out there, everyone can clearly see two very high-profile competitors - Apple and Google.
Looks bad for RIM.
Pros and Cons (Score:5, Informative)
Pros:
Cons:
I think I will be sitting out on the first generation of Android. If the next generation of android phones has as many improvements as there were from iPhone 1.0 to 2.0, i will be a a very happy camper.
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Unfortunately, Apple owns the patent on multi-touch. For the time being, there's no reason to believe that any non-Apple product will feature it.
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If I'm not mistaken, multi-touch technology is so wrapped up in patents right now (everything from the screens themselves to the gestures you use to perform certain actions) that it's difficult to implement in anything that will actually make it to market without getting a bunch of lawsuits thrown at you. (Or paying out half your device cost in royalties.)
Second, multi-touch really isn't all tha
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Since Apple acquired Fingerworks and all their IP, and they've patented every aspect of the iPhone more significant than the color choice, it would seem that they've got Multitouch(TM) capabilities fairly tightly locked up in patents, and they've strongly hinted that they will bring down a world of legal hurt on anyone that tries to implement similar functionality... Blame our overzealous patent system for the lack of Multitouch(TM) equivalent on this device.
Open Handset? (Score:2)
Is that thing going to be sold retail worldwide without having to go through an operator? Operator don't subsidize phone where I live anyway.
SSH? I want SSH! (Score:4, Insightful)
If it can run SSH, whether native or third party, and if there is some way to verify it's a real SSH, not infested by DHS or other snoops, that would be great.
Re:SSH? I want SSH! (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow, I'm so excited I might go take a nap (Score:2)
I'm going to be in the market for an upgrade an a couple of months, and this is quite underwhelming. I'm sure there are some good things that weren't in TFA (I sure hope there was a lot left out).
No tetherability? Mmmm, that sucks.
No mention of GPS or an app. Perhaps an extortion-like monthly fee to get the feature will follow?
No desktop sync with calendar? That's going to be quite a hassle, especially since I can't tether to get online to the gFoo apps. Also, I sure hope they have balls-up caching for the
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GPS is there, and tied into Google Maps. And Google already has a sync plugin for Outlook, Thunderbird/Lightning has an extension, and it's built into Evolution.
this will be like PC vs MAc in the 90's (Score:3, Insightful)
Will native C/C++ support be here any time soon ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, we fanbois hope that this announcement will jar Apple out of its iPhone SDK NDA foolishness, since Apple will now have to compete with a platform that actually allows people to write programming books on it and lets its programmers to ask each other for help without fear of impending lawsuit.
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Informative)
You aren't a fanboi. A fanboi is someone who follows someone or something without question and without financial compensation. You sound like someone who likes Apple's products. There is a difference.
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Funny)
> You aren't a fanboi. A fanboi is someone who follows someone or something without question and without financial compensation.
Ron Paul!
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Insightful)
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Let me guess. Your idea of a limitation for a Music Player is that it doesn't allow Wifi Skype to make phone calls?
No. My idea of 'limitation' is that I had to pay $0.99 for a metric-to-english calculator, whereas it would have been free on my Treo. I like the iPod, I'm sure I'd like an iPhone of my own, but I'm not looking forward to the blatant attempts to milk money out of me.
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Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Insightful)
It bugs me that it even seeped into the summary.
"Google is working on an Android competitor to the Apple App store."
Haven't pretty much ALL phone companies had a store to download shit from for a looooooooong time before iphone or even ipod? Seriously you might as well say they are taking a page from microsofts book because they have a download store too. Come on now don't fall into this trap of thinking Apple did everything first (re. level sensing laptops).
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:4, Insightful)
s/apple/xerox/g
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Funny)
You might also not be at all surprised to know that Google is working
Haven't pretty much ALL phone companies had a store to download shit from for a looooooooong time before iphone or even ipod
So it's safe to say you're not surprised. Seems the author was right. ;)
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, I think Thinkpads (and probably others) had accelerometers in their laptops before Apple. Unless you are referring to mean something more important than drive protection.
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Oh.. Yeah. I guess I should stop using my Thinkpad.
Since IBM brought the feature out only two years before Apple, I can see how, given the time difference, we should credit this one to Apple.
Just about anything can get modded "Interesting," eh?
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:4, Informative)
News to me too. I download FOSS ones. Because my platform isn't DRM-fucked by an evil monopoly;)
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Informative)
As do I.
