Google Phone is Almost Here!

The first mobile phone powered by Google was launched last week, ready to do battle with Apple’s iPhone for the top spot on many people’s Christmas gift list.   The long-awaited smart phone, the T-Mobile G1, which was unveiled at a press conference in New York, will go on sale in the US next month (Oct 22), and T-Mobile announced they will begin selling the G1 phone for $179, the first to run Google’s Android operating system.

Check out the first video review of the Google Phone here.

Android has been compared to Apple iPhone interface and the G1 phone happily adopts the best features of the iPhone and BlackBerry — two of the best smart phones on the market.  It has the easy-to-navigate and intuitive touchscreen, like the iPhone. But, like the BlackBerry, it has a qwerty keyboard, which slides out, and a “trackball” that helps you navigate around the screen.  It’s features include: downloadable applications, 3G data service, WiFi, 3-megapixel camera, 256 MB storage and microSD slot, a slideout keyboard and a full web browser. Local T-Mobile stores will have demo units, but  the carrier is only selling the G1 at stores where T-Mobile offers 3G service. Sprint Nextel also plans to sell a Android phone in the future.

What’s promising about Android is it is open platform that developers can make interesting programs. One that caught my eye uses the phone’s camera to scan barcodes. The phone then scans the Internet shops for prices of that product. Since the Android operating system is being offered for free to phone makers, there will be many flavors of the phone. Unlike the iPhone, which has only one model, there will be a lot of variety.

The arrival of Android signals the opening round of the battle between Google and its rivals, such as Nokia and Apple, to create software for the next generation of mobile phones that allows users to connect seamlessly to the internet.

At $179 with a two-year contract, the G1 will cost $20 less than the 3G iPhone. But for all of the hullabaloo about Android’s impact on Apple, Google’s efforts appear to be targeted directly at Microsoft’s Exchange, a multifaceted e-mail server software, says Pablo Perez-Fernandez, a wireless analyst for Global Crown Capital, a San Francisco boutique investment firm. “The tight integration of Google’s mobile applications and business services, such as maps, Gmail, calendar and search, essentially eliminates the need for an Exchange server for a wide range of companies,” Perez-Fernandez says.