8 Ekim 2008 Çarşamba

T-Mobile G1 vs. Sony Ericsson X1

Na de introductie van T-Mobile G1 waren we niet bepaald positief toch kregen we afgelopen week de kans de allereerste Google phone van dichtbij te bekijken. Following the introduction of T-Mobile G1, we were not exactly positive but we got the chance last week the first Google phone a closer look. Door het toestel naast de Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 te leggen geven we jou als messaging- en internetfanaat de kans beide eens goed te vergelijken. By the unit next to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 we give to you as messaging and Internet fanatic the chance to compare both agree.

Wie onze introductie van de T-Mobile G1 gelezen heeft, weet dat we ons enthousiasme niet bepaald van de daken geschreeuwde. Who our introduction of the T-Mobile G1 has read, we know that our enthusiasm is not determined from the rooftops geschreeuwde. De introductie van de eerste Google Phone heeft ons niet bepaald positief verrast en het is dan ook maar de vraag hoe succesvol het nieuwe product - ontwikkeld door HTC, Google en T-Mobile - zal zijn. The introduction of the first Google Phone has not given us a positive surprise and it is but how successful the new product - developed by HTC, Google and T-Mobile - will be. De G1 is pas begin volgend jaar in de winkels verkrijgbaar. The G1 is only the beginning of next year in the stores. Tot die tijd zullen we rustig moeten wachten totdat T-Mobile ons meldt welke abonnementen men voor het toestel in petto heeft en wat het toestel exact gaat kosten in ons kikkerlandje. Until that time we will have to wait quietly until T-Mobile informs us what we subscriptions for the unit has in store and what exactly the device will cost us in frog country.

Deze eerste blik wilde we jullie in ieder geval niet onthouden. This first look we wanted in any case you do not remember. Je kunt op deze manier namelijk zelf bepalen wat je van het nieuwe toestel vindt. You can in this way remains free to decide what you will find the new device. We gaan verder niet in op het menu of de software van het toestel. We continue not on the menu or the software of the device. Zodra de uiteindelijke Nederlandse versie de winkels heeft bereikt, zullen we de Google phone eens flink onderhanden nemen. Once the final English version has reached the shops, we will once again well below Google phone hands.

Wil je alvast de specificaties van beide producten vergelijken dan is dat mogelijk via onze vergelijker. Want to fill the specifications of both products compare that is possible through our comparer.

T-Mobile G1 vs Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 T-Mobile G1 vs. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Met een directe vergelijking tussen beide is goed zichtbaar wat de verschillen zijn qua afmeting. With a direct comparison between the two is clearly visible in the differences in size. Het mag duidelijk zijn dat de T-Mobile G1 een flink stuk groter is dan de Xperia X1. It is clear that the T-Mobile G1 significantly larger than the Xperia X1. De T-Mobile G1 mag je dan ook gerust fors noemen. The T-Mobile G1 can also reassure you as significant. Woorden als stijlvol en geraffineerd zijn niet besteed aan de G1. Words like elegant and refined are not paid to the G1. De Xperia X1 is een waar kunststukje in vergelijking tot het stoffige uiterlijk van de G1. The Xperia X1 is a true piece of art in comparison to the dusty look of the G1.

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

De gebruikte materialen in de G1 zijn niet bepaald je dat. The materials used in the G1 are not you that. Ondanks dat beide toch van dezelfde fabrikant komen, zie je duidelijk dat er meer aandacht is besteed aan de eerste Xperia telg. Despite that both still come from the same manufacturer, you see clearly that more attention is paid to the first Xperia descendant. Vooral de sneltoetsen en de speciale trackball voelen goedkoop aan op de G1. Above all the shortcuts and special trackball feel cheap for the G1. De bouwkwaliteit is bij beide meer dan goed te noemen. The construction is both more than good. Je hoort amper kraakjes en ook het schuifmechanisme - dat je bij beide uniek mag noemen - voldoet wel degelijk. You hardly hear kraakjes and the slide - both unique in that you can call - it does indeed.

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

De stijlvolle mix tussen het zilveren toetsenbord en de zwarte behuizing maakt van de Xperia X1 een lust voor het oog. The stylish mix between the silver keyboard and black casing makes the Xperia X1 a feast for the eyes. De T-Mobile G1 heeft één kleurstelling en dat is het dan. The T-Mobile G1 has a branding and that's it. De G1 is ook in het wit verkrijgbaar, maar of daar de hoofden van keren is nog maar de vraag. The G1 is also available in white, but whether the heads of times there's still the question.

