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Friday, August 15, 2008

Gee.

posted by on August 15 at 14:00 PM

It looks like T-Mobile is going to be the first carrier of the Gphone. They also might have a plan to reward preexisting T-Mobile customers:

“… during the presale of the G1, T-mobile customers can pick up the phone for $150. This is where it gets interesting, we’re not seeing any prices for new activations during the presale, so this could mean that only current T-mobile customers can pick up the G1 during the presale. Other customers interested in the G1 may have to wait until beginning/mid October before a national public launch.”

This is clearly not going to be another iPhone. The device looks downright clunky next to Apple’s phone:

But it could be significantly cheaper. Will that be enough to make a difference? And should I get one?

Answers are not clear as this time. Try again later.

RSS icon Comments

1

Paul, it's not a GPhone....it is the phone that runs off of the Android software developed by Google.

There is no such thing as the GPhone per se


no offense, just nerd alert here

Posted by Non | August 15, 2008 2:07 PM
2

That serial-killer breathing on the video has completely sold me on this.

And yeah, it's running Android, not a GPhone.

Posted by JC | August 15, 2008 2:10 PM
3

@1 and @2 beat me to it - here's a detailed explanation:

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-07/ff_android

Posted by meggers | August 15, 2008 2:11 PM
4

T-Mobile customer here...

I've been waiting for fucking ever for a new T-Mobile phone* that 1)wasn't a Blackberry 2)doesn't run Windows Mobile. And it's finally fucking here! w00t

*yeah, I'm 24 and still on my parent's T-Mobile plan. So fucking sue me. I still call home. Once a year. Or two.

Posted by finally | August 15, 2008 2:13 PM
5

P.S. Yay!

Posted by meggers | August 15, 2008 2:13 PM
6

christ, I swear too much. (Sorry!) I'm not an angry person.

Posted by finally | August 15, 2008 2:17 PM
7

And this is going to come out just when my contract expires with Sprint! Wooo!

SUCK IT, iPHONies

Posted by Non | August 15, 2008 2:18 PM
8

#1-3 are right, Google is not to be blamed for the clunkiness.

Also, it's "clunky" because it has a pop-out QWERTY, which iPhone should have had from the beginning.

Posted by w7ngman | August 15, 2008 2:26 PM
9

Much much clearer official video of interface
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg

Posted by Non | August 15, 2008 2:27 PM
10

That video is hopefully not of the actual handset. I'm hoping T-mo's 1st G-phone will be something closer to HTC's touch diamond or touch pro, since it's pretty set that HTC is the maker of the headset anyway. And regardless, of the phone, the OS is what's important. Google's open platform already has some decent looking apps (see top 50 pdf below). Now that T-mo is finally starting roll out 3G, I feel justified in sticking with them for so long.
http://code.google.com/android/images/adc1r1_deck.pdf

Posted by cmaceachen | August 15, 2008 2:48 PM
11

Cool link, #10 thanks. EXCITEMENT

Posted by Non | August 15, 2008 3:52 PM
12

an iphone is $199, so its only $50 more than this thing. so its not significantly cheaper.

Posted by um | August 15, 2008 3:55 PM
13

Sigh. I still kind of want one. I want an iPhone much, much worse though. Mainly, I just want an internet ready phone that doesn't cost a fortune and doesn't fucking suck. I need constant access to Wikipedia, so I can prove that my husband is wrong.

Posted by Gitai | August 15, 2008 5:15 PM
14

Um, it's also worth noting that this is one blurry video of what might be the phone mentioned. The video could be 6 months old. It could be a prototype of a completely different device, for all we know. Dismissing it as not another iPhone based solely on this video is extremely premature, to put it gently. It might make sense to withhold judgment until T-Mobile releases the full specs. Or some photos. Or you know, publicly acknowledges that this rumor is correct.

Posted by m-e | August 15, 2008 7:05 PM
15

Of course it's clunky, it's made by google. Nobody has ever accused them of producing things that have polish. Brute force is the way they get things done. If you had any idea the size of their datacenters that support gmail, search, etc you'd realize that Apple and Microsoft have nothing to fear from them in this.

Posted by pragmatic | August 15, 2008 8:27 PM
16

@15, you're not getting the point that several have already tried to make here: google didn't make the phone. They have no interest in making the hardware. HTC is making the phone. Google makes the OS that runs on the phone. HTC's phones run the gamut from pretty clunky to really nice (like the touch diamond).

Posted by cmaceachen | August 16, 2008 7:10 AM
17

OMG--get that poor man to the hospital! He shouldn't be testing clunky phones--he should be having a lung function test!

Posted by Jeez | August 17, 2008 4:01 PM

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