T-Mobile puts flesh on the bones of Google’s Android

After all the hype and waiting the new Google phone, the G1 from T-Mobile has been introduced in the US, and chances are it will hit the UK by Christmas. On first sight, it is not a remarkable device as smartphones go, sharing most of its visible features with rivals like the iPhone, HTC Windows phones and many Samsung models - and falling into a lower specification category than superphones like the Nokia N96 or Samsung innov8. However, the G1 was never about feature comparisons.

Its launch gained attention not seen since the original iPhone was unveiled for three reasons - it is the first chance to see a real world handset powered by Google Android, and so has been propelled into the limelight by the massively effective Google publicity machine; it is, largely because of Google’s support, the first really serious contender as a mainstream Linux phone, and as such deserves competitive analysis in terms of US operators and the smartphone OS market as a whole, with implications for Symbian and Microsoft; and like the iPhone, it is an innovative device that gives the US, smarting from the decline of Motorola, a chance still to influence the 3G sector and beyond, even if it will do this via software this time.

The G1 may carry the weight of analysis of Android’s overall chances in the smartphone market, but it is also an important device for T-Mobile USA, which is fighting to catch up with AT&T in its 3G activities and needs stand-out handsets to support its creative mobile internet strategies, and to take on the AT&T iPhone. As such, the Google-driven hype around the G1 will do T-Mobile no harm, and the device should attract uptake as well as interest, providing a reasonable, if not remarkable, price/features combination, and the lure, for mobile web enthusiasts, of the new software platform.

The handset combines a touchscreen control similar to the iPhone’s with a full Qwerty keyboard underneath. T-Mobile will be offering the device for $179 with a two-year voice and data agreement, and will start delivering it to customers on October 22. It comes with 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi, multimedia messaging and a three megapixel camera, and naturally a browser that can view full web pages and promises ‘one-click access’ to the internet. It boasts plenty of Google applications topped off with a special version of Google Maps, with its impressive ’street view’ so users can ‘walk’ along with a 3D photorealistic image of the city and street they are in. It also has access to Gmail (well any web browser would give you that), YouTube (ditto), Calendar (you’d expect it) and Google Talk instant messaging, as well as drag and drop reconfigurability.

But perhaps the biggest surprise is a bundled music player with a direct link to the Amazon MP3 store. Again, anyone with a browser could talk to the store - the idea is that a preconfigured icon takes you straight there, you buy what you want through the 3G network, and download it over Wi-Fi when next in reach of a hotspot or your home or work access point. The G1 comes with a 1Gb memory card to store music, photos and other files. This ability to purchase through the network is supposed to give the G1 an edge over Apple’s iPhone which only sideloads from iTunes.

Google also announced the release of the Android 1.0 Software Development Kit (SDK), pointing out that 1,700 applications have been written with it, and can be acquired through the Android Market, the Google equivalent of the Apple App Store.

Now they can see the G1 in the cold light of day US analysts reckon it will give the iPhone a run for its money, and outsell it in the early ramp-up. Europe and east Asia will be more unpredictable, but will also see a wider choice and more rapid roll-out of new Android-based launches from many vendors, from late in Q1 2009, once the Google team hits its stride in terms of getting new products certified for individual networks.

Meanwhile, the UK is set to be the second country to get its hands on the first Android handset, the HTC Dream, aka T-Mobile G1. The German-owned cellco said it will transport the device across the Atlantic in early November, but hitting the UK first, rather than its home territory. It sees the UK as a more advanced market for web-optimized smartphones and a strong bellwether for the rest of the region - and it will not have the same conflict of interest that its German operation will have to address, given that T-Mobile Deutschland is the partner for the iPhone.

However, T-Mobile does pledge to bring the G1 to all its European territories during the first quarter of next year, by which time there will be other Android handsets on the market, if Google and its partners can stick to their schedules for creating handsets tailored for various carrier networks round the world. China Mobile is expected to get the second Android phone, in the early part of the new year, and most likely from a local vendor.

Like the iPhone itself, the battle to win over European consumers will be tougher than in the US, where the webphone market is less developed and the new interfaces pioneered by Apple and Google stand out more distinctively in the 2G crowd. And as the iPhone’s checkered fortunes in Japan have shown, that market will be even harder to impress when the first Android device reaches operators there.

In a statement, Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of software group mobile email/middleware group Synchronica, spoke for many when he said the G1 would cause a stir among users influenced by brand and ‘the next big thing’, but would not affect smartphone fortunes significantly, at least in the short term. “There’s a common misconception that every time a major vendor jumps into the market, we will see smartphone sales surging. This does not reflect the reality. My prediction is that the Gphone will have very little impact on the mass market, which is dominated by feature phones”, he said.