Today is launch day for the Android G1, the first of what will be a series of Google phones. Some early reviews have been out, but only now can we see what the market thinks of it.
Early reports seem to indicate that sales are good, but not great. It’s understandable as this first phone is restricted to T-Mobile, and the company is only selling them in 3G markets, which currently is 22 US areas.
As for the phone itself, it’s a very impressive device. It’s made by HTC, which is one of the oldest smartphone manufacturers. The hardware is solid, it has a real keyboard, a large screen, a touch screen, and a 3MPx camera.
On the connectivity side, the phone supports both EDGE and 3G, although the T-Mobile network is not yet providing 3G in many places. It also has Wi-fi, and USB syncing. The USB port is also used to connect headphones.
The Google OS itself is also very nice. It uses a clean, icon based interface, with all the usual features a phone should have, such as a calendar, media player and messaging functions. It also ties in directly to your Google account with full integration with Gmail and other Google services.
Where the phone breaks down a bit is on software support. While there is an applications store, and people can download addons and gadgets from the web, there are few available, for now at least. As for the applications on the device, they seem bare bone in some respects, and could use more work. This should change soon, as developers start coding for this open source platform.
The obvious comparision to be made is with Apple’s product. However, I would say that overall this phone has a different audience than the iPhone. While the iPhone is a great media player, and an easy to use phone for the masses, Android is the open solution, aimed for the more advanced user, the people who pass the iPhone and want something more.