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:
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).
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.
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.)
… just write ‘T-Mobile G1 phone’ under any HTC phone and copy and paste the ‘Google’ logo on it… ta-da!
That seems to be the attitude of the Telegraph online who despite being ahead of the curve on the release of the G1 in the UK still can’t seem to get the right phone for their pictures…
Developers for Android currently have a number of challenges writing their code for a device that they can’t yet buy.
An example is testing the accelerometer on the device. There are apps out there to model tipping the device and developers have also come up with some ingenious ways of simulating this. One such example is linking up a Wiimote to their laptop whilst running the Android emulator (below).
It will be interesting to see how many European developers are willing to pay a monthly contract to T-Mobile in the UK just so they can see how their code runs on a real device. I suspect many will wait until they can purchase one outright without a contract.
It begs the question: will be a cheaper ‘iPod Touch’ type device coming out with Android within the next year? I would have thought a device with no phone would be ideal for developers as well as people who plan to use a separate phone. Users could run over wifi without being tied in to a contract. It would also enable developers to test more freely how their software runs on a device without a monthly overhead.
Reports have already stated that it will be free with £40 a month tariffs. It will be interesting to see if their are lower tariffs offered, what you’ll pay for the phone with those or whether there are any contracts offered shorter than 18 months.
Below are the O2 UK tariffs for pay monthly customers on the iPhone for comparison. I’d guess that, like the $179 price tag for the G1 in the US, T-Mo are going to try to pitch the G1just a bit cheaper than these prices…
O2 Pay Monthly Tariffs for iPhone
Choose from one of our four Pay Monthly tariffs for iPhone.
Monthly Charge
£30
£35
£45
£75
Cost of 8GB iPhone
£99
£99
Free
Free
Cost of 16GB iPhone
£159
£159
£59
Free
Minutes
75
600
1200
3000
Texts
125
500
500
500
Unlimited Data & Wi-Fi
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Visual Voicemail
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Reduced Roaming Rates
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Minimum contract length
18 months
18 months
18 months
18 months
As mentioned before, I wonder how soon before people will be unlocking these phones both from the US and the UK. I’d give it about 2 weeks from release.
