Now that T-Mobile's systematic discrimination against non-T-Mobile customers (how dare they?) has come to an end, we can all exhale, pull out our credit cards and get to maxin' out the plastic. That's right -- the
Android-powered
G1 is now available for sale from T-Mob's website to all comers, though we're only seeing the black and bronze models listed at the moment and both are tagged with an ominous "extremely limited availability" label which tells us they probably won't be there long. $179.99's the price on two-year contract, and if they do sell out online, don't sweat it just yet -- sweep your local stores today.
Update: Full
press release with all the details just hit the wires. Remember, all T-Mobile retail shops will open early at 08:00AM if you want to get your G1 on before the rush to the office.
[Thanks, Elisha]
posted Oct 22nd 2008 1:08AM
I love the whole android thing but I still think this phone is butt ugly. Ill wait for the next android phone to hit Tmobile. AND YEAH, I care what my phone looks like because I just spent a hundred some dollars on something.
I'm waiting for the "iPhone 3G Copy & Paste"
Yeah, I agree. Maybe they could chop off that bottom half and move the buttons positioned there to the edge on the top half, then round the edges. Also, I'm not diggin' the cheap plastic look, how about a polished white plastic version? You wouldn't be able to see smudges and fingerprints, but it could be shiny and good looking!
Yeah, I agree. Maybe they could chop off that bottom half and move the buttons positioned there to the edge on the top half, then round the edges. Also, I'm not diggin' the cheap plastic look, how about a polished white plastic version? You wouldn't be able to see smudges and fingerprints, but it could be shiny and good looking!
If I were you, I would wait to see it in person. I know it isn't the popular thing to say, but having played with one for two days now, I find it a very nice hardware design, and am actually quite fond of the size, build quality, and even look of it. Pictures really don't do it justice. It is much more attractive in person that the pictures make it look.
True, The Phone Does Look Butt From Pictures, But In Person the Phone Is really pretty attractive. Saw one yesterday at my local retail store, and purchased mine today online.
@wako...
Are you a T-mobile customer? Their last high-end smart phone was the T-mobile wing. Up until today, that was STILL their #1 smartphone... You are looking at a good 5 years for T-mobile to get off their collective asses and get another smartphone.
So, I ordered one in a non-3g market.
#1 fail. They had 0 in stock
#2 fail. I have to spend $5 more per month, to use the G1 phone... using the same network that I use today. They give NO reason that I have to spend more for internet, other than that it is the G1 package. (once again, I am not a 3g market)
I have been a T-mob customer for a lot of years, and I actually feel like I got royally screwed by this upgrade.
Thats funny, I care about what my smart phone DOES not how it looks doing it... but personally I think the G1 looks just fine. Much better than a Blackberry or 99% of WinMO machines out there.
Thats funny, I care more about what my smart phone DOES than how it looks doing it... I know, I'm crazy.
Further, you should see the G1 in person, it looks just fine. Clean and uncluttered. Much better than a Blackberry or 99% of WinMO machines out there.
haha, nice... engadget is posting the comments on the wrong parent. tried twice to make sure... (this should be on the first comment)
To be honest thats exactly what i said when i first saw the phone, but its seems better looking in person.
As long as they don't pull some fake shortage bull like Nintendo, I will be happy.
Ok, that was an epic fail... for the comment system. I double checked that I was replying to Wako, and it said I was, but now it is showing up as a reply for your comment! WTF?
Ok, I just screen recorded myself trying to reply to wako, and now I have a double post two comments up:
http://www.pismodude.com/commentsysucks.mov
Look at the time stamp on the double post, that reply is above one that is older! How is that even possible? Curse you Engadget! Don't you know anything about technology?!?!? :-)
Ok, i found your problem, your using a mac. =)
@McPOW
See? I knew I wasn't insane! All of my comments (save for this one) have a timestamp earlier than yours, even the ones waaaay below it. Nobody can reply to wako--- http://pismodude.com/commentsysucks.mov
Canada?
GSM-based so we're looking at Rogers/Fido. Something tells me that Rogers would be very wary of selling a product that awards so much control to the user for no extra charges. Hell, my Rogers-branded SE w580 is so crippled, I can't even use the built-in voice dialing feature. Rogers is a control-freak company and I highly doubt we'll see an Android-based phone until well after most other major markets.
Great... this AND a woot-off on the same day?!
wow... the people at woot are ridiculous
The iPhone sucks.
The G1 sucks.
