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]
[Sorry, this video isn't available any longer]
Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Nice G1 review on Telegraph site
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Order your UK T-Mobile G1 now
Thursday, October 30th, 2008In 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
T-Mobile G1 unlock codes already available on Ebay
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008I 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.
G-Day in the UK, October 30th 2008
Friday, October 17th, 2008As 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).”
T-Mobile G1 with pay-as-you-go in the UK?
Thursday, October 9th, 2008I’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.
How about a ‘gPod Touch’?
Monday, September 29th, 2008Developers 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.
T-Mobile G1 UK launch page live
Thursday, September 25th, 2008T-Mobile UK have already put up their own ‘Get it first’ button on their site in the UK.
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.
T-Mobile G1 ready to preview in US and UK
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Telegraph exclusive (again!)
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008[edited] The UK’s daily Telegraph is (again) on the bleeding edge in terms of revealing HTC’s plans for the Dream in Europe. Well, either that or they have again got confused between T-Mobile in the UK and the US.
They state again that it will be available exclusively to T-Mobile UK and on the shelves in November. However, the fact that they show the image below with the alt text as “The Google HTC Android phone” (it’s not, it’s the Touch HD) perhaps indicates they are not quite on the pulse.
Meanwhile the WSJ announced that HTC expects to ship more Dreams than most analysts reckon they are likely too. HTC apparently reckon they could ship up to 700,000 devices.
Telegraph predicts Android in UK soon
Monday, September 8th, 2008The Telegraph yesterday published an article saying that the HTC Dream would be available in the UK on T-Mobile as early as November. This is either a real scoop by the Telegraph (who don’t mention their source) or a confusion about T-Mo in the US.
If it is true then I believe T-Mobile UK is a slightly unusual choice for launching the first Google phone. Sure, they were one of the first (excluding ’3′) to launch ‘all you can eat’ tarriffs but I question how much of Android’s target audience they can reach. T-Mobile must be hoping that users will move across to their network in order to get their hands on the first phones. However, I would speculate many will wait for unlocked phones to become available so they can stick with their current provider.
I hope that T-Mo don’t try to use the new phone as an excuse for extortionate monthly subscriptions and lengthy contracts. I have a feeling the first Google phone is going to get a tough ride in terms of comparisons to the iPhone, especially as the Dream looks very much like a rehash of the Sidekick. It would be unfortunate if it was further burdened by pricey contracts.
