Bound to be a little biased in its favour as they have their own google application they are keen to plug but it has quite a nice video of them poncing about the Google offices with a G1 … [here]

In case you didn’t put yourself on the mailing list for T-Mobile UK here is the email that those who did have received. You can place your order today from 9am:

The T-Mobile G1 Google™ is here

To order your T-Mobile G1 from the T-Mobile.co.uk shop, follow the exclusive link below after 9am on 30 October 2008. We have limited stock, so make sure you get in early to avoid disappointment. Once they’re all gone, the link will no longer work.

We will aim to deliver your T-Mobile G1 within the next few days, however if demand is very high please allow up to seven days. We’ll let you know in advance when to expect delivery of your phone.

If you have not been successful in ordering your G1 today, don’t despair. We have
more stock coming soon, so keep an eye on the website.

Thanks
The T-Mobile.co.uk team

I won’t link to any of these as no doubt some of them are scams but… If you do a search on ebay.com for “Google Android Unlock” you’ll see that people are already offering unlock codes for the G1 if you send them your IMEI. Whether these people can genuinely offer this already may be doubtful but there is a chance they have a link into an application or person from HTC or T-Mobile which / who can provide this.

There are also unlocked G1’s being advertised in the UK via places such as craigslist. Personally, I wouldn’t go near these at the moment but I’m sure there will be some more legitimate sources of SIM free devices in the near future. Alternatively T-Mobile may provide the device at a price with a pay as you go option, which as I highlighted previously would be great for developers or people who are just curious to try the device out mainly on wifi.

I have read that in the U.S. the 3G on the G1 may not work if a T-Mobile G1 was unlocked and an AT&T SIM was put in the device. I don’t see any such issues being prevalent in the UK. You should be able to unlock the device and switch out the SIM easily enough to O2, Orange, Vodafone or 3 in the UK

However, it will be interesting to see if T-Mobile uses a specific APN for the G1 to restrict access to services for people using other SIMs. This could stop ‘jailbroken’ / unlocked G1’s from getting access to items such as over the air updates (which have been pushed out already in the U.S.). However, this would also limit access to updates for people using the device over Wifi. For that reason, maybe they will look to use a different method such as a T-Mobile sign on to try to encourage users away from unlocked devices.

There are now a number of reviews out there of the G1 including scathing ones from Boy Genius and less scathing from the Android Community. However, one issue that seems to have been highlighted by many is that lack of a touchscreen keyboard.

In an earlier post I mentioned shapewriter. It seems that 3rd party software will be used to plug the hole initially that is missing with this release of the G1 / Android. ‘Dima70′ also kindly added a comment that points to the following sites:

SlideIT – http://www.mobiletextinput.com/Product/SlideIT/SlideIT.php

Swype – http://www.swypeinc.com/

Which seem to offer alternative touchscreen keyboard inputs.

I’m sure we will see more traditional pop up qwerty keyboards appear and I also hope we’ll see some more ‘whacky’ designs such as the ‘fitaly’ keyboard making an appearance soon.

As reported by Ewan at Mobile Industry Review the G1 will land in stores across the UK at the end of this month.

There have been a reported 25,000 inquiries into the phone although I logged a request for updates and haven’t heard anything – maybe my Gmail being a bit too strict with the spam filter?

The phone is still due to be free with £40 tariffs and Ewan outlines the packages below:

“At that monthly price, you’ve a choice of Combi 35 (800 minutes and unlimited texts) or Flext 40 (up to 1,250 minutes, 2,500 texts or any combination of the two).”

I’ve mentioned previously the need for developers to have an Android device which isn’t necessarily tied in to a contract. It will be interesting to see if T-Mobile provide this as an option in the UK. Their website certainly suggests that the G1 will work with a Pay as You Go SIM (click here and expand the ‘legal stuff’ section).

We’re giving away 8 T-Mobile G1 phones with a T-Mobile Pay as you go Talk & Text SIM card (see http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/ for details) loaded with £25 top up credit. Just remember that you won’t be able to access our highest data network speeds unless you upgrade to a pay monthly price plan. Also, as your G1 has an “always on” mobile internet connection, you will pay up to £1 a day for our web’n'walk service, see http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/ for more information.

