Today was a huge day for Google and T-Mobile with the announcement of the first phone to come loaded with Android. The official release date of the T-Mobile G1 will be Wednesday October 22nd. Pre-sales started immediately after the announcement for the upgrade price of $179. The G1 has a 3.2-inch 320 x 480 (HVGA) resolution capacitive touchscreen, a flip-out full QWERTY keyboard, dual-band UMTS HSPA, quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. There’s also a 3.2-megapixel fixed-focus camera, microSD slot (with a 1GB card provided and up to 8GB supported) and a trackball for navigation.
Videos and hands-on images of the new T-Mobile G1 Google Phone after the cut!
The time has finally arrived! T-Mobile will be launching the first ever Android-powered phone on September 23rd and Android Community is going to be there. We will be live blogging the entire event, which starts at 10:30 EDT, so be sure to tune in!
Besides the live coverage, you’ll also get the scoop on the latest hands-on footage, photos and more. The live product demonstration will ensure you all get familiar with the HTC Dream–the phone we expect to see unveiled–before it ever hits store shelves.
Availability is expected by the end of October, though we’ll know for sure come September 23rd. The G1 will be presented by both Google and T-Mobile, so be sure to point your browser to http://Live.AndroidCommunity.com/ at 10:30 EDT for the breaking news as it happens.
Just a few weeks ago we were all in the dark about what carrier the HTC Dream would be released on. But in less than a month’s time, we’ve gotten our first look at the smartphone, exclusive images and video of the long-awaited Android operating system and confirmation that the Dream will be called the G1 from T-Mobile. That’s a lot of ground to cover but in keeping with the world of tech, these announcements tend to fly out quickly and then get lost in the heap. Now that the first ever Google phone is being released very soon, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at some of the highlights of the HTC Dream and how we’ve gotten familiar with it over the past few weeks.
After it seemed like the Android was in development forever, information finally started rumbling to the surface about a month ago when a rumor that the first Android handset had been delayed was squashed. Soon after, a video was leaked that supposedly showed the HTC Dream in action. You can watch it below. Sure it was a little blurry, but it sent the Internet ablaze. Was this the real HTC Dream or was it a fake? After all of the image leaks, diagrams and more that have surfaced since then, we now know that video was 100% real and it gave us new hope. Android was definitely alive!
A week later, the FCC approved the Dream and we got a look at a diagram of the phone that revealed it has a jogball. And then the shocker came out. A phone called the T-Mobile G1 had been lurking around on the edges of our attention when all of a sudden all the pieces came together. The HTC Dream is the T-Mobile G1. T-Mobile will be the carrier for the very first Android-based headset. A rumor hit first that the device would be available starting September 17th, but now it seems you’ll be able to get your hands on one starting October 13th.
A little later, a diagram leaked showing some very interesting specifics about the new smartphone, including a “chin” area. Just last week we got our first clear look at the HTC Dream with T-Mobile branding and buttons through a series of images. A few days ago the Android Developer Challenge came to an end and Google revealed the winners, which ties in directly to the announcement of Google Chrome yesterday. The new browser uses the exact same Webkit as the browser contained in the Android OS. And with good reason, considering Google is the developer of both. To make it all the more fitting, today Google announced that Chrome would more likely than not be coming to Android sooner rather than later in a lite version.
Whew! The Android news machine has been cranking constantly and with the very first phone, the HTC Dream, now branded as the T-Mobile G1 to hit the carrier in October, this is most definitely not the last we’ve heard about it.
We do apologize for the lack of updates here on Google Phone. But to keep up with the latest on the Android OS, why not visit Android Community? If you want to join in the discussion, be sure to stop by our forums at http://androidcommunity.com/forums/.
The quest to get Android running on any hardware possible continues apace, with the gang over at the xda-developers forum working to fettle the OS for HTC hardware. They’ve managed it, too, albeit in a roundabout way; apparently the TyTN II is basically running Android as an emulation: an .EXE on top of the original Windows Mobile OS. That’s a new approach; previous hacks to get the software working - such as on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet we saw earlier in the week - took advantage of Android’s compatibility with things like OMAP chipsets, which are relatively common among mobile devices, to force the OS to install.
