T-Mobile G1 launch day roundup
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted September 24th 2008 11:52AM
posted September 24th 2008 11:52AM
Update: We've added a link to our initial impressions, a more detailed look at the device and software.
The liveblog:
Live from T-Mobile's Android event in New York City
Hands-on coverage:
T-Mobile G1 first hands-on (updated)
Video: Android walkthrough on T-Mobile G1
Product announcement:
The T-Mobile G1
In-depth / details:
T-Mobile's CTO on G1 unlocking and tethering -- plus a few details you might have missed
T-Mobile soft capping 3G data at 1GB per month
Confirmed: T-Mobile G1 has no 3.5mm headphone jack
T-Mobile G1 site goes live for real, first ad appears
T-Mobile G1 has push Gmail with Google Talk presence
T-Mobile G1 impressions: what we love, what we don't
It'd be nice if I could replace MobileMe on my iTouch with Google's apps. I've been using them for longer and I feel like they work better than MobileMe. Gmail FTW
You can do that with WinMo.
I'm just sayin'.
Ya know that whole thing where Google's CEO is on Apple's board of directors? How bad-ass would an Apple Android phone be?
@ poster above me. an Android iPhone would be neat. although honestly, the only thing that sets the iPhone apart from the android is the flashy icons, the iTMS, and multi-touch.
Solution = Bootcamp for iPhone.
Run WinMo, OSX, Linux, Android, and every other mobile platform just like Apple computers (dedicate a chosen portion of the drive to each OS, and it gives you the option during startup to boot under any installed OS).
That would really only be practical if they dropped the 8GB model and added a 32, but who else thinks that would totally kick ass?
I put my pre-order in yesterday afternoon. I'm unimpressed (not to be confused with disappointed) with the phone, but I'm willing to take a $179 risk on its potential.
You just signed up for $1500. There is a contract right there. It's not $179.
Charbox,
how is that different than any other phone for a cheap price?
Meh, I've been with T-Mobile since 1997 (when they were Voicestream), so what's 2 more years?
No A2DP. no 3.5mm jack. No thanks.
Word is you can't charge the phone either... You just have to throw away the battery and buy a new one.
Seriously though... what were they thinking?
aardWolf, you're thinking of the iPhone as this one has a user removable/replaceable battery.
If the 3.5mm is so important, then get one separately.
Tons of variations exist allow the standard jack on this kind of phone. I have one for my ATT Tilt.
There is even an adapter that allows you to charge and still listen to music. I'm fine without the standard jack because it probably would have made the phone bigger.
A2DP is on its way, its just not available at launch.
Andy Rubin does mention a timescale for this being released in the conference, but its difficult to make out exactly what it is he says.
Maybe I missed something, but what is the big deal? I mean buy an mp3 player, I don't understand the purpose needing my phone to be able to play music, that's really the last thing im concerned about with a phone.
Um.. just another phone release... not interested... market is loaded with phones that has these type of functionality.. androids doesnt make up for a crappy phone... PERIOD
Gone are the days when Google really impressed me.
Clearly I haven't been paying attention to this phone: wtf is that on the bottom?!
A completely pointless and ill-conceived trackball.
Well I actually meant the whole piece of plastic down there that looks like the add-on coming for the Wiimote, but hey look, a track ball! Didn't notice that either!
Oh, that's just the bottom part of the phone, the seam in between the screen and the buttons is where the screen slides open to reveal the keyboard.
Gotcha. Well that seam is way ugly. As are those buttons. This is just an ugly phone in general. I think I'll just return to my day.
yea, dont forget the $25 for (ahem) 1Gb/mo "unlimited" data G1 service and 400 text messages, or $35 for "unlimited" both, on top of your new phone plan. They will also make you change your existing plan to a new one. OH and the $179 price everyone's been talking about is really $299 after $100 "rebate" from TMO. Yea.. why would I get this again?
http://i36.tinypic.com/lxn4m.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/2dtc4er.jpg
FUma the price is really 179 with a two year contract. However this is only for people who are out of contract or 2 months from the end of a two year contract or one month from a one yer contract expiring.
That 299 price you see is because you still have a contract with Tmobile so you get less of a discount then if you were about to expire. I know this because I got the 299 price but I am available for the 179 discount on Oct 17th or 5 days before release.
The 1 GB bandwidth thing is a softcap you do not get charged extra for going over but they can throttle your internet if you go over 1 GB to 50kbs. Which does suck. I am not certain wether it applies to both plans or just the 25 dollar plan.
But my guess is it might not even be enforced but the clause would be there so that if people start going crazy enough on 3G networks that it bogs the networks down they can start to throttle it so that everyone on the network could use the network without a major hinderence. I woudl venture to guess that most people do not use a gig a month bandwidth.
Keep in mind however with amazon driving revenue for Google with their wireless store if the 1 gig limit were enforced and it started interfering with other online sales generated by other companies including Tmobiles own stuff then I can guarantee you that policy will change. In the world of business nothing has more influence than $$$$$$.
