Android is (almost) here
Tomorrow the Android-powered, T-Mobile G1 officially goes on sale to the public (sooner if you live in SF or put in an online order.) The G1 was released to select “reviewers” over the past few weeks, including Walt Mossberg (WSJ), David Pogue (NYT), and others. For the most part the reviews are good. Here is a mini wrap up of the highlights from the handful of reviews I’ve read:
- OS is very fast and offers lots of customization
- OS is not as polished as the iPhone’s
- Hardware is not flashy or sleek, but it does include a full, slide-out keyboard which people are saying is decent but not amazing
- The online app store, the Android Marketplace, is up and running, but only has a few dozen apps available so far (compared to the iPhone’s several thousand
- OS is very closely tied in with Google services (as you’d expect from a “Google” phone); NO Exchange support out of the box (there is speculation that people are working on this and we’ll see something soon.)
- Integration with Amazon’s music store and with YouTube video is good
All in all, good reviews for the very first, v1.0 Android device. Expect to see additional Android devices next year as other manufacturers start using the OS. Of particular note, Motorola recently hired a boatload of Android-focused developers to create a social networking-oriented phone to be released Q2 of 09.
Om Malik wrote up a good post on how the G1 is not a direct iPhone competitor, but more of a direct threat to the Microsoft mobile platform. Probably more so if the Android community can figure out how to connect into Exchange asap. Interesting to note too that Andy Rubin, one of the masterminds behind Android, was a founder of the Danger platform that runs the popular T-Mobile Sidekick devices. No doubt there is plenty of Danger/Sidekick influence in the Android G1.
And Microsoft bought Danger earlier this year. Hmmm.
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