Don't buy anything until a phone comes out with the features of both Apple and Android (and a little more) plus an innovative design.
"Until" a phone like that comes out? So you're saying that no phones currently exist that are better than either the iPhone or the G1 right? Doesn't that make all phones suck?
No, what I'm saying is that its not worth getting a touchscreen phone until they go above and beyond what users wants. The iPhone and G1 are not there yet, so dont waste your money.
you are missing the point that Android will keep getting better. I agree on the phone itself. The G1 is average in my eyes and lacking some key features. I own an iPhone and am fairly happy with it but am looking forward to development of android. Hopefully some really great phones will come around that really complement android. Plus the added competition in the market will keep apple on its toes (copy paste maybe? landscape texting? mms? video? etc). However the G1 itself is going to get better with the OS.
I'm pretty frickin' sure that the ten flashlight apps for the iPhone in the App Store go way beyond what any customer could possibly want.
@lowdef
What good is Android if the hardware is average? Without a 3.5mm jack, a slimmer design, a proprietary USB port, reliance on MicroSD for very very very limited storage due to the limits of mSD, etc etc, there's only so far you can get with Android.
All I'm saying is that just like the iPhone, now is still NOT the time to invest in a touchscreen phone.
"proprietary USB port" it works with standard mini-usb in case you don't know. It is NOT proprietary; it has an extra pin and a different shape but it still works with standard usb.
How is MicroSD limited? What do you propose? It works with the new 16gb cards and I'm sure it will work with the 32gb ones too when those come out since those also follow sdhc. Also with MicroSD you can swap cards out.
There are a lot of reasons why the G1 isn't perfect but those aren't the reasons. No phone is ever perfect so it's dumb to ask people to wait until a perfect phone comes. I think what you want to say is for people to wait past first gen for the product to improve.
But on the iPhone, it's second gen now so it should be a safe buy especially after all the firmware updates.
If it doesn't tether to a laptop, it is dead to me.
T-mo guys in Nashville had one out playing with it today so I got to mess around with it for a bit. I was actually quite surprised at just how well-build it feels - slider and all.
It doesn't feel like any of the 3 other HTC phones I've owned over the past few years, which is a great thing. Now that it is officially available, I'm hoping some unlocking action occurs quickly so I can use it with my AT&T SIM. This is after only playing with it for about 15 minutes.
As opposed to the "BORG" AT&T you can call up T-mobile if you're a customer in good standing and they'll email you an unlock code.
I have been playing with it for just over a day now, and I have to say. It's very raw. There's a lot of good, its super solid in build quality and response. But they need a little more work on the UI, simple things are buried, like putting it into silent quickly and settings for certain programs. I think they model this OS after computer and the cloud-theory of OS, give the people a base and they will build whatever they want on top of it. I feel though that some simple creature comforts were forgotten in the process.
As time goes on this phone will get better.
And for those poeple that say they never use copy & paste, never had the option, because if you did, you'd use it.
I think you're right that some of the settings are kind of deep in the menus, but I have to disagree about putting it into silent mode. All you do is hold down the hang-up/off button and then select 'silent mode' on the screen. Pretty quick, methinks. I would also agree with several other posts saying that the device is much nicer in person than in photos. It feels quite solid, well built, and looks rather nice. It's also smaller than it appears to be in the pictures.
Meh. The betas had already worked on the TytnII/AT&T TIlt and now that 1.0 source code has been released, all you need is to compile it and run it with Haret. That's without any tweaks whatsoever. I can wait until somebody gets a autobooting SPL even though the ability to dual boot WMO and Android is nice, atm.
I wonder if it will be 179.99 for existing customers in the Tmobile store. The phone reps keep saying they cant guarantee it will stay 179.99 after tonight.
It actually is more expensive now for existing users; $350. That's annoying. Good thing my contract ends soon though.
Yeah, the day the G1 was announced I left T-Mobile for ATT. My company required me to purchase a Blackberry 88xx and I couldn't get T-Mob to match the ATT price because I was an existing customer. I was Power-Tel customer before it became VoiceStream before it became T-Mobile. I begged them to not make me become a "new customer" to get new customer pricing, because I can only become a new customer of some other company. I was very sad to end my 9 years of loyalty. They didn't bat an eye. How screwed up is an industry when companies can't even keep fanboy customers.
Side note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lZkwaNx8_Y @1:28 in there is a cool unspoken of piece of technology, face detection. Notice the "Tap a face to begin" when setting a pic from Flickr (not Picasa... Google is so open and cool!) as a contact icon. This gives me hope that Google will provide an experience that rivals that of Apple. They also brag about their cut & paste. It's amazing how much attention Apple's flaw has gotten.
