New York Times: T-Mobile to sell HTC Android phone as early as October
By Thomas Ricker 
posted August 15th 2008 5:02AM
posted August 15th 2008 5:02AM
Here we go folks. The New York Times is reporting that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer Android. According to "people briefed on the company's plans," the HTC phone will go on sale in the US "before Christmas, perhaps as early as October." The NYT's sources also say that the 5-row QWERTY slider from that Dream video (embedded after the break) matches the HTC device that T-Mobile will sell. The device is still waiting for FCC approval with a three-way Google, T-Mobile, and HTC announcement coming as early as September. The deal is expected to be exclusive making it the only Android phone available in the US this year.
Of course you know what this means? It's the birth of the Android fanboy -- sure you love 'em at First!, but then they never shut up about Street View.
Update: We've added a second video (from March) of what looks to be the same device demonstrated by Google's own Andy Rubin. The 3G reference design runs a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200-based processor at just over 300MHz, includes a trackball, 3D graphics processor, and appears to have an HTC logo.
Of course you know what this means? It's the birth of the Android fanboy -- sure you love 'em at First!, but then they never shut up about Street View.
Update: We've added a second video (from March) of what looks to be the same device demonstrated by Google's own Andy Rubin. The 3G reference design runs a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200-based processor at just over 300MHz, includes a trackball, 3D graphics processor, and appears to have an HTC logo.
I just want push Gmail
Haha, I hear you. That and GTalk would be amazing at this point in time.
Come on, it's the New York Times
The worst paper in the country that post so many corrections that you can't trust the news. The "Grey Lady" needs to die!
NY Times is the worst paper in the country? On my planet it's one of the best.
i'd rather have corrections thank you, corrections are the base of the press
many newspapers are so self centered that they wont publish corrections unless threatened with lawsuits
You're just embarrassing yourself when you say the NYT is the 'worst paper in the country.' Go away. And work on your name.
Looks like a resolution of about 380 x 560
Hm... the device could look nicer, yes.
What will it cost full price, and subsidized price? (I've only been with T-Mobile for 2 months, so I doubt I'll get the subsidized price -- too late to get it with my initial contract, too soon to get it with a renewed/extended contract)
Will it have UMA/hotspot@home support?
Will they offer sidekick-like specialized rate plans for it (like the pre-paid $1/day unlimited messaging and data, or the regular plan $20/mo add-on for unlimited messaging and data)? I'd probably be willing to go 50% higher than that. Especially if the pre-paid plan also allowed the $1/day unlimited mobile to mobile + unlimited nights/weekends rate that you can get with the non-sidekick pay-per-day plan. $2.50/day for unlimited messaging, net, M2M, and N&W ... I'd be there.
Will it be able to share it's wifi with other devices, such as laptops, UMPCs, netbooks, and MIDs?
Since it's hackable, how soon before it has a built in SIP server and jabber server, to allow those other devices to access its voice and SMS/MMS features via any random SIP phone/client and jabber client?
I don't see why it would be in HTC's interests to allow Google to demo their premier Android based device prior to announcing it as a company. This same model has been shown quite a few times in Android demonstrations and has always been referred to as a reference design. I'm actually hoping this isn't the final product and that HTC's flagship Android device looks more like the Touch Pro or Xperia X1.
Last month, I went ahead and renewed my mobile account for another two years. I figured by the time it was over, all the new Android devices would be out and the apps would be mature. I have high hopes for the Android platform. Hopefully the carriers that support it will keep it open and not lock it down like they usually do. So, when will the data pan wars start? There is no way I am going to pay $70 a month for a mobile phone.
I just hope the open source part is not forgotten when these devices are released. Open source is on the same plane as open standards, net neutrality, and the most competitive innovation. If all these become checklist requirements then the world will get rosier.
Mmkay, so it's a slightly modified Sidekick Slide with a touchscreen and an open OS. Still running a pretty crappy browser, from the looks of things. I like my Sidekick LX's keyboard and form factor but dislike its OS, so maybe this is a direction I'd go in. Maybe.
And I sure hope someone does a Doom/Street View mashup. Why kill floating red aliens when there are pedestrians everywhere?
Physically it's maybe a little like a sidekick, but it's the FAR superior internals that changes it.
So why is the video sped up?
If your gonna ad an extra video, couldn't at least pick one where video and audio are synchronized?
HTC continues to chase Apple. It's also amazing how they can say how innovative they are with a straight face. I suppose it does take some form of innovation to be able to produce barely workable products while being closely partnered with MS.
Crap lets hope they arent chasing Apple! That'll mean when it launches, their email/synch service wont work, the phones will crack without reason, there won't be basic smartphone features like cut 'n paste, the 3G performance will be a global complaint, the app service will be run by nazi corporate greedbags, and the performance will be roughly 10x slower than any promo videos they may release.
They're not chasing Apple. Chasing Apple would mean they only make one phone and control which carriers can use it and what software can run on it.
In fact, HTC is doing the exact opposite. :)
JAmerican... what company do you have that plan with?
damnit...so what do i have to wait another year before they ship it up to canada?
This is completely different than a Sidekick. The only similarity is a sliding screen.
Beyond that, the processor and chipset is much more powerful; it has a touch screen; more onboard memory; a bigger screen than the iPhone and SideKicks; is made by HTC (not designed by Danger and made by Sharp/Motorola who manufacture the Sidekicks); has hot-swapable expandable memory... the list goes on and on and on.
And the 3G network it is going to utilize is all brand new equipment as well- on a separate frequency band of its own, so you won't have any problems with signal interference from other companies. IF you're wondering why it doesn't have WiFi (assuming it doesn't) then T-Mobile must be pretty confident that their 3G reception is going to be more than adequate to make up for it.
The regular speed video from the bbc is here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/02/under_the_bonnet_of_android_1.html
Right at the beginning Andy's hand is in the frame holding the bottom of the phone, and that really gives a good reference to the size of this thing.
So I called up T-Mob today after reading this post because my contract is about to expire and I wanted to see if I could get any info out of the people there. The rep on the phone said T-Mob would be taking pre-orders for the "Dream" on Sept 17 and would be around $150. The plan would just be $20 a month for unlimited data.
Glad I read this before I cancelled and switched to another service / phone.
Android? I can't wait to see the new Star Wars movie with C3PO and R2D2. It's gonna be good! ;)
you don't have to wait years for simple features like copy and paste to work on Android. If users deem a feature to be important, someone out there will add it
Could it be that the new HTC Dream G1 is HTC Omnia?
Judging by the specs from pdadb and some earlier rumors, this is it!
Some images indicate it as well
Seriously, the Management for Verizon is horrible. They first reject Apple's offer of making the Iphone exclusive to Verizon, and now Verizon isn't even picking up on the Android? And of course as many of you guys know, HTC touch diamond has been released in CDMA but there is only confirmation that sprint is coming out with the diamond while Verizon is...promoting the LG Dare (which apparently has a horrible touch screen) and LG Decoy (which the embedded bluetooth headset has horrible sound quality when the user is in motion; like in a car...) Verizon can at least allow Verizon subscribers to use any handset they choose which they DID announce but haven't heard about for quite a while. I think its almost time to make a switch to cingular if Verizon refuses to listen to customer demands.
Hey Darth, it's this kind of inability to breath like a normal human being that gives us geeks the bad rep. Get your sinuses removed or better yet, cut the audio.
HEEEEEEEEE-HUUUUUUUUU-HEEEE-HUUUUUUUUU