[srijit]

The first mobile running Google's Android OS was introduced yesterday. It looks to take on the iPhone and the Windows Mobile platform and it is available on T-Mobile.

YouTube - HTC T-Mobile Google Android - Video 1

Features:

Date and Pricing
$179 on October 22nd. (That's with a two year contract.) Unlimited internet with "some messaging" will run $25/month. Unlimited internet and messaging is $35/month. Data plans will require voice plans.

Screen
The G1 sports a 3.17" 65K color touchscreen that runs in HVGA (480×320) resolution.

Battery Life
You can talk for 5 hours, or keep the phone in standby for 130 hours.

Camera
3.1MP, or right around 35mm 4x6 print quality.

Frequency Fun
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA
850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100Mhz

Dimensions
4.60” x 2.16” x 0.62”; Weight: 5.6 ounces. And available in white, black and brown.

Storage
1GB MicroSD card preinstalled. Supports 8GB MicroSD.

GPS
Of course, what would Google Maps be without it?

Google Maps
As we've seen in a recent update, the G1's Maps application will integrate Street View so you can see where you are going. But in an industry first, a built-in compass orients the map to your position. North is always up!

Android Market
Similar to the iPhone's mobile App Store, the Android Market will allow downloading of various Android apps from the phone, to the phone.

Amazon MP3 Store
Amazon's MP3 store will be preloaded on every G1, allowing the download of 6 million DRM-free tracks with singles starting at 89 cents. Downloading music requires a Wi-Fi connection, previewing can be done over T-Mobile's network.

YouTube
Yup, it's on there.

Other Apps
ShopSavvy: designed to help people do comparative shopping
Ecorio: developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and view what their carbon footprint looks like
BreadCrumbz: enables people to create a step-by-step visual map using photos; customers can create their own routes, share them with friends or with the world
Source

G1 also has got a smooth User Interface

YouTube - T-Mobile G1 Android User Interface - Smooth

Source
More coming later

I'm interested in the android platform, but not too keen on the hardware.
I'm a die hard nokia fan boy. here's to hoping that android gets adopted by every manufacturer including nokia

[pranavt]

I'm also very interested in the platform, looking forward to buy a phone so that I can perhaps develop applications for it. Any news of them being released in India anytime soon?

[Samurai]

Doesn't sync with Microsoft Exchange, then it is worthless to me. Even my old SE-Z550i could sync with exchange.

[mav2000]

Just went through a couple of websites and they all love the software, it looks good, no doubt about it, specially on the half vga screen. But it does look ugly...dont really like the overall finish and look of the phone. Would still love to get one though, just to check out the new OS.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Doesn't sync with Microsoft Exchange, then it is worthless to me. Even my old SE-Z550i could sync with exchange.

Wait for a third party app to come which does the same, or just change one line in your services.msc to enable IMAP.
In MS exchange POP/IMAP are disabled by default, and sysadmins have to enable it. But many sysadmins can only do mousecliks, opening a text file is beyond their skill

[NetfreakBombay]

One good this is, Symbian is going to be Open Source .

And Android seems to be the thing that pushed Nokia over the edge to release code for symbian.

Can't wait for the day when customizing OS for Nokia phones will be a reality.

[tsk1979]

Wow thats amazing news. Expect tonnes of more apps and customizations for symbian.

[srijit]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

I'm interested in the android platform, but not too keen on the hardware.
I'm a die hard nokia fan boy. here's to hoping that android gets adopted by every manufacturer including nokia

ripper, doesnt Nokia support OpenMoko? Also havent they just bought Symbian? Will they jump onto the Android platform? Dunno...

Originally Posted by pranavt

I'm also very interested in the platform, looking forward to buy a phone so that I can perhaps develop applications for it. Any news of them being released in India anytime soon?

You dont need to buy this handset. You can just design/develop software using the Android SDK. Since Android will support a variety of handsets there is no purpose in developing for this particular one. This just happens to be the first one on the market, thats all

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Wait for a third party app to come which does the same, or just change one line in your services.msc to enable IMAP.
In MS exchange POP/IMAP are disabled by default, and sysadmins have to enable it. But many sysadmins can only do mousecliks, opening a text file is beyond their skill

Tanveer, this is the same situation that the iPhone faced when it was launched. Only difference here is that now, Apple themselves built the Exchange support in the software while Android is expecting 3rd party developers to build it for them. Doesnt sound good when you are an enterprise looking to include this handset in your IT domain.

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

One good this is, Symbian is going to be Open Source .

And Android seems to be the thing that pushed Nokia over the edge to release code for symbian.

Can't wait for the day when customizing OS for Nokia phones will be a reality.

That is good news for nokia fanbois. MS fanbois are having very little to cheer today.

[Steeroid]

Nobody is interested because the GSM radio is American spec 850/1900 + HSDPA 1700 mhz.

You can only use it in the US of A, which I find quite silly because smartphone usage is much higher in other parts of the world (except the iPhone which is more of a Gizmo than a smartphone). Wait for the GSM 900/1800 HSDPA 1900 version.

[NetfreakBombay]

I think this is Quad band for GSM, not sure about 3G frequencies.

[srijit]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Nobody is interested because the GSM radio is American spec 850/1900 + HSDPA 1700 mhz.

You can only use it in the US of A, which I find quite silly because smartphone usage is much higher in other parts of the world (except the iPhone which is more of a Gizmo than a smartphone). Wait for the GSM 900/1800 HSDPA 1900 version.

I thought that it already had those frequencies. So does this mean that it wont work outside US? ps: Quoted the supported frequencies again below. Dont know how to make sense of them, though.

Originally Posted by srijit

Frequency Fun
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA
850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100Mhz

[NetfreakBombay]

Cool that means it will work in India for Voice as well as 3G.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by srijit

ps: Quoted the supported frequencies again below. Dont know how to make sense of them, though.

I havent seen this phone, the specs I have are from CNET which say 850/1900 HSDPA 1700 which is clearly US Spec that wont work elsewhere.

That said, its an HTC device and HTC has never released a US-only spec device till date - all their devices have been 850/900/1800/1900 1700/1900

[iraghava]

Well going by that picture, it does look quite ugly.