It also stands to be stated that while the web site enforces the upgrade rules strictly, if you wait until launch and haggle with a T-Mobile Store employee you can most likely get the $179 price even if you don't qualify. They are authorized to cut costs left and right to convince you to sign that contract. It would be relatively simple to get them to remove the $30-40 in upgrade fees as well. I usually upgrade my phone every 12 months and I sign 24 month contracts every time, they always give you the price if it looks like the only way to get you to sign the contract extension.
Contract "extension" is kind of a misleading term, too. At first I thought that meant adding two years to your original contract expiration date, but all it does is reset the expiration date to two years from the day you sign the contract. Whatever was left on your original contract disappears and it's just completely replaced with the new one.
"Keep in mind however with amazon driving revenue for Google with their wireless store if the 1 gig limit were enforced and it started interfering with other online sales generated by other companies including Tmobiles own stuff then I can guarantee you that policy will change. In the world of business nothing has more influence than $$$$$$"
Actually, downloading from Amazon is only allowed over WiFi. So you should be able to download as many songs as you want without cutting into your 1 gig monthly limit.
@redspear...
I have not had a contract with TMO for years, I was an original voicestream customer, and the last time I changed to a better plan to get a new package was well over 3 years ago... so yah, $179 should apply to me... you'd think they WANT me back in another contract.. (which is moot anyway, because I live in California).
They would also want to upgrade me to a priceier plan, because I'm grandfathered into a older one that they dont offer anymore and to get the equivilent now, I'd have to lose 400 minutes a month or pay $5 more for the same minutes.
Also,
@jd I don't believe downloading from Amazon is strictly over wi-fi, that would be pretty stupid of them.
Fuma that may be the problem then. You see the pre order is only supposed ot be available to current Tmobile customers at the moment or at least tht is what the sales rep told me as well as the customer service over the phone. The only way I have found it online is by signing in with my tmobile ID and selecting upgrade phone. I am sure with Tmobiles horrible website you would get there without signing in and typing in the URL but it may also just be that the discount isn't reflected. On Oct 22nd you should be able to get it for 179 with a two year contract fairly easily.
On the Website it says:
Order the new T-Mobile G1 for as low as $179.99 (plus taxes and fees; two-year agreement required), exclusive to T-Mobile customers only, and be one of the first to get the T-Mobile G1 delivered right to your door as early as October 22, 2008.*
So you will have to wait until Oct 22nd to get the discount since you are not an active member.
BTW I am sorry you were a voicestream customer. Both Voicestream and Omnipoint sucked hard but however I Like what they became in Tmobile. It is all so much happier.
Disregard what I just said. While it is true. I just relaized that what you said was that your were still a tmobile customer. I don't what your solution is try calling customer service...If you want the phone that is.
Yet another reason why TMobile sucks:
I should be on my 3rd year of month to month with no contract right now. I liked the phone I've had for over 3 years (even though it is literally falling apart), and didn't like any of their newer offerings, even though I was long eligible for several upgrades. So a few months ago I ordered a new phone. I didn't like it and returned it. However TMobile didn't "reset my contract" after the return. When I tried to order the G1 online yesterday I kept getting that $299 price, so I called "customer care". They put me through this whole annoying process of making me find the tracking number for my return, claiming they never received the phone, only later in the conversation to say they found it in my file. This despite me calling them at the time of the return with the tracking number and to confirm they had received the handset. So already 15 minutes into the call, I asked them to simply reset my account to how it was before the (returned) phone shipped. They said they would have to file a request, and would call me back on Saturday.(!) But wait- it gets worse: Even if they get their shit together and reset my account, They claim they can't reset the online store to let me buy a G1 at the existing customer price, and I would have to wait until the release anyway. I told them I thought this was bad customer service, and I would consider moving to another carrier. Their response? They said that since they hadn't reset my contract when I returned the phone, I would be under contract for another 19 months and would have to pay an early termination fee.
Don't know if this has been said already but the cap is on 3g the plans that sell with this phone are currently edge dur.
I just got off the phone with a 2nd level CSR at TMO, she explained to me that the $299 price was because I "upgraded" to a Motorola phone back in 2007, and returned it 3 days later when no one could understand me when I used it... so the database that the computer pulls from shows that I am ineligable.. which is wrong, and they will offer me that price of $179 when it ships in October... so basically I don't have to pay for it now "pre-sale" to get the same price...
If anyone else has a similar problem, call TMO and ask to speak with someone in customer loyalty... they also are knocking another $5 month off my OLD plan, and I dont have to change it to a newer promotion... so, I'm willing to try it out... I work for a mobile phone content provider and it will be nice to test our content on this phone anyway.
I think the software is pretty good for a first attempt but the hardware needs some work. I'm gonna hold off I see Android runing on an different device before I take the leap.
In a nutshell:
Crappy Hardware
Incomplete Software
Awesome as Hell
I pre-ordered mine yesterday.
