HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 compiled info thread

[telekinetic]

Mods/admins/people with title editing power: can one of you sync up the title of the thread with what I edited it to, to make it more clear to the uninitiated what this thread is about? Feel free to delete this note at that point

Name: T-Mobile G1, production name HTC Dream.
Why I should care: First phone running Android OS, and it's preordering in two weeks!

Pics, completely with Terrible Whitebalance, are attached!

Specs list so far, courtesy of Androidguys.com:

Hardware:
Launch Colors: White, Black, Brown
# 528Mhz Qualcomm 7201 processor
# Data kit for USB connectivity in the box
# 128MB Internal RAM
# 256MB Internal ROM [rumored...older rumor had half these values (64RAM/128ROM)]
# 1GB MicroSD card [external slot speculated]
# 5 Row QWERTY keypad
# Trackball
# Dedicated camera button
# 3.1MP camera (no flash) 2048 x 1536
# Bluetooth (class 1)
# SMS and MMS support
# Quad Band (850, 900, 1800, 1900)
# 3G
# aGPS
# Built-in compass
# 802.11b & 802.11g
# UMTS (1,4), HSDPA, SUPL
# 1150mAh battery
# Screen size is 3.17″ with HVGA (480 x 320)
# Handset 117 x 55 x 16mm
# 5.6 oz weight

Software
# Picture Caller ID
# POP, IMAP, and SMTP, AOL, and GMAIL email
# AIM, MSN, YAHOO, and GTALK messaging
# Sync capable with Google Calendar
# Downloadable content via Android Marketplace
# Google Streetview with built-in compass
# Video playback files - H.264, streaming, 3GPP, MPEG4, and Codec 3GP
# Dedicated YouTube Player
# Audio playback files - MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI, REAL AUDIO, OGG
# Wallpaper supports JPG, BMP, PNG, and GIF
# Speakerphone (mono, natch)
# Ringtones (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA)
# HTTP, WAP Push, xHTML

Pricing:
Invoice Price: $399
New customer price: $200 + $35 activation fee (2-year agreement, no mail-in rebates to mess with)
Full discount for upgrades: $200 + $18 standard upgrade fee
Partial upgrade cost: $350 + $18 standard upgrade fee
Pre-Sale upgrade for full discount: $150 + $18 UF
Pre-Sale upgrade for partial discount: $300 + $18 UF
PreSale: September 17th
Actual sale: October

Current Availability Rumor:
Phone will be available for presale on mytmobile website to existing T-mobile customers for one week starting September 17th *(also rumored, although older, as the 13th). Presale will ONLY be available to customers located in 3G markets. Rumors conflict as to whether that means cities that currently have 3G (there are only four or five) or those getting 3G roll-out on October 1st, which is this list:
Atlanta
Austin
Birmingham
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Houston
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Minneapolis
Miami
Memphis
New England
New Jersey & Long Island
New York City
Orlando
Phoenix
Portland
Philadelphia
San Francisco
Sacramento
San Diego
Seattle
Tampa
Washington DC

The two presale prices reflect whether or not your contract is up and you are ready for a handset upgrade or not. There are mixed reports as to how long you must have had a t-mobile contract to be eligible for upgrade.

Once the phones go on sale in October, anyone in any market should be able to purchase them at the prices listed above, dependant on whether they are new customers or eligible for upgrades.

More info in this thread as I collect it...

Main sources:
TmoNews
AndroidGuys

[Rekna]

I think this phone will be a big success but the only problem is it is Tmobile only. Put this phone on Verizon or AT&T please.

[telekinetic]

T-Mobile G1 with Google Press Conference in New York

Press conference is Live right now!

http://www.engadget.com/photos/t-mob...irst-hands-on/
-----Added 23/9/2008 at 12 : 35 : 49-----
And...preorders are live for existing t-mobile customers. I'm at the end of my contract so it was $179. If you're mid-contract it's $300.

[YaWhateva]

so is it a touch screen or do you have to use the trackball? I thought it was touch screen. I hope Android is cool. I like the fact that it lets multiple applications run at the same time better than stuff like the iPhone.

[telekinetic]

It is most definitely a touch screen. Trackball is optional for applications that need it.

[Frosstbyte]

tMobile for great failure! What were they thinking?

[westothemax]

I tried to get in on the pre-order but my.t-mobile.com says "handset upgrades are temporarily unavailable". Argh...


Actually, I read a transcript of the press event this morning and noticed that tethering is not going to be available with this phone. That's disappointing... I'm going to wait to get one to see how this pans out.

[Rekna]

Why g1 beats the iphone....

[boink]

lol !

[telekinetic]

So, i am surfing on my new g1 now...very impressed. Seems to be able to digest the entire internet without complaint!

[Rekna]

My wife and I are going to a T-Mobile store in a few hours to check them out. We are in a non-3G area so we will have to order one. I looked at one a few days ago and it was pretty good.

[telekinetic]

Edge is fine for everything I've done...I have sketchy 3g at my house, so half the time I was on Edge. As long as you are tolerant, you can still do everything--street view, maps, downloading apps, checking email, etc...although since then I've enabled wifi

[Frosstbyte]

Yeah, if you're at home, you should be rockin' the wifi, unless you're magically living without wifi. A truly terrifying concept! Have you played around with the app store yet? I read an article a day or two ago saying they slashed the available apps, making their "dev whatever you want" look more totalitarian than the iPhone app store. Has that cleared up a bit?