T-Mobile 'Pay-as-you-go' prices

So this suggests that the G1 will run on a pay-as-you-go SIM but at limited speed and with fairly hefty prices for data use. However, the G1 has wifi built in so this probably isn’t such a concern for developers who only want to do occasional testing on a ‘real’ data connection.

Whilst finding out a bit more about the Dalvik virtual machine on Wikipedia I found a link to this article by Stefano Mazzocchi.

Although it is a little tricky to read in parts it is very interesting to understand how Google (hopefully) have got around some of the potential licencing restrictions of using Java by creating their own VM. However, it does also contain a warning that could become more relevant if Sun sees Android as a real challenger to Java on mobile devices:

“This means that if Android does, in fact, use some of Sun’s IP, it is entirely possible for Sun to sue any hardware vendor that ships Android with their phones and prevent them from shipping.”

Hopefully that ‘if’ proves to be unsubstantiated and Android can carry on its merry way but otherwise it could spell a whole host of issues for the platform in the future…

Its a shame to hear that the UK version of the G1 won’t include a functioning copy of the Amazon MP3 application as it won’t be ready. The application should be on the device but will be redundant to start with. Instead, users will have the option of the T-Mobile ‘Mobile Jukebox’.

It’s a shame there is a disparity from the US version but as long as they can patch it after a short while it shouldn’t be that serious I guess. The key differences will be that the Amazon app is DRM free and currently seems to have a wider selection judging by the US site. It’s difficult to judge price as prices are always cheaper in the U.S.

There have been a few interesting articles recently (including this on in the Guardian) about how Android could affect the gaming market. I really hope that Android opens the gates for some talented game developers who don’t have access to bags of cash but who can market through the Android Marketplace. It would be nice to see a return to an environment where you don’t need several million pounds and a load of graphics experts to launch a successful game.

However, Handango have also been mentioned in reference to Android so it sounds highly likely that the Android Marketplace won’t be the only point from which people can access software. I’m personally not a huge fan of the ‘grim’ Handango’s way of dealing with developers or customers. So I hope Google treats people with more respect.

A more worrying trend in mobile gaming is in multiplayer games using GPS. From what I can understand of this phenomena, this could lead to it becoming a normal day to day experience to see geek types spontaneously jumping on each other and battering the cr&p out of each other with their mobile phones. Whilst i’m sure Darwin would approve, I’m not sure what the police will make of people on tube platforms taking sniper shots at each other with their G1’s.

I’m sure the tabloids would also have a field day with titles such as Slashwars [cached link here] where random punters are meant to attack each other by swiping their phones in the air (presumable simulating knives). I guess if they keep their cameras switched on then this could create a whole new genre of ‘happy-slapping’.

I’ve seen a few comments questioning why the G1 has a compass built in to it. I guess its main use is pretty obvious and is demonstrated nicely with the streetview application (below).

Coming from the UK, where most of the time you can’t see where the sun is during the day, I’d find it very useful to know which way I’m facing. A number of times when trying to find an address on Google maps I’ve arrived at a tube station, stepped out on the street and then waited for a few minutes for GPS to kick in on my device. I then know where I am but not necessarily which way I am facing. So my next choice is to either look at the intersecting street names, identify a landmark or just walk for a bit and see which way the dot moves. A compass would obviously do away with that.

We don’t have Streetview in the UK yet but I’ve seen their cars in Oxford and in Slough (why Slough!) so it must be coming soon. However, maybe for day to day use ‘Enkin’ or a similar app may be more use. Enkin makes use of a 2D or 3D map or even ‘augmented reality’ to overlay labels (or anything really) on top what your device sees through the camera. To do this it seems they need a compass as well as GPS and an accelerometer (see pdf here ).

I’d guess you’d also need a reasonable accurate list of locations – something which I can’t honestly say that Google Maps has having got lost looking for a hotel in Dublin last week.

(btw- Enkin haven’t updated their blog for a while. I’m hoping that’s because they are busy coding and not because they’ve taken the developer challenge money and spent it all on crack… they seem like sensible chaps so I’m sure they haven’t.)

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