I have Windows Mobile.
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Well, it doesn't bloody work for me under iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.01. I wrote and recorded the MP3 I'm trying to add as a ring tone and the only thing that's done it is iToner, which is 15 dollars for the licence. Grr.
Right-click your MP3 in iTunes and choose "Convert to AAC". Then right-click the new file and choose "Show in Finder". Make a copy of that on the desktop and change the extension of it to .m4r. Delete the old AAC file from iTunes and drag the new one back into iTunes. I just did it last night with a bunch of MP3s I DL'd from the 'Net and they sync'd to my iPhone just fine after I remembered to check the "Sync Ringtones" option in iTunes ;-).
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What's good for the developer is good for the customer, if it leads to a thriving marketplace.
What the App Store has done is given people with technical skills but no MBA (like myself) an opportunity to get paid for implementing their ideas.
What remains to be seen is whether the chaff will drown out the wheat in the Android Market without the auditing process of the iTunes Store. Ratings are all well and good on YouTube, but viral videos aren't viruses. Android prides itself on not being locked down, but yo
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But this phone is so much cheaper than the iPhone! $179 in the US, but they're literally giving them away in the UK! According to this [bbc.co.uk], they're FREE (as long as you pay £40+/month "T-mobile tariffs"). Sure, $74/month may seem a little steep, but isn't it worth it to get a FREE phone?
(No idea what the voice plan will cost in US - TFA just gives rates for the data plans on top of the 2-year contracted voice plan.)
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http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20080923/googles-g1-first-impressions/ [allthingsd.com]
br.
Re:Apple fanbois (Score:5, Insightful)
Though sarcastic, you might not realize how accurately you've hit the nail...
In the US, we pretty much don't buy phones by themselves. The vast majority of people get them for "free" (or a penny, or $19.99-after-rebate, or some apparent pittance like that) bundled with a 2-year contract for service.
So, while Apple prohibited AT&T from giving the iPhone away with service, Google allowing T-Mobile and the like to bundle them means regular everyday people, rather than just Apple fans, may actually get one of these.
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Will really come out of the woodwork on this one :-)
Did you notice that you wanted to talk about Apple before anyone else did? Instead of talking about the benefits or drawbacks of Android, you wanted to troll about Apple. Think about it.
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Pennidren no write good?
Re:Title finally write good (Score:5, Informative)
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Or they may, in fact, have been both.
Re:Title finally write good (Score:5, Funny)
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Except that the concept of the limited company dates back at least to renaissance Europe, and probably earlier.
Still, anti-corporate rants are very much in vogue, so don't let anything trivial like facts stand in your way.
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For those wondering what the parent post is about, the title of the article was originally in the form of "Google unveil", which is popular in British English.
Only recently have we started to see this use of collective nouns with plural-form verbs in America. I especially see it in music web sites when referring to bands as collective nouns instead of single entities.
It hinges on whether you see companies as "they" or "it". I think it makes more sense to refer to discrete entities in the singular, as the ti
Re:Title finally write good (Score:5, Insightful)
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Arrgh, silly but happens all the time around here.
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The iPhone was originally AT&T only, but it's available from several providers now. I'm guessing by this time next year the Android phone will be available from everybody.
My concerns are from TFA:
In response to a question about whether the device will be tetherable to a laptop, the company said that the G1 was "meant to be used as a mobile device, not as a tethered modem."
It would be nice to be able to use a cell phone as a laptop modem; not everywhere is a wifi hotspot, and for things like Google Maps
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This is just the first handset.
Other carriers (including AT&T) will have handsets at some point at the beginning of next year it says.
From what I understand the OS is compatible with any GSM network, it just needs handsets that support the OS.
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After all, I will not buy a certain PC if it ONLY works with AOL or Earthlink "service providers"...
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The article actually says AT&T and others will have handsets out early 2009. This is just the bleeding edge release on T-Mobile.
Android will work on any GSM network regardless of carrier. Being an open OS there are none of the firmware locks in place that keep the phone off certain GSM networks.
Recognizing a destination (Score:4, Informative)
I don't mean to be a troll, just curious. In what way is Google Street View useful?
I've used it a few times to get a visual of a destination before traveling there. Street numbers are great, but it's nice to be able to recognize a place by sight as you're looking for it.
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But no matter how bad the Google situation is, at least you won't have to jailbreak the damn thing to run non-approved apps.