
1 Million Google Android Phones sold by T-Mobile - muimui
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-42164-145.html
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SwellJoe
I've just started tinkering with developing for the Android. The whole iPhone
development experience (Step 1: Buy a Mac) just wasn't appealing, so I've
mostly sat out that market explosion. We did do an iPhone theme for our
products using iUI, and luckily, it works pretty much unmodified on the G1 and
looks great (and never required Mac ownership, just an iPhone for testing).
But, I feel like I can actually be involved and do useful work on Android,
without having to drop a few grand just to get a development environment to
tinker with.

It's also the perfect phone for a Linux-y developer or sysadmin. Great ssh
client, great browser, multi-tasking, good little keypad which I can type
dramatically faster on than the iPhone, and as a developer you can access just
about everything on the phone, even in apps that aren't approved by Google or
T-Mobile. Being able to download a random .apk and install it, without
permission or jailbreaking, is a beautiful thing.

~~~
mcantelon
A used MacBook is all you need to do iPhone dev and is much cheaper than a few
grand.

Nonetheless, I am also not a fan of Apple's control freakishness. I am not
willing to invest in development of a product that Apple can disallow at a
whim. Nor am I fond of Apple's willingness to use software patents to
discourage competition. So Android it is.

iUI/Phonegap are great for cross-platform development and I believe Google's
long-term vision to be much more ambitious and interesting than Apple's.

~~~
SwellJoe
Agreed. The Mac expenditure is just the beginning of my hesitation to jump on
board the iPhone development bandwagon. With Android, I know I can make my
applications available regardless of whether Apple thinks they are worthy of
the store. And that one tiny bit of certainty is worth a huge amount to me.

I'm also much more fond of open platforms, but I didn't want to get all "Linux
rules, Apple drools" as I reckon it's a personal choice rather than an
objective business imperative.

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jraines
I've got one and I love it. With a real headphone jack and Flash support, it
would be the perfect phone IMHO.

~~~
greggraham
I've heard complaints about the poor battery life on the G1. How is that
working for you?

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SwellJoe
I think there's a bit of a quality control issue, or perhaps early batteries
had problems. I have two G1s...a standard issue that arrived on release day,
and a developer edition that I just got a few weeks ago. The former doesn't
last a whole day of moderate usage with 3G enabled (but lasts about 1.5 days
of moderate usage with 3G disabled). The latter easily lasts all day with 3G
enabled. I charge every night, and I've never found it to give out by the end
of day on days when I remember to charge it (and when I have forgotten to
charge it, I've been pleased by how fast it'll charge up).

I have no complaints at all about battery life on the newer phone. The older
one was disappointing, and I was afraid I was stuck with something that would
never really be great.

Someone else suggested a "break in" period, but my older phone never got
better after extensive use. The new phone was good from day one.

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DanielH
You should remeber that these numbers are only the selling numbers of the US.
I think the numbers from Europe will easily add up 1 Million additional
phones. And with the HTC Magic (already played with it :)) coming to Europe in
the next days in much more countries and further releases in the coming weeks
there will soon be a much higher install base...

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aswanson
I want one but the price for a current T-mobile customer is just over the top.

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
I was a current T-Mobile customer, and I was still able to get two of the
phones for the standard $179/each by renewing my contract. If you don't want
to deal with contracts, you should expect to pay much more for your phones
anyways...

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aswanson
On the site they give a price of $359 with a contract renewal, $399 without.
Were you at the end of the contract when you renewed?

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nuclear_eclipse
No, I was only about a year in from the last point at which I had renewed in
order to pick up the MyFaves plan. However, I am on a family plan for my wife
and I, but I can't imagine that changes much. Just try going to your local
T-Mobile rep and asking about the G1, and see what they say.

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aswanson
I'll try that, thanks.

