Live from T-Mobile's Android event in New York City
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:50AM
posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:50AM
10:07AM We're inside and we've got some very exciting happenings afoot... stay tuned.
10:12AM That's right folks -- we've already managed to get our hands on the G1 (see post above), and we're in the process of handling some other colors right now (there's also white and brown). We're hanging out with a few of the developers for the device, and they're being very gracious with their phones. Thanks guys!
10:17AM We just heard that for the first 90 days after purchase, all apps from the T-Mobile Marketplace (or whatever they're calling their App Store) will be free for phone buyers. That's a nice incentive... now how about some free Amazon MP3s?
10:19AM Announcement: ladies and gentlemen, we'll be starting 10 minutes. Also, there's some smooth jazz playing here that's a little too smooth, and not enough jazz.
10:24AM We've just got a ton of tips that the video stream is live, if you're into that sort of thing.
10:29AM Okay, it looks like they're about to begin. We were just told there will be a photo op and unveiling about 15 mins in. So... less surprises then?
10:30AM And, they're starting. Awesome, awesome T-Mobile promo video. This is the funkiest techno rock we've ever heard.
10:31AM CTO Cole Brodman of T-Mobile is out. "Thank you for celebrating with us today."
10:31AM "We're here to celebrating the birth of a new platform and a new system."
10:32AM He's listing off who will appear... Andy Rubin will make a showing. Small applause. Peter Chow from HTC will be out as well. Sweet! "Let's get started!" Chris Schlaffer from T-Mobile Germany.
10:33AM "We're launching the world's first Android device... the G1." No way.
10:34AM "We told you we would introduce the first Android device this year. We are committed to driving innovation, to providing our customers with a superior experience."
10:36AM "We think the mobile internet is the dominant driving force in the industry." "We need to capitalize on this opportunity -- our partnerships are very important in making that happen. I would like to thank HTC and Google." "We have time and again shown with HTC we can bring innovation to the marketplace -- ladies and gentlemen, T-Mobile is committed to an open platform... the T-Mobile G1 is a milestone."
10:36AM He's introducing Andy Rubin -- "We're bringing Google advancements to the mobile phone."
10:39AM "Because of it's openness, you can modify or make the platform better. We think Android is future-proof. It has openness built in." He's intro'ing Mr. Chow from HTC. "I would like to congratulate Andy on the Android strategy and vision... I'm sure there's a big celebration in Mountain View... so, good job!" "Likewise, I want to congratulate T-Mobile for making this a reality... HTC, Google, T-Mobile... we share a similar vision for making the mobile internet practical and fun."
10:39AM "We think people can really use this device and enjoy it. We've worked closely with Google and T-Mobile to create an iconic design unlike anything in the market. The G1 will appeal to a broad variety of people."
10:40AM "This will transform how and where people can use the internet. Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!" Back to Cole!
10:42AM "Why did we invest in this platform? Mobile broadband has been around for years, but no devices take advantage of these services. The US leads the world in voice and text usage, yet mobile internet penetration lags. The experience hasn't been compelling -- users have not found it to be compelling. We're going to change that. We're going to lean into open systems and great partnerships -- and we're going to embrace 3rd parties."
10:43AM "No more fuzzy pictures on the internet, no more blog posts..." Thanks buddy! Demo video -- they're unveiling!
10:44AM Quick slideshow of Android features... and the G1 is revealed. Hey wait... this looks really familiar. They're posing for pics now. Gotta admit, the phone looks way slick in person, and it's smaller than you'd imagine.
10:45AM We'd be elbowing people out of the way had we not been playing with one a few moments ago. People are acting rabid... ooh, the brown model is out! It looks nice. Very fashionable.
10:45AM "So the great thing we set this up is you'll get a chance to use it first hand. Lots of devices here running on our network here in New York. But let's take a quick look at what these devices can do..." More video.
10:47AM Video: Great touchscreen, and you can long press. Now showing the photo app -- you can "frame" a picture and drop it on your home screen. Drag and drop of apps. Music downloader! Looks slick... very iTunes like. Search by artists, albums. Now showing the music player -- links back to Amazon.
