Funk Babblings

So the first Google Phone is finally available, a year after Google revealed their phone plans. The phone is called the G1. This is the first wide-availability phone with open-source firmware, Google's long-awaited Android platform. And unlike the iPhone's closed development environment, Android can be customized by any developer. (Both Free and non-Free Apps can be downloaded from the official "Android Market", or from a number of third-party sites.)

I've been waiting for this for a while, especially since my ancient phone has been on its last legs for at least as long as the Google phone has been anticipated.

There's only one major problem: It's only available from T-Mobile. ( Read more... )

Update: Here's an interesting 5-minute video demonstrating Android on the G1 and comparing it with the iPhone.

At lunchtime today I kept having trouble with my 6-year-old Verizon/LG cellphone turning itself off unexpectedly. It may have been my fingers hitting the wrong keys, and it may have been the phone finally falling apart, but when I start thinking about conspiracy theories there are at least two other culprits I can think of:

1. Verizon, realizing that "get a new GPS-enabled phone so that enhanced-911 works" didn't entice me to buy a new phone (or sign onto another two-year contract with a "free" phone), has started messing with my phone so that I feel a more pressing need for a new one. Dangerous, since they don't know whether I'd stick with Verizon.

2. The powerful and all-knowing Google. The tech press has been talking about rumors of a Google Phone (gPhone!) coming next spring, and I've started thinking that I should wait until that's available to finally replace my old phone. This morning Google finally acknowledged those rumors in announcing their new Open Handset Alliance and upcoming "Android" phone platform and Software Development Kit. (The idea is to open up phones to third-party applications more than ever.) Anyway, the timing is rather suspicious -- gPhone announcement this morning, my old phone starts acting up at lunchtime. Hmmmm.

I guess if I'm going to get a Google phone I'll need to brush up on my Java abilities.