Rumor is swirling around the forthcoming iPhone-like HTC Dream. Handset maker High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to be the first company out the door with an Android-powered phone set to release sometime in 2008 (possibly near the June time frame).
The HTC Dream will include many of the iPhone features, such as the full touch screen interface and keyboard. It is expected to measure 5-inch long and 3-inch wide. According to AllHeadLineNews, there will be a keyboard below the screen.
As 2007 nears its end, speculation about the upcoming developments of the Android platform - and, more importantly perhaps, which OEMs and developers will adopt the OS for their hardware - grows. In a podcast discussing Palm’s next-quarter roadmap, J. Edward Rutkowski and Tadd Rosenfeld (of msmobiles.com and mytreo.net respectively) put forward the case for the somewhat ailing smartphone company to add a gPhone to their line-up. Given the recent news that the low-end Palm Centro is outselling company expectations, especially compared to the higher-end (and less consumer-focused) Treo series, the unsurprising fact that Palm’s profit margin on the handset is relatively low would be a reasonable incentive to adopt open-source Android.
Looking like a black/grey version of the white handset Google’s Sergey Brin demonstrated in the Android SDK launch video, a Gizmodo reader sent in this exclusive photo of a prototype gPhone in the wild. While the design itself is relatively uninspiring (but, assuming it’s a product of HTC, will likely be built well) what’s particularly interesting is the source’s feedback on performance and the platform’s stability.
HTC’s Peter Chou has confirmed today that the company is developing a whole new range of Android-powered handsets that, despite having a number of successful designs already in their portfolio, will be distinct from the current Windows Mobile powered range. In an interview with Engadget, the company CEO discussed HTC’s move from producing OEM handsets for carriers to promoting their own brand, and how their development of software interfaces which, so far, have run on top of WM6 has prepared them for the opportunity to build unique devices based on Android.
“HTC is trying to differentiate ourselves in terms of user experience. Not just features or functions or tags, just really trying to design the product from the user’s perspective, because we care about the user. So our vision is that we want people to enjoy that mobility, which comes from user-focused design. Touch Flo is one such technology, and we are very proud of. And we are actually trying to innovate from the software user experience, that point of view. Definitely, the Android platform has a lot more flexibility to do more in this area” Peter Chou, CEO, HTC
Edit: HTC tell us that this meeting never took place, and are denying that TouchFLO will necessarily make an appearance on the gPhone. See update at the end of the article.
With developers seemingly hiding underneath their keyboards and rival hardware manufacturers and networks apparently on an hiatus of Android criticism, we’re left desperately seeking out crumbs of handset news from key players such as HTC. Executive Style’s Adam Turner resorted to inviting HTC exec John Featherstone on a coffee date to try to prise further details out regarding the company’s cellphone plans; obviously he didn’t buy him a biscotti, as Featherstone would only confirm that the TouchFLO interface “could” be ported to Android and be included in the first wave of devices.
It was HTC’s “Dream” reference design that supposedly had a large part in persuading companies to sign up to the Open Handset Alliance, to the extent that the handset manufacturer is considering putting a commercial version into production sometime next year, but their other Android plans have been up until now less than clear. However, at a meeting with investment firms in Taiwan last week, company CEO Peter Chou revealed that, if it really is released, the Dream will be one of 2-3 gPhones using the Android platform that HTC intend to supply in 2008.
As 2007 nears its end, speculation about the upcoming developments of the Android platform - and, more importantly perhaps, which OEMs and developers will adopt the OS for their hardware - grows. In 
HTC’s Peter Chou has confirmed today that the company is developing a whole new range of Android-powered handsets that, despite having a number of successful designs already in their portfolio, will be distinct from the current Windows Mobile powered range. In an 