10:49AM Just start typing on the keyboard and it brings up contacts. Now showing off Gmaps and street view... you can pan just like we've seen Andy do in demos. Compass mode... the scene moves as you do. Pretty cool!
Back to the home screen -- demoing the browser now. Just running through the controls. If you've seen the emulator, this looks somewhat familiar. Yep, tabbed browsing, pop-up menus. Dedicated search button on the keyboard.
10:50AM Showing off the "Android Market" -- user ratings... instant downloads. Ha! Pac-man!
10:50AM Big applause!
10:52AM "So what do you think? Trust me it's a lot of fun. One of the things that's going to bring this into the future is this open platform. We believe it will drive the mobile internet. As humans, we can count on change, as times change, as technology changes, this platform will embrace that change by allowing 3rd parties to write applications..." Seems like they might be going after Apple's closed system here. Not surprising.
10:52AM Now they're showing off 3rd party partners... Android developer community discussing open source. They're really pushing the openness here.
10:53AM Video of devs big-upping open source. "It's risk free." "It's completely open... no one says 'you can't do that'."
10:54AM "Right now it can go so many directions..." Big cheers for the devs! And rightly so.
10:56AM Now showing off some developers here today. Lots of applause. Ecorio... Shop Savvy. The latter group has "turned the G1 into a barcode scanner." "Who doesn't want a better deal given the last few weeks?"
10:57AM Now they're doing question and answer... pricing! $179!
10:57AM Can be ordered over the internet for existing customers... commercial launch is October 22nd.
10:58AM Two data / messaging plans: $25 with unlimited data and some messaging, $35 with unlimited data and messaging.
10:58AM 3G: Will be live in 22 markets by launch, 27 by November. All major markets. Vast network to use.
10:59AM The device will be in the UK in November, across Europe in 2009.
10:59AM Andy Rubin: entire platform is open source. We're pretty focused on more features and functionality.
11:00AM Some questions from the group: Will this function as a tethered modem, can people just get a voice plan?
A: No tethering, data required.
11:01AM Q: Any support for Microsoft office? Is it sim-locked?
A: Can read Word, PDFs, Excel -- no exchange compatibility. The open marketplace has been dry there. It will be sim-locked to T-Mobile.
11:02AM Q: Will you offer push?
A: Gmail is push.
11:02AM Q: Will there be a desktop syncing app?
A: There isn't a desktop app. (What? How are we getting our contacts on there?)
11:03AM Q: Will this be available outside 3G markets? (Ah yes, we've been wondering)
A: Yes it will -- but the best experience is on WiFi or 3G.
11:04AM Q: Do you think there will be unlockers working on this?
A: It's worth noting that $179 is an attractive price. We want to be sure consumers use it on the network it's optimized for.
11:05AM Q: With no desktop app, will it have a server sync? And what Bluetooth profiles are supported?
A: Gmail, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL mail syncs -- does hands-free, no A2DP yet.
11:06AM Q: Will it use Chrome?
A: Yes, call it 'Chrome Lite.'
11:08AM Q: What is the Gmail client going to be like? (That's a good question -- we haven't seen much of it).
A: (And they're being vague about this) It will offer a lot of the same features. (They pretty much avoided answering... how far along is the Gmail app?)
11:09AM Q: What formats will it support? Will there be Skype?
A: AAC, MP3, but iTunes files will need to be DRM free (uh, yep). No Skype right now.
11:09AM Whoa! Larry Page and Sergey Brin are here! On rollerblades!
11:10AM Big cheers for these two!
11:11AM Sergey: "We had to rush here! It's exciting to be here. What really gives me pleasure with this is that I'm a bit of a geek, I like tinkering with things... I grew up messing with Linux... I get that same pleasure playing with Android and the G1... I've been using it for awhile. The first app I wrote was one where you throw your phone in the air and it measures how long it takes to catch it." Chuckles. Oooh, he just called the Marketplace the "App Store." Burn.