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

Het toetsenbord is redelijk. The keyboard is reasonable. Het is vooral enorm groot en de vraag blijft of dat nu net nodig was. It is especially huge and the question remains whether it was needed. Het openen en sluiten van het schermgedeelte is uniek in zijn soort en maakt een soort van "swing"- beweging. The opening and closing of the display area is unique in its kind and makes a kind of "swing" - movement. Helaas bevindt zich een groot gat rond de scharnier. Unfortunately there is a large hole around the hinge. Iets dat stof de kans biedt, zich te nestellen tussen de bewegende delen. Something that reaches the opportunity, to nest count between the moving parts.

Het toetsenbord van de X1 scoort in ieder geval een stuk beter, is lekker compact vergeleken met de G1 en heeft een betere ergonomie. The keyboard of the X1 scores in any case much better, is nice and compact compared with the G1 and has a better ergonomics. Het schuifmechanisme zorgt ervoor dat het scherm omhoog schuift waardoor je houding ten opzichte van het scherm en het toetsenbord altijd subliem is. The slide mechanism ensures that the screen slides up to your attitude towards the screen and the keyboard is always sublime.

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

De achterkant blijkt net zoals de rest van het toestel vrij kaal te zijn. The back shows like the rest of the unit Friday to be bald. Het lijkt erop dat de designers bij HTC drukker bezig waren met het ontwerp van de Xperia X1 dan de G1. It seems that the designers at HTC printer are in the design of the Xperia X1 than the G1. De Google phone werd eerder nog door ons omgeschreven als een "gedrocht". Google has already phoneexperiment yet been endorsed by us as a "monster". Een naam die we na deze eerste blik niet direct van tafel vegen. A name that we do not look after this first sweep of table immediately. Het is en blijft een inspiratieloos design. It is and remains a inspiratieloos design. Ondanks dat het toestel de voorbode is van een groot aantal interessante mobieltjes volgend jaar. Despite that the device is the forerunner of a large number of interesting mobile phones next year. Laten we hopen dat de ontwerpers de kans krijgen iets mooiers te ontwerpen. Let us hope that the designers the opportunity to design something beautiful. Iets waar het Google Android platform met trots op geïnstalleerd mag worden. Something that the Google Android platform with pride to be installed.

Compare Review Sony Ericsson X1 and T-Mobile G1 photo 00

Google Android Google Android

We gaan deze keer niet specifiek in op het platform Android - het stukje software op de G1. We will not this time specifically in the Android platform - the piece of software on the G1. Zodra wij een officieel model in handen krijgen dat marktrijp is en klaar voor een uitgebreide test nemen we het toestel direct onderhanden. Once we have a model in official hands that market is ripe and ready for a comprehensive test we take the unit directly below the hands. Tot die tijd zullen we het moeten doen met een korte videoreview waarin ik gefilmd werd door Matthijs van den Broek van Marketingfacts . Twee seconden nadat ik het toestel van de stand van HTC oppakte, greep hij zijn videocamera en legde mijn eerste indrukken met Android op de G1 vast. Until that time we will have to do with a short video review in which I was filmed by Matthijs van den Broek of Marketingfacts. Two seconds after I installed the unit of the state of HTC pick up, seized his video camera and made my first impressions with the Android G1 fixed. Dit was het resultaat: This was the result:

5 Ekim 2008 Pazar

4 Ekim 2008 Cumartesi

G1 Pre-Sale Madness: T-Mobile Triples Production, Sells Them All

According to a T-Mobile spokesperson, pre-sale demand on the Android G1 is so big that they have already sold all their units. She says that this is specially impressive because it happened after they tripled the amount of available G1 cellphones. Of course, this could mean anything without knowing actual shipping numbers, but it seems there's plenty of interest despite its many shortcomings. If you want to pre-order yours, however, you can pre-order now through October 21 to get it at a later date:

Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our Oct. 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through Oct. 21, for delivery at a later date. Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning Oct. 22.

Motorola confirms Android plans, but won't say how big

Motorola first endorsed Google's Android platform almost a year ago. Yet now that HTC and T-Mobile are about to release the G1 phone, Motorola has confirmed to BetaNews that it will actually dive into the Android waters.

In a statement to BetaNews this morning, Motorola confirmed industry speculation that it is working on products for the Google-spearheaded Android platform. But a Motorola spokesperson refrained from commenting on published reports that the company is boosting its Android team from 50 to 350 developers.

"We're excited about the innovation possibilities on Android, and [we] look forward to delivering great products in partnership with Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA)," a Motorola spokesperson said, in a statement to BetaNews.

The official confirmation of Motorola's plans for Android products should come as no surprise, really, since Motorola acted as one of the OHA's founding members upon the organization's launch back in November of 2007, along with fellow cell phone makers HTC, LG, and Samsung.

Yet while HTC's "Dream" phone is one and the same as the Android-based G1 phone that T-Mobile rolled out last week, Motorola and the other handset partners in the OHA have held back from making Android product announcements.