[Rekna]

Originally Posted by Frosstbyte

Yeah, if you're at home, you should be rockin' the wifi, unless you're magically living without wifi. A truly terrifying concept! Have you played around with the app store yet? I read an article a day or two ago saying they slashed the available apps, making their "dev whatever you want" look more totalitarian than the iPhone app store. Has that cleared up a bit?

They didn't slash the apps. What happened was there was an update and incompatible apps were temperately taken down until they are compatible.

[Leto]

Avail in canada? I tried to get an Iphone from Rogers, WITHOUT a data plan - so as not to disturb my $20/month plus $4.95 SAF plan. They would not sell me the hardware alone. Said I needed a data plan to buy the phone. told them I just plan to use the WiFi access at hotspots etc. Still no luck.

Hopefully, I can get one of these without any hassle.

[telekinetic]

all the apps in the market were demo apps. the market is going to be fully open for developers to upload applications on monday, so the application availability should blow up.

[Frosstbyte]

Originally Posted by Leto

Avail in canada? I tried to get an Iphone from Rogers, WITHOUT a data plan - so as not to disturb my $20/month plus $4.95 SAF plan. They would not sell me the hardware alone. Said I needed a data plan to buy the phone. told them I just plan to use the WiFi access at hotspots etc. Still no luck.

Hopefully, I can get one of these without any hassle.

After the iPhone 1.0 got hacked into oblivion and unlocked for every network under the sun, ATT got pretty fucking pissed off, and decided to force apple (and everyone else) to only sell the iPhone 3G with a contract to ensure that that wouldn't happen. It's ended up making the device a lot less...flexible than it could've been. And it's also sometimes a pain in the ass. Oh well. Dunno if the android is supposed to be out in Canada or not. I imagine the tMobile website would show you.

[Rekna]

We just got out G1s! Unfortunately after porting them it seems that there is no data plan... i've called up to get it enabled but it will take up to 48 hours....

[telekinetic]

we just got my wife a black one so we have one of each. The black has a much better color scheme on its keyboard

[passthru]

twistedmosaic, or anyone else who has one, what is your monthly fee and your plan?
I need a new phone, but the requirements T-Mo has (at least, those I've heard) weren't to my liking. Does it have its own specific data plan, or is it one of the regular, nonsensical, ones they have?

Last time I tried asking about specifics at a T-Mobile store the salesperson and their manager had no idea what MHz meant (not surprising), and they couldn't answer any questions.

[boink]

I checked one out today, pritty neat thing. it'd be way cool if the screen flipped the other way, I'd like to use the trackball w/ my left thumb ...nobody thinks of leftys.

isn't there no headphone jack on it ? how would you listen to mp3's on it ?

[telekinetic]

Originally Posted by passthru

twistedmosaic, or anyone else who has one, what is your monthly fee and your plan?
I need a new phone, but the requirements T-Mo has (at least, those I've heard) weren't to my liking. Does it have its own specific data plan, or is it one of the regular, nonsensical, ones they have?

Last time I tried asking about specifics at a T-Mobile store the salesperson and their manager had no idea what MHz meant (not surprising), and they couldn't answer any questions.

Why were you asking about megahertz?

Anywaya, I am on the minimum family plan, $60 for 700, plus twp unlimited data and text packages at $35 each, plus $10 of insurance on each phone, plus tax, comes to $162 a month. Not sure what you mean about nonsensical data planss, it has its own, but I think it is the same price as regular tmobile 3g

[laudanum]

Is the T-Mobile high speed data plan required to have on this phone?

I currently have a Windows mobile phone that I've currently got configured to go through the T-Zones proxy. It the difference between paying 4.99 and 19.99.

[Rekna]

Originally Posted by twistedmosaic

we just got my wife a black one so we have one of each. The black has a much better color scheme on its keyboard

I agree, the two tone brown looks good until you try to read the numbers in low light (inbetween dark and light).
-----Added 25/10/2008 at 02 : 02 : 15-----

Originally Posted by laudanum

Is the T-Mobile high speed data plan required to have on this phone?

I currently have a Windows mobile phone that I've currently got configured to go through the T-Zones proxy. It the difference between paying 4.99 and 19.99.

You have to get the g1 data plan with 400 texts (which is a normal full data plan plus 400 texts) for $25 or unlimited texts for $35.

[passthru]

Originally Posted by twistedmosaic

Why were you asking about megahertz?

I was interested in the Nokia E71, which isn't sold by any carrier in the US, but it uses AT&T's frequencies. I hate AT&T so I was trying to find out if the 3G would work on T-Mobile (it won't).

Originally Posted by laudanum

Is the T-Mobile high speed data plan required to have on this phone?

I currently have a Windows mobile phone that I've currently got configured to go through the T-Zones proxy. It the difference between paying 4.99 and 19.99.

This is basically what I meant.. As far as I can tell, and as far as any T-Mobile sales people are aware of, there's no such thing as a "high speed" data plan. They have unlimited plans but they function at any speed the phone and the network support. The cheapest unlimited data plan they have in my area is branded for the Sidekick, but includes extras that more expensive data plans don't have at all. They said that it was cheaper because it has to go through the Sidekick makers servers in addition to T-Mobile's servers, and that double bandwidth usage makes it cheaper (??!)
I'll have to look into the T-Zones proxy you mentioned.

Though, if that's not feasible, $25 for unlimited data is less than the Sidekick plan I mentioned.. Thanks for all the info!