11:13AM Larry: "I've tremendously enjoyed my G1 -- Andy knows, I've given lots of feedback. I'm excited about the possibilities. This is as good a computer as you would have had a few years ago. Access to the internet, using applications... there's tremendous opportunity. Let me ask you guys to do a websearch... how long does it take?"
11:14AM "We're excited about having computer-like functionality on a phone with an open eco-system. You'll see a lot of really interesting things."
Joint photo op now. All in the family. HTC, Google, T-Mobile... that's a lot of money up there.
11:16AM Okay, thank you... and that's it! Time to go play with some phones!
::crosses finger for quick unlock solution::
WORD!
Anyone know where this is happening in NYC? I'm on 51st & 7th. I can fake being the press (or just some IT fan boi wanting to crash the event).
I believe it's at Guastavino's http://www.guastavinos.com/ right near the Queensboro bridge.
im at 30th and 7th! go outside and yell and ill yell back!
tethering .... *crosses fingers*
im @ 35th and 7th hi guys!
You can call T-mobile and they'll unlock any phone for you... (minus Sidekicks)
You guys should have shown up all up in T-mobile's face in Magenta T-shirts...
Ha I saw the live feed on the t-mobile site. The unlock question came up twice. One was if it will be unlock for other carriers. The response was a bit funny cause one of the guys had this "are you kidding me" look on his face. The answer was kinda short. "No, it will be lock for t-mobile only"
Second time it was asked. Someone asked if a third party source figured out how to unlock the phone like the iphone will t-mobile let it be or relock their phones like apple? Now all four guys on stage had this pissed off look. I guess it is a dumb question to ask from their perspective. Well the answer was, "At the price of $179.00 and the fact it cost a lot more for t-mobile to purchase... and with all the features the G1 has...for t-mobile to ensure the best performance possible...it will be exclusively for the t-mobile network."
Seriously, asking t-mobile if they are going to make the G1 unlock for other carriers is really a stupid question. Of course not, it's their exclusive phone...kinda like the sidekick. Now, I can see once the G1 is out, HTC making a new model with the Android platform that will be unlock. Now that's the question that should be asked.
Sweet.
im getting rid of my iPhone for this
yay for openness!
omg omg omg omg omg omg omg
Cool. Android is truly impressive ! But the HTC phone is seriously dumb. They could have chosen something like HTC Touch HD.
I'll be waiting for an explanation as to why there's no video capture or Stereo Bluetooth.
video? yes
stereo bluetooth? not so much
What? Video Recording and Stereo Bluetooth?
That would have created the first iPhone killer...
There's really no excuse for a phone at this price point not having those. Can some EE type chime in and tell me there's a legitimate reason why A2DP is so damn hard to come by?
There has previously been posts/rumors about this. The driver stack for stero bluetooth was too buggy to release with the phone. Google did not want to rush it, but is apparantly working on it. Thus the "not yet" comments in the Q&A session.
The only reason there is limited Bluetooth now is because Google didn't feel their Bluetooth API was ready for release. Basically they didn't want to deal with having to support a broken API down the road and instead just decided to wait to release a version they were happy with. It will undoubted be adding in a software update in the not-to-distant future.
not really that much of a point to a liveblog for this one...
http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/#
a live stream is the first thing they've got over my iPhone. Got a 3G when I was tired of waiting for Android. Silly me,
"All site content and information about the T-Mobile G1™ with Google™ will be available shortly after the press conference is complete."
note the "after the press conference is complete." part
Really?
"All site content and information about the T-Mobile G1™ with Google™ will be available shortly after the press conference is complete."
I'm getting what appears to be a stream from the page.
i dont like the design of the new G1 handset. it looks like it was designed in 2004 not 2008. there is one more website doing live coverage http://live.techztalk.com
I've been waiting so long for this! and I too am seriously considering dropping my iphone... finally a full qwerty keyboard!
I have a Press Pass. Wish I lived in New York for once....