The phone doesn't feel fucking cheap. It's a g good phone, the sound quality is crystal clear. The GPS found me within in a mile, the camera sucks, and the whole bloated thing about it being shit, is far fetched. I personally can't use the phone, I have short fat fingers. I will work it out though. Would I rather have a $300 iPhone and pay Jobs his stuff? No.
The phone is ok, it's not one hand user friendly though. It's smaller than I thought, and it doesn't have the umph. I'm looking for. I'll use it for a year...fuck it. The programs will work itself out as well.
I am severly disapointed in the camera though! It's FANTASY FEST in Key West, and I can't take freaking picture of naked women without them reposing!!!!!!!!!!!! Epic fail on the camera, thank god, my boy has a shit ass camera to takes pics with, who else could take pictures of sudo felatio?
do you really need root access to perform fellatio?
Bye bye iPhone, R.I.P hahaha
Sure... T-Mobile only has to sell 10 million of them to beat the iPhone. :)
Not to mention stopping my family of six from going and buying iPhones tomorrow. If $1200 = iHappiness, we're sold!
My unboxing: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/unboxing-the-htc-dreamt-mobile-g1/
Thank you engadget.
A quick check on the old Pearl 8100 before going to bed and I quickly hopped online to a janked-up t-mobile site that was having some serious trouble. But I got my order in, and the rep said that it was (with overnight shipping), still likely to hit me by Thursday.
That's one for me, one for my wife. Now I don't have to go stand in line (41 degrees? for real?) or deal with my wife being in meetings all day. That or I wait a couple of weeks and cancel my order...
Cheers.
And now the order status says that I ordered at 11:02 PM CT on 10/22/2008.. Well, it's 10:49 **AM** CT on 10/22/2008, so something's not quite right.
Such begins another wireless rabbit-hole.
I'm waitin for HTC HD with Android
Same here. I love the Android OS, but hate the phone. It has amazing features but I dislike the looks greatly...
Waiting to see Android on many more devices like HTC Touch HD....
idk if i should get the white or black is because i think alot of people r gonna get black and i hate when i see like someone dat i know with my same phone but im a guy so black looks cool but white does also any ideas people?
Oh no, my iPhone is old news I've wasted all that money what should I do? Such a shame because it does everything I need and and it does it really well.
But if some of the geniuses on here are saying the iPhone is dead then it must be true. If only I'd waited.........
"Everything you love about the web, now on a phone."
Correction: All Google services you love, now on a phone!
Which is still everything you love about the web
Correction stand corrected.
Quite happy with mine so far - voice/call quality is great, 3G data up and running right out of the box with no hiccups. Google auto-populated my calendar and contacts within 30 seconds of powering up, and my various email accounts are all routed through my main Gmail account with their own labelling and grouping (Gmail has such great spam filtering, why bother using the other mail client?) The UI is intuitive, and I love that the redundant input methods allow for a few different approaches depending on your situation. I'm not a huge touchscreen fan, so the trackball has been a surprising favorite of mine.
Is it a 1.0 OS? Yes. Is it a very well executed 1.0 OS with ample flexibility? Yes.
With the Marketplace poised to offer all sorts of new ideas (they haven't even begun Widget development yet), it will only get better in the coming weeks.
As an ex Symbian and WinMo user who understands the role the G1 plays in the long term - I'm quite happy with mine, and am excited about where it will all go from here.
(it also redeems my previous two A-named gadget obsessions that failed - Amiga and Atari Lynx)
Well the Tmo store in my neighborhood, which is a brand new store has nothing on display about it. I will look today.
I received my G1 on Monday Yay.. I am impressed with the phone and OS but I hope Android is already in preparation for an updated firmware ... and the variety of applications on the market is not to appealing... it should of had more especially with all this big hype about it... but hek today is the official launch date so lets see what they release withing the next weeks....
Received mine yesterday and so far I'm impressed.
- The phone is definitely not as big, bulky, and ugly looking as it's been in pics and videos.
- The screen is clear, bright, and responsive.
- Apps were easy to navigate, download, and install.
- YouTube client works great from what I've done so far, though I haven't found a way to tie it into my YouTube account yet.
- Despite what other reviewers have said, I do think the chin gets in the way when typing. I just feel I have to stretch my thumb too far over it just to type, but that could be the way I'm holding the phone to type.
