Google's Android phone unveiled at last

Google's first Android phone may not win any beauty contests, but the smart phone's software and advanced Web browsing will give today's current crop of smart phones, including the iPhone, a run for their money.

T-Mobile USA and Google unveiled the first Google Android phone yesterday. The handset, previously code-named the HTC Dream, is now called the T-Mobile G1. And it goes on sale in the US on T-Mobile's network starting 22 October for $179 with a two-year service contract.

T-Mobile USA's parent company Deutsche Telekom will also be selling the device starting in November in the UK through its T-Mobile service. And the phone will be available throughout the rest of Europe via T-Mobile starting in the first quarter of 2009.

From a hardware perspective, the G1 isn't a game changer. The device, which has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from a touch-screen exterior, looks similar to other devices on the market, such as the T-Mobile Sidekick or Verizon's LG Voyager.

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But under the hood, the Google Android software greatly improves the mobile web experience for users, making it a compelling competitor to the Apple iPhone and a hands-down winner when compared with other smart phones like Research In Motion's BlackBerry or phones running Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system.

That said, the G1 still has several hurdles to overcome to make a significant impact in the smart phone market. Because it lacks corporate email, it won't likely take significant market share from either RIM, which according to Gartner sold over 55 per cent of smart phones in the second quarter of 2008, or Windows Mobile, which sold about 20 per cent of the smart phones in the US in the second quarter.

For now, G1 is targeted at the consumer market, a fact Cole Brodman, chief technology and innovation officer for T-Mobile USA, acknowledged openly during the launch event.

Still, T-Mobile executives and Google's top mobile executives, Andy Rubin and Rich Miner, said that because the operating system is open, third-party developers could easily create an application to hook into corporate email. And eventually, G1 users could download the application from the Android Market on their devices.

Not surprisingly, Scott Rockfeld, group product manager for Windows Mobile at Microsoft, sees the lack of corporate applications as a key weakness in the new device.

"Our strategy is to provide one phone for your life," he said. "And that's not what Google is delivering with this phone. They don't support many of the business applications that users have come to expect in the business space. It's an entire area they completely ignored."

But when it comes to web surfing, Google has created a user experience superior to what's offered on most other smart phones today. And for T-Mobile this was critical as the company was looking for a smart phone to appeal to consumers looking for a robust mobile Web experience.

Indeed, the G1 offers an experience that is hard to match on other smart phones. Google applications, such as Gmail and Google Search have been tightly integrated into the phone's directory, making it easy and intuitive to quickly send emails or forward web links to contacts.

The G1 also has embedded GPS capability that allows users to get Google Maps Street View on their phones. An internal compass even allows users to navigate and see where they're going by moving the phone in different directions.

But when it comes to actually making an impact on the market in terms of sales, T-Mobile and Google will have their work cut out for them. Without corporate email support, it's unlikely the phone will take a significant market share away from the market leaders in the US, RIM and Windows Mobile - at least in the near term.

The G1 also has to play catch-up to Apple's iPhone, which during the second quarter of 2008 accounted for about nine per cent of all smart phones shipped, according to Gartner. While the iPhone may not dominate the market in terms of sales, it is gaining momentum. Many analysts predict that Apple will hit, if not exceed, its goal of shipping 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

Original article: For Google's Android phone, it's what's inside that counts from CNET News.com