I don't agree with your crappy hardware comment. This phone has a better CPU and GPU than the iPhone. A full 5 row QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 MP camera compared to the iPhones 2 MP, ROM: 256 MB, RAM: 192 MB compared to the iPhone's 128MB of RAM. GPS, Wi-Fi, Trackball, Compass (for streetview), etc.. Not to mention the amazing software slated for launch such as the Android Scanner Application: you can see that in action here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgkSZS6o050 and Compass assisted Street View which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRfVKzuUJ4
There's plenty to be excited about Software AND Hardware wise with this device.
Haha nice. Regarding this, has anyone heard further on this business where non-Tmo customers were pre-ordering? How does one do this?
Ha! My sentiments EXACTLY. : )
@hardknock: if the specs are better, wouldn't you expect browsing to not be as choppy? numbers are all well and nice, but i'd rather have actual performance i can see... hopefully browsing smooths out on a later iteration
I like the phone, just not enough to leave Sprint to get it.
Truly, the services on this phone put my HTC Touch to shame. (Is it wrong of me to hold all phone hardware to the same standard as my fantastic Touch?)
I don't understand why people are crazy over this? I can understand being excited about "open source", to an extent, but, not this disappointing phone. I mean, HTC has MUCH better phones that they could have used to put Android on, and they went with this? Now, the HTC Touch HD, that's what they should have put forth as the first Android phone.
Not that it matters to me. I'm very happy with my iPhone 3G, and no, I'm not some Apple fanboy. I only have a first generation iPod nano, and decided to get an iPhone 3G after using a friends first generation iPhone. Of course, I consider myself one of the "lucky" ones, in that I haven't experienced the issues that some others have with the iPhone 3G. However, as with all new technology, hiccups are to be expected.
I do say, if HTC and T-Mobile would have put better hardware out there for the first Android phone, it would have been more exciting.
Flame away!
Probably for similar reasons you like your gadget. Thing is, this gadget does a couple of things that yours does not. For example: copy & paste, voice dial, swappable battery & memory, keyboard, etcetera
People are excited about it because of the potential of the software. I think everybody is a bit let down that the hardware isn't amazing, that the software is apparently incomplete, and T-Mobile isn't being quite as open with their service as we would have liked.. but the reality is that this is the only way to get in on Android in the next six months and people who love bleeding edge stuff are going to have a lot of fun with it.
The target market for this device, in its current state, is early adopters who are looking for a cool toy to play with. It is not an iPhone that supplies a cohesive and controlled usability, it is not a Blackberry that supplies mature business tools for executives, it is simply a sandbox for tech nerds to play with while it matures. Ultimately in the future it has the potential to be all things to all people, but right now it's clearly out there for the type of people who love jumping in on Beta tests. Getting the cool new toy a little early is totally worth the headache of an incomplete system to some people.
"Not that it matters to me. I'm very happy with my iPhone 3G, and no, I'm not some Apple fanboy."
It's sad that Engadget, like other sites (*cough* Digg *cough*) has become a place where one only dares compliment an Apple product with a disclaimer that he/she is "not some Apple fanboy."
Me, I'm a fanboy of anything great. My iPhone and my iMac happen to fit that category. Downward comment ratings by the Engadget-reading masses notwithstanding.
@chefgon_ign
You hit the nail on the head. I've played with Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm and even Linux on handhelds, and I really welcome another player in the smart phone realm. While T-mobile is certainly hoping this will encourage people to stick with or even move to them, from my perspective they only need to sell enough G1s to (a) ensure there is a sufficient market out there for developers to produce new software and (b) encourage HTC to make the hardware version 2 I really want.
That's why this iteration seems pretty poor by smart phone standards, especially compared to devices like the Touch HD. Windows Mobile is alreeady well established - you can sell just a few high end phones because you have many of the low end phones already out there. It's all about developers. Android has no such luxury (yet) which is why they had to keep costs down.
Find me one other phone that has a 528mhz cpu, 256mb ram, 3mp camera, GPS, WiFi, 3" or bigger screen, bluetooth, and a touch screen for under $300...
i like android but this g1 really unimpressive
Is it even possible with this device to write an app that would make stereo bluetooth a reality? If so, that would be a nice app to have so I can continue to use my crappy s9.
Stereo Bluetooth has been a reality for a long time. It uses A2DP.
I just saw this ~enlightening comparison and thought I'd share:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10049397-1.html
Basic maths tell you total minimum price paid for this:
In the USA: $1499 ($179 device + $1320 minimum plan $55 per month over 2 years)
In the UK: $1776 (free device + £960 pounds minimum plan £40 per month over 2 years)
Don't give me "buy people pay anyways" BS. That is pure BS. Having a Mobile Internet Device shouldn't tie you up to such astronomical pricing.
Basically the HTC Dream probably costs below $200 to manufacture, probably below $150 even, including all the components, the screen and everything, including also investment in R&D and all that.
Most cell phone users today are on pre-paid plans. Those phones should be sold for $200 to the end consumer and use free VOIP on $20 unlimited data plans, and by unlimited I mean at least with a 10GB monthly data limit. And then pre-paid SIP-out and Skype-out service and a cheap incoming phone number in several countries.
This phone is cool, has the best OS ever made and all that. But the pricing is ridiculous, even though it's slightly less then the astronomical iPhone pricing and contracts people are so stupidly signing up for.