

Android phone: all specs and apps revealed - alexk
http://tmonews.com/2008/09/info-leaks/

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patrickg-zill
Underwhelmed. It has a keyboard, which is nice, however, $35 a month for a
data plan? Why is this a better thing than the $20 a month TMo charges when
you buy a SideKick?

All Apple has to do to shoot this thing in the head, is to release a Bluetooth
keyboard capability for the iPhone. Then it will be DOA.

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ajross
I have a hard time believing that Apple will ever put their name on a clunky
external keyboard for a phone. The whole idea just screams "ugly" to my sense
of aesthetics. Keep an extra gadget in your pocket just so you can type on
your phone? (even worse: it'd have to clip on to the phone or something for
access to the display). Ick.

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jrockway
All it has to be is a silent driver update. Then it would be an undocumented
hack for someone with Google and a Bluetooth keyboard.

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ajross
An undocumented hack is going to shoot the G1 in the head and make it DOA? I
wasn't saying that this couldn't be done. I was saying that Apple would never
do it, because it's an aesthetic disaster.

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jrockway
I won't comment on whether or not it's a disaster (MobileMe, anyone), but it's
really just not that useful. There is not that much to do on your phone that
would require a real keyboard. If you want a real keyboard, get an Eeepc
instead of an iPhone.

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gamble
The G1 seems like a mixed bag. It doesn't appear to excel in any capacity, and
it has some big drawbacks - no headphone jack, slow browser, basic media
player, etc. Adding to that the fact that it's only available through
T-Mobile's sketchy network, and it doesn't seem like the kind of product that
will set the world on fire. It's good that Google was able to get a phone out
for the holiday season, but I'm thinking that Android's story will play out
more in 2009 than this year.

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bendemott
"Gmail account required to sign in and use, no corporate access email
available."

I'm sure this is Microsoft's fault - it's not like they are going to offer up
a portable mobile outlook or owa integrator.

But I wonder who this hurts in the end, device sales, or Exchange use by SMB's
? - I'm guessing a little bit of both, mostly the latter.

~~~
ajross
There are free software exchange clients, and it's an open platform. Do the
math. :)

The truth is that the baked-in software stack is never going to be what sells
this phone. If what the user wants is an expensive, high end, pocket-sized
browser appliance, then the iPhone has already cornered that market. Android
is trying to be a platform. The extent to which it succeeds is _precicely_
that to which criticisms like yours miss the point. If there are important
things that it can't do that aren't addressed by the developer base, then it
will fail. If not, then it wins.

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peregrine
How much?

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danw
$179 on a 2 year contract, no idea about pricing outside about the US

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volida
doesn't look like a winner