Motorola's statement today fell short of confirming published reports, beginning with yesterday's report in TechCrunch, that Motorola is now in the process of beefing up the Android development team -- by some accounts, as much as seven-fold.

Some observers are now touting Android as a salve to the financial pains Motorola has sustained in its inability to find a successor to its previously successful RAZR phone.

Last April, Motorola reorganized its mobile phone arm into product teams -- one for lower-end, voice-only phones, and the other for feature and smart phones -- that each combine hardware and software specialists. Previously, hardware and software specialists worked in different groups.

In a statement issued at the time of the OHA launch last year, Ed Zander -- who was later replaced as Motorola's CEO by Greg Brown -- gave a ringing endorsement from Motorola to the Linux-enabled Android platform.

"Motorola has long been an advocate of open software for mobile platforms. Today, we're excited to continue this support by joining Google and others in the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and Android platform. Motorola plans to leverage the Android platform to enable seamless, connected services and rich consumer experiences in future Motorola products," according to Zander.

Since then, Motorola began moving into the Linux phone market early this year with the announcement of the Motorola U9, a phone supporting the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMo) platform. Yet it continues to sell phones phones such as the Motorola Q which use Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform.

Meanwhile, Motorola rival Nokia is now rumored to be exploring Android, despite its acquisition of mobile OS maker Symbian earlier this year, In buying Symbian, Nokia also turned over Symbian development to a multi-vendor group called the Symbian Foundation.

The full text of Motorola's statement to BetaNews follows:

Motorola is pleased to see the industry enthusiasm and support of the Android operating system. As a pioneer in mobile Linux and a founder of OHA, Motorola believes Android is it promises to be one of the most powerful, flexible and customizable open platforms, enabling truly integrated mobile hardware, software and web experiences. We're excited about the innovation possibilities on Android, and look forward to delivering great products in partnership with Google and the Open Handset Alliance community.

The G1 gets a near-complete unboxing, we get totally jealous



Android Market will offer free trials, but not free bandwidth

Andy Rubin, who heads up Google’s Android efforts, spoke to me yesterday about his vision for the Android Market. In particular, we talked about how the market will be different from Apple’s iTunes App Store and some other efforts, which also peddle software for cell phones.

Rubin’s message: Google won’t impose many of the restrictions Apple developers have been grumbling about. Unlike iPhone aficionados, developers using Android Market will, for example, be able to allow consumers to try their applications for free before they buy them. This may seem like a small thing, but developers name lack of free trial as one of the biggest reasons behind their lukewarm App Store sales.

Android Market also won’t place limits on how much bandwidth a given application may use up. T-Mobile G1 phone launch partner, T-Mobile USA, just announced that it will ask developers whose free apps take up more than 15 Megabytes of bandwidth per user per month to pay it a $2 monthly fee. Since G1 users will be downloading apps from the Android Market, which offers no such restrictions, that policy, it seems to me, may be difficult to enforce.

As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if some Apple developers migrate over. Android Market could end up being a bigger hotbed of innovation than even the App Store. "We want the next killer application to be written for cell phones, not the Internet," Rubin said.

Source:businessweek.com

T-Mobile still taking G1 pre-orders, but you won't get it on October 22

So the good news is that T-Mobile has decided to keep right on taking pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, just one day before the handset's official launch. The bad news, though, is that it doesn't mean you'll be getting your Android on come October 22. Turns out that the initial allotment of G1s set aside for pre-orders is now sold out completely, and any names taken between now and launch will be allotted phones being shipped "at a later date." It's not clear if a "later date" means a week, a month, or a decade after the 22nd, but for the sake of everyone involved, we hope its the former.

Update: T-Mobile's site says that pre-orders taken from here on out will be delivered "as early as November 10," so it looks like you early birds are going to have a nice little period of exclusivity. Thanks, everyone!

26 Eylül 2008 Cuma

T-Mobile G1 User's Guide Leaked

When a tipster passed us the link to T-Mo's G1 User Guide quick-start guide and I read over the 48-page PDF, the first thing I noticed was a misspelling of Google as "Goggle." The second thing I noticed was that when I do end up checking out the phone, I'm definitely going to need the "Getting Started" guide—things seem quite overly complicated. Come, take a look at the interface decisions made by the designers, and judge for yourself.

As you can see, there are so many new things to learn just to perform standard phone functions, and as Jesus warned, it's done inconsistently from music player to web browser to email to quick dial. As far as functionality goes, the manual didn't contain any surprises. I was annoyed not to see any mention of the camera or photo gallery, nor any kind of video playback, even though the phone is capable of all that. (I also didn't see any of the business-friendly features (VPN, for one) that I presumed were absent based on our initial flyover.) The good news is, they fixed the clock.

You can download the G1 User's Guide PDF here, but first, skim through the screen and product shots below, and tell us what you think. [T-Mobile G1 - Thanks Shiron!]