- Like somebody here mentioned, it's still raw, but so far extremely stable. I don't like how some things are hidden, like turning the phone on silent you have to tap the menu button or "pull up" the icon menu and select "Settings -> Sound and Display -> and checkmark Silent Mode. It'd be nice to something within 2 clicks away.
- They keyboard keys do lay flat, but you can still feel individual keys and will only require a couple of days time to get a good feel for it, just like with any other new keyboard.
- The browser scrolls smooth, unlike some of the vids I've seen where it was a bit choppy. Not sure if they've patched this since then or what.
- I wish the screen would tilt automatically when the phone is tilted instead of only going into landscape when the keyboard is slid out.
- Google Maps, Streetview, YouTube Vids, Websites, etc all load surprisingly quick, especially considering I live outside of T-Mob's 3g network (Oklahoma City)
- Where's Pac-Man?
To quickly go into silent mode, press and hold the END CALL key, it will ask if you want to go into Silent Mode or shut down the phone. Many of those other issues ay be solved soon. Over on the official T-Mobile forums for the G1 they said on OTA firmware upgrade is ready to be pushed on tomorrow [Oct. 23rd].
Also, Pacman was removed from the market during their little upgrade yesterday, it should be back soon.
Ah, thanks! I've only skimmed through the manual looking for a couple of specific things, haven't had time to read through it all yet.
Still a lot to learn after being stuck on a Dash for the last year.
what I want on the web is on my eeepc tethered to my cellphone... btw, I love pocket heroes, I dont see it ported to gphone any time soon.
The phone look neat. So far I've seen two people with it. One of my co-workers showed it to me but, where is the notepad/text editor?
This is a warning to all who are making a switch to T-Mobile just for the phone. Keep in mind that their coverage is not as comprehensive than other major carriers in the states. Even though I'm in a major NE metropolitan area, I discovered many large dead zones, including my own house. I had to step outside to take calls. When I complained, I was brushed off, saying they were going to be upgrading. They never did and when I demanded an early termination they said two things: we are not responsible for dead spots (even if they're not displayed on the coverage map), and I blew it by not cancelling within the first 14 days. So I "ate" $200 in order to switch to a better carrier. And man were they rude and nasty about it!
The moral: if you are switching to T-Mobile for the first time, test the new phone in all areas where you may be taking calls and be sure you get the bars you need. Make sure to do this in the first 14 days. Don't get stuck like I did.
This should apply to anybody when switching to any new service carrier.
Still, good advice.
check this link www.pbase.com/shutter.......
i got mine shipped to me yesterday. phone is great. but has anybody else noticed the travel charger and the phone slot aren't compatible? The travel charger is the standard USB type that that blackberries and razor's and bluetooth headsets use.
only way to currently charge the phone is through the USB cord into the computer.
The charger fits into the charging port since it takes USB connection.
I got mine yesterday and played with it briefly.
3G speed is decent, GPS took a while to connect (while driving), marketplace has some good free apps, battery life is pretty short but I haven't condition the battery yet (only charged it full), and the phone is solidly built.
HTC's USB port is one of it's own, but still accepts mini-usb connections. The power adapter I received in my box is the one that charged my phone initially, which is a standard mini-usb that works on my Dash, Razors, etc.. Not sure if you have an odd adapter that belongs to something else or what, but my charger fits and works just fine.
ethan turn the cord upside down it fits, trust me i just charged mine with the wall charger
Not only "f"ugly but this thing looks cheaply made. I would never spend money on such a device. It is reminiscent of devices produced in the mid 1990's....certainly not technology produced in the 21st century.
T mobile's pretty full of itself with this one. Every single store that i've visited in hopes of upgrading my current contract (because i have been eligble 3 months since it was announced), will not let me purchase it unless i start a brand new contract. I actually talked to one of the salesman enough to give up the information on why they where doing this. He explained to me that they make more money off brand new activations, and that commission on it is better then with and upgrade so the first full shipment will ONLY be for new contracts, no upgrades or non-contract purchases. Saddest thing to do to me ever t-mobile, forget your current loyal customers. I guess you expect me to be happy with my slower then life LX.
tmobile resellers have always pushed new activations, its called "churning" and its a "official" no no... Tmobile wouldnt be to happy with that salesman/woman (hint, hint).
i dont like the look of the phone, theres always the successor of the G1
No thanks!
Okay, I picked mine up this morning and I must say i'm super impressed. Not only does it feel very solid, have a bright and crisp screen, and very easy useability, I went onto the app store and got some awesome apps fresh out of the gate.
The Lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is kind of annoying, but the free headset doesn't sound all bad and has integration with the unit itself.
Also, the lack of a virtual keyboard in portrait mode is annoying, but it'll be taken care of quickly by an aftermarket app maker.
Guys, I'm typing this comment from my new g1. Here's my impressions so far...
Why does it look so fat and ugly in photos! The real device is quite svelte and dare I say sexy? Okay yes...sexy. my roommate with an iphone 1g just called my g1 sexy. Definitely see this thing in person before you bitch about it not being the touch hd!
Web browser....fantastic. better than iphone in reliability and page rendering
Android......virtually flawless and so far...faster than iphone in almost every respect
Keyboard...mediocre. thd 5 lines of keys are nice. But... it will certainly have a learining curve with keys this small.
The chin....amazing. I love the rollerball for web surfing (you donyt cover up what you're reading on screen with your finger)
Push gmail.......FAST, I won't need text messages (save $10 and pass go) with this phone. Sending free text message emails from gmail is an iphone killer
Ill post all sorts of other things the big guys failed to mention later
Any updates on an Exchange Mail app for this thing? All I can find through searching are apps that sync your Exchange Contacts, but nothing about Mail.
Wombot, you can always just IMAP your exchange account using the Mail application already on the G1. I know its not the best solution...but I'm sure someone will have full Mail exchange support in the coming weeks.
Looks like a Fisher Price palm pilot. No thanks.
I Can´t beleve that anybody really likes the design and size of that... THING... To me it looks more like a childrens bathtubtoy.
Then you should see it in person, it's incredibly good looking. It's also feels incredibly well built.
thanks engadget! i saw your blog about the G1 going on sale this morning at 8am, and was able to get one. heres my impressions after 1 day with it:
(preface: this phone is replacing my iphone (not 3G), hacked for tmobile. i dropped it and the screen cracked but still works)
1. i was concerned about size, weight, brickyness, and plasticy look and feel. verdict: in person it looks very nice. it is smaller than i was expecting. even though by the numbers it is bigger and heavier than iphone, to me it feels lighter and smaller becuase it is narrower and thicker. the build is quality and it doesn't look ugly. i got the bronze one, it does not look brown but more of a dark gray.
2. i want to come out in favor of the mini USB jack instead of a 3.5mm headphone jack and here's why. i think it was smart; headphone jacks always become janky after a while. i think the usb connector is sturdier and will last longer. (it is disappointing that they didnt include the dongle though)
3. it's less suave and intuitive than the iphone in certain things, but it is still great and it is a lot less annoying and locked down with plenty of nifty features and potential. the biggest drawback i notice is battery life is not that great.
4. some more pros: web speed is decent, UI is responsive, phone calls are clear, screen looks great, love the open platform, love not being shackled by itunes, love the swapability of the SD card and a removable battery, hello! apps are fun (i like 'shazam' that identifies songs that it hears) - selection now is not that extensive, google maps street view with compass mode on is great for gee wow!), notifications bar is nice
cons: battery life, certain things need refinement like orientation not switching by itself all the time when you turn the phone or in photo viewing, no EQ on music player, camera autofocus is slow in low light. takes forever to snap. need the option to turn off autofocus. also needs video recording (and player). the keyboard is a little awkward with the chin in the way, doesnt have multi touch - but works fine anyway. the letters on keyboard seem to need more contrast i was having trouble seeing them at times.
5. so far i love it. the iphone i had was slicker looking and smoother interface, but had too many limitations and apple-centricities (for my taste). i like this newer phones' collection of functionalities and openness.
I work for t-mobile and those pics do not do the phone any justice. I think this is a good phone except fhe fact that it cannot act as a modem. The new data feature for the G1 is a little higher because there is a 10GB limit on the downloading. This is subject to change at any time meaning higher if more people complain and less if more people find a way to abuse and no one says anything. Another main issue is battery life. It does die rather quickly when surfing under 3G speeds and still goes fast under regular cdma speeds. Other than that the possibilities are endless until we find that brick wall. This one is worth the money but if not we also have a new Samsung that seems to copy the iphone quite well and has some better features. We have another bonus PDA coming soon cough cough.
