The T-Mobile G1 represents Google’s first stab at entering the mobile phone market. The device is an internet capable smartphone with software written by Google but with the actual physical hardware developed by HTC of Taiwan. The G1 was released in October of 2008 and is currently only available under a T-Mobile service plan within the U.S. Powered by Google’s
Android operating system, it is hoped the G1 will take a bite out of the iPhone’s prestige through a friendly user interface and a software platform allowing developers to easily create their own home-grown applications.
The G1 features a 3.2 inch touch-sensitive LCD screen, a sliding full 5 row QWERTY keyboard, a microSD slot for storage, and up to 5 hours of talk time. Like the iPhone, the G1 also contains an internal accelerometer to sense movement and rotation. There is no headphone jack but the unit does contain a miniUSB port which can be adapted to serve as a headphone output. The G1 also has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus but no flash.
Reception of the G1 was positive with some reservations. Most of the criticism focused on the physical design and the lack of certain standard features such as video recording.
