The T-Mobile G1 is out in the wild!
Here’s a photo courtesy of TechCrunch showing the HTC Dream, now known as the T-Mobile G1, the very first Android based phone, in the wild. Personally I think it looks OKAY at best. Kind of some sort of odd cross between an iPhone and a Sidekick. I still don’t get why there’s a trackball on a device with a touchscreen. It just smacks of lazy design descisions, especially considering how low on the device the trackball is, and how uncomfortable it would be to use it.
As hard as I try, I can’t seem to be excited about this phone. I am excited about the promise of Android, but the chances of T-Mobile and HTC rushing out a REALLY GOOD first Android device so fast are really unlikely. The developer ecosystem just isn’t there yet, and I can’t imagine that the platform is mature enough to be really stable yet, and I have a feeling that might negatively affect the general user experience of this device.
I could be proven wrong, but we’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out more.
What do you think? Are you picking up a G1?
September 19th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Trackball – I thought it was there so that in “sidekick” mode you could maintain the video game grip on the keyboard, while operating the trackball with your thumb. That’s just a guess though…
I would like to see Android do well, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon, and not with the first phone.
In a nutshell: JF, you are completely right.