I'm holding my breath. It definitly looks cool. Wondering if I should be usin my precious upgrade with AT&T for iPhone 3g, or hold out to see if this comes our way.
Wasn't NVidia doing something too? Like on the hardware / mobile OS side of things?
The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Tegra is a system-on-a-chip, not an actual phone or mainboard for a phone. It's really just a gpu for the phone, capable of running Quake.
you mean the Tegra? the holy grail of everything that is mobile?
yes, they have! http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/03/nvidia-shows-off-tegra-on-video/
11:25AM ET: Hey, what's Steve Jobs doing here?
11:26AM ET: HE'S GOT A GUN!
will Bill Gates make it in time to save Google phone?
Tune in next time.....
(cue theme/windows shutdown)
LOL @ the tmobile site. There is a new G1 video:
http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/
I doubt I'll get rid of my iPhone for this but I'm all for some competition.
damnit! i have to go to school! ive been waiting so long for this!
Why are people so fascinated with the keyboard? This is just another run-of-the-mill slider phone. I could care less about this phone. I just want the OS so we can port it to other phones. The Phone itself certainly isn't an iPhone killer.. its the software
to some people, the hardware is an iphone killer. I love that it's got a slide-out keyboard, touch screen, a few real buttons, memory slot, and is still damn thin. Maybe it's a bit bland looking, but there are those of us (probably the minority) that prefer function over form.
I'm not a fan of the phone design either. I'd much prefer something more along the lines of the other HTC sliders, with the buttons staying next to the screen and the keyboard sliding out under the whole thing. That said, if this were out for AT&T or Sprint, I'd definitely get it.
Come on! Ya gotta keep up with gizmodo at least! I like this site better, but when it comes to live coverage, Gizmodo seems to be on top of things.
The live event reporting seems so off without Ryan...
"10:24AM We've just got a ton of tips that the video stream is live, if you're into that sort of thing."
No it isn't!
It is now!
Ok, now it is :D
So where's the link to the video stream?
http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/#
http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/
Thanks :)
Apple has Jobs and T-mobile has this guy... Stop selling the damn company and talk about the phone.
Josh, where are the same pithy comments that you reserved for the last iPod rollout? Worst presentation ever. Wow, take off the ties and try to appear to be with it. Fail.
**** them, I'm not buying the phone anymore. I was so excited I kept thinking about it all last night. These guys are making me hate it.
What? They haven't even discussed the phone yet, they're still up there jerkin eachother off for how badass they are.
Live video: http://announcement.t-mobileg1.com/
hey! an american guy is talking now ..
Stop talking about the company and start talking about the phone already ! Geeeze....who do you think you are...Steve Jobs ?
So uh, where's this live video link again?
I love the way the URL moved for this story...
I missed the first few mins because of it.
...must be that AOL influence creeping into the Weblogs Inc.
Your initial statement was to go here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/22/live-from-t-mobiles-android-event-in-new-york-city/
Then you updated that page @ 9:49AM ET.
Someone, needs to learn how to post to the original page instead of creating a new one.
/rant
GO FORWARD ENGADGET!! GO FORWAAAAAAAARDDDDDDDDDD
I just saw someone taking pictures using an iPhone. I'll bet it'll be a fuzzy picture.
Can anyone say that was weak.
Is anyone watching the live feed? It has taken 15 minutes to get to the actual video presentation of the G1 itself; 15 minutes of CEO waffle ("I really want to thank, at this time..."). Badly misjudged, all this; have to agree with Reezer, the poster from earlier; this is actually putting me off buying the phone.
Plus the video presentation had a stupid and annoying soundtrack.
Do these guys watch any SteveNotes? Awful presentation skills.
Come on guys, save the pictures for afterwords!
Seriously, though, it's kind of refreshing to have guys that aren't so PR silky smooth like one Dictator Jobs. I actually like that they're kind of awkward about everything! I also like that there's more than just one guy, that they're all excited about everything. Kind of a good analogy for the fact that Android is open source and all the different people joining together to make it work in the first place.
