Alexander Gambotto-Burke24 September 2008, 3:52 PM
Its significance lies in the fact that it's the first smartphone to run Google's Android OS. But as a competitor to the iPhone, T-Mobile's G1 won't worry Apple just yet.
When Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin arrived on roller blades at the press conference in New York they clearly demonstrated the enthusiasm with which Google is introducing the world's first Android phone. After over a year of speculation, the “gPhone” has made its debut in the extravagant form of the T-Mobile G1 – also known as the HTC G1, or even the HTC Dream, if you like.
“What really gives me pleasure with the launch of G1 for T-Mobile,” Brin announced to his enraptured audience, “is that I'm a bit of a geek. And I really like tinkering with things ... I get that same kind of pleasure playing with Android on the G1.”
He outlined his first contribution to the Android world – an app that measures the time it takes for you to throw your G1 up in the air and catch it, or for it to hit the floor – and, after some laughter, and the ever-grinning Larry Page quickly confirming this somewhat dangerous program wouldn't make it to users - he neatly summed up why Android is so significant. “It's just very exciting for me as a computer geek to be able to have a phone I can play with and modify,” he said, “and innovate upon, just like I have with computers in the past.”
If that sounds like a shift in direction, you're not wrong: Android was developed under the pretense that smartphones are the new PCs, and Google is looking to conquer the smartphone market. By design, Android offers users all the services and facilities currently available on the desktop, including, pivotally, the ability to freely write and upload their own software. This finally puts smartphones on par with the open, unrestricted platform Android's developers hope to succeed. (And with mobile phones vastly outselling new desktop units, who's to say it won't?)
That said, one look at the G1 will make it apparent that Google's foremost adversary in the smartphone war is not the PC, currently - unsurprisingly, it's Apple. From the streamlined UI to touch-controlled document handling and the hardware features themselves, the G1 is a piece-for-piece direct competitor to the iPhone. And in this sense, the launch was a bit of a letdown: Google promised a revolution with Android, and right now all we have is a very competent iPhone rival. The introduction of an intuitive, touch-controlled copy-paste feature (based on short and long presses) will certainly be appreciated by iPhone users, but it's hardly enough to turn the tide.
So, what exactly can you expect from the G1? Well, it's launching at US$179, US$20 less than the iPhone 3G. It has a 3.17 in screen running at 480x320, and features both an iPhone-esque touch-screen keyboard, and a slide-out QWERTY keypad.
As you might imagine, it's slightly thicker than the iPhone (by about a third of an inch), and a little bit heavier, too. It's fully 3G-compatible, but Bluetooth is reportedly underpowered in the first release of the Android OS. A 3.1 megapixel camera is available (an improvement on the iPhone's 2 megapixel one), and it has a MicroSD slot, which supports up to 8GB cards. It comes in black, white, and brown. (Brown?)
Of course, the G1's key advantage over Apple's product has nothing to do with hardware or software tricks, and everything to do with Google. The Android phone acts as a simple, clean convergence point for all of the massively popular services Google offers – Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Reader – that are disparately provided on the PC, and even the iPhone.
For heavy users of Google's web applications, the G1 will be extremely appealing - especially so if they're sick of carting their laptops around. The web has become synonymous with Google and the online applications it freely provides to users; with Android and the G1, users have access to all of Google's web services on a single device. An entire suite of programs, basically, is available to G1 users in the cloud.
Beyond this, it's obvious that it's up to Android developers to make the most of this platform, and indeed make it the more appealing prospect over the iPhone. The most important service all Android phones will provide is the Android Marketplace, which, Google stresses, is not a “store” in any way, shape, or form. It's an open market where developers can offer their work without prior approval from Google. Other than the obvious freedoms this offers programmers, this also means Android will constantly evolve, and, one hopes, constantly improve. Andy Rubin took the stage at the G1's launch to explain: “A developer will be able to use it as a platform, and be able to develop their applications on the Android platform. But also, because of its openness, a developer will be able to modify the platform to make the platform better. Therefore, because the platform is open, we think Android is somewhat future-proof. It's future-proof because it has openness built-in.”
There's no doubt Android has revolutionary potential, but whether most users will be especially sensitive to this is unknown. As the platform improves, and as the number of applications for it grows exponentially, it seems impossible that Android won't eventually surpass proprietary platforms like the iPhone in both quality and basic quantity of available services.
But what does this mean for the G1, right now? Maybe not too much. If you're a staunch iPhone advocate, HTC's offering is unlikely to sway you; conversely, however, if you're in the market for a new smartphone, the G1's lower price and comparable features will probably make it the easier sell. One thing's for sure, though: whichever side you're on, if you're overjoyed by the sight of Steve Jobs rollerblading into the next WWDC, remember who to thank.