I'm a T-Mobile CSR. Just so you know, any order processed after 10/3 will not be shipped until after the first week of November. In fact, Corporate removed the express shipping option from our order forms today because there is no possible way we can honor it. All orders are backordered from the manufacturer. The only hope you have of getting one before Nov. 14 is to get it at the store, assuming that they're not sold out, which many are. I know this is disappointing, but I don't think there is any way we could have been prepared for the amazing demand for this device. I swear that every other call I took today was someone wanting to order this phone. The calls I took from people who already received theirs were overwhelmingly positive. Two men actually told me they were thrilled and it is the best phone they've ever had. I hope this holds up in the long run. And the comments that it looks much better in person are definitely true.
As for the negative comments about the pricing, please remember this: Every single new customer gets a full discount. That means that every existing customer already a full discount when they were a new customer. Now they have to wait only 30 days for a partial discount, or 22 months for a full discount again. So we don't treat our new customers better than our existing customers; we treat you all with the same fairness. For gadget-junkies like myself, I know you want it now and at the lowest price possible, but it is just not reasonable to think that we should give an existing customer ANOTHER full discount before they qualify, just because they threaten to cancel. Remember that we subsidize your discount with your contract term. If you don't fulfill that contract, we lose money. And last time I checked, we're a for-profit company, like all other fiscally responsible mobile providers.
Oh, and by the way, ANY dealer who tells you that you have to open a new account to get this phone should be reported to T-Mo customer care IMMEDIATELY with a name and dealer code. This is UNACCEPTABLE behavior and is a terminable offense. If you have an existing account, you can and SHOULD be allowed to upgrade to this phone. Keep in mind, you are expected to sign a new contract if you take advantage of any discount. If you pay full price for the phone, you DO NOT have to renew your contract. Hope this helps answer some FAQs!
Guys the phone looks good in person, and the small edge on the end is ment for your head so when you put the phone up to talk.
Iphone G1
-multitouch -Single touch (has a scroller)
-no keybored -Keybored
-fastest internet -slightly chopyer internet not that bad.
-thiner -bulkeyer but has a keybored
-weighs less -weighs little bit more cuz of keybored
Over all the Iphone is alittle bit better but same as the g1 the Iphone has negative things about it as well...and the g1 is 170$ and the best Iphone now is 300$ g1 is deff. good for price and you can upgrade the 1gb g1 memory to a 8gb so im happy about that
Hell guys its made by google, you think a muti billionare company would release a shity phone? Google knows what there doing, trust me.
The G1 is awful. Compared to an ancient Nokia flip-phone I've carried for years, it is neanderthal. 1. It cannot access Tmobile "My Albums" photobank. 2. It cannot access Family Allowance sliders for managing minutes. 3. It cannot download an sms photo to the phone. If you can get it to work at all,(Photos with embedded messages from very basic T Mobile photo phones totally baffle the phone and the Android experts) You must forward the phone to your Gmail account. And 4. OMG when you sync up with Gmail if you had an account for a while all your lame email contacts will push all your phone contacts off into the ether somewhere. 5. But the absolutely worst design feature by far is mounting the tiny delete button on the keyboard adjacent to the SEND button. Try to correct a typo or rethink a bit of poorly chosen words and a fat or misguided finger SENDS the mistake quicker then you can say G1! My old Nokia allowed me to set a timed "silence" or Meeting" ring tone for a predetermined time 2 hours for a movie, 8 hours for work. what have you... With G1, it is silent or Not. period No timers no choices. and the volume..there is none. you lay the phone on it's back to protect the prcious touch screen and you are laying it on the speaker! If you have a hearing problem or need more volume in a noisy environment, a mall sports event or outdoors... forget about it.
It can tell you the air quality in your neghborhood but it dials your least favorite person at just the wrong time all by itself. It sets errant alarms for no reason and dies at the worst times. This thing had to have been rushed to market with no prior end user testing.
Simply put, a thousand software androids working with unlimited time could not fix the hardware and T-Mobile interface problems this thing carries. T-Mobile's response "Yeah we forgot to tell ya that, but we know about the problems...and it is okay because some of our other phones don't work with T mobile web features either. Oh... but next month it comes out in a white cased version. so look cool and explain why it is the next great thing.
Remember you only have 14 days to discover what this thing won't do. And don't expect a user manual. T-Mobile and Android refuse to include a manual beyond "Getting started" which just hypes features with no real instructions. The full 141 page tome is not supplied with the unit still lacks clear directions for some features and pitfalls and it is buried online. I'm a fairly bright guy and I like technology more than most but this thing will make you feel dumb and have you scratching you head in an instant at every turn.
My old Nokia is getting it's SIM card back next week.
Sir James
Houston Texas