Refreshing? :-) They're painful to watch. They really need someone to properly choreograph the show.
Disrupting the presentation for pictures in the middle of the presentation? Lame.
No exchange (push) service. They're relying upon 3rd parties to provide this. What is google thinking? Are they trying to get people to stop using gmail?
Evo1216, I agree 100% with you. A slick corporate presentation is worthless mealy mouth manipulation. This was priceless.
this guy talking over the demo video is lame ...
holy shit multitasking
ZOMG IT HAS COPY AND PASTE!!! (Yes...I'm an iPhone user)
If he says open one more time I'm shoving his open handset up his open ass.
And I'll shove your iphucked phone up your dumbass
this is going to put the final blow to manhattans 3g network....
Hey, I'm on first and first, how can the same street intersect with itself?
I must be at the nexus of the universe!
I know you're kidding, but I've never ever been the asshole so here's my first attempt.
"Dipshit, one's a "street", the other is an "ave" Get your head out of your Vagina."
How'd I do?
i'd say you mostly failed but then again you live in new jersey
"It's lots of fun. I spent 30 minutes last night playing Pacman instead of reviewing my speech notes", says the world's dullest man from T-Mobile. Does anyone actually believe that?
I know Steve Jobs is overly flashy and often "all mouth and no trousers", but he has set the bar very high for these kind of presentations, and these "suits" are falling well below that bar so far.
There seem to be a lot of 'open source' quotes, but android is not yet fully open...
Did anyone see the guy taking pictures of the android phone with his iPhone? How ironic, can't wait to get my Androd Phone!
HTC TouchHD + Android = Killer
The press conference is a bit boring...less congradulations and more device plz.
Tmob has introduced a subpar I-phoney
Any word on UMA yet???
O my god!
The price plan!
wow.... $25 unlimited web/data $35 unlimited web/data and messaging... i'm totally sold
Why? Currently unlimited Internet is $20 for existing smartphones, so they've actually jacked it up to at least $25. I don't remember what extra you get for the $35 plan, but that kinda sucks. I would have expected a cheaper unlimited data plan to go along with promoting the G1.
$25 = 19.99 Total Internet + 4.99 400SMS it looks like.
$35 = 19.99 Total Internet + 14.99 Unlimited SMS too.
Hi Patsy, meet our friend sarcasm.
Currently t-mobile is charging $19.99 for unlimited web. besides, i would think that google would want to use this opportunity to replace sms with push gmail/gtalk with an attractive data plan. i half expected to see $15 unlimited web. making t-mobile customers wait for 3 years for 3g and then fisting them with a plan more expensive than what they currently offer!? turds on them and shame on google.
$35 for a data plan!? How is that competitive!? I am paying $20 right now for unlimited T-mobile web. Talk about fisting the consumer all over again. basturds.
$35 for unlimited data and messaging is in line with t-mo's data being $20 and unlimited text being $15
How about doing the math? $19.99 for unlimited web (just like you pay now) + $14.99 for unlimited text.
It's the same price. Think before you jump to conclusions.
No tethering. How ghey!
Don't get me wrong, I want the phone but I thought with Tmob's data plan, tethering would be natural. Just doesn't make any sense.
Heres to hoping prepay will be an option in the UK!
Ah! there IS wifi
Im sure tethering can be "made" to work.. just like the "simlock" can be unlocked
ROFL "with the device you mentioned" ... the Tmobile exec wouldn't repeat the name "iPhone"
Lol. He doesn't say "iPhone", just "the device you mentioned"
i noticed that :) "the device he mentioned" is a competitor and not worthy of his tongue!
$25 /mo is still too expensive for people that just want limited net access.
I wonder if you can just do the Internet for 19.99 with no SMS?
The only reason I stayed with T-Mo was tethering ! And now they say no tethering ???????????
Soooo stupid ! ! !
I wonder if it is possible to use the G1 for in-phone browsing, and use the older phone for tethering ? Or do they disable tethering for the plan we're on ??
tethering please.. tethering please..