Android Lands on T-Mobile Handheld
A partnership with Google may pay off for late-to-the-3G-game T-Mobile.
T-Mobile may be late to the 3G and ultra-smartphone games, but with Google on its side, it might fare well with the new G1. Comparable in many aspects to the Apple iPhone and LG Voyager, the G1--which is actually HTC's Dream--is the first to be powered by Google's new mobile OS, Android. Released in October, the user-friendly smartphone implements one-touch Google Search and other popular Google products, including Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube and more. Synch e-mails, contacts, calendar entries and chats seamlessly across the various Google programs, and access any webpage in a full HTML browser over T-Mobile's 3G and Edge networks as well as Wi-Fi. Download mobile apps from the open-source Android Market and music from the preloaded Amazon MP3 application (but if you want to listen to music via standard headphones, you'll need a special adapter). The 5.6-ounce handheld also features a 3.2-inch touchscreen, qwerty keyboard, 3-megapixel camera with photosharing capabilities and a preinstalled 1GB MicroSD memory card (expandable to 8GB). The G1 is available for $179 with a two-year voice plan.