I have been keeping a wary eye on the G1 for a couple months. Nobody had exact specs or pricing, so I didn't bother to get my hopes up. After catching the last 15 min or so of T-mobile's announcement event and finally getting some real data on the phone, I'm now
very excited.
I've been a Verizon wireless customer since back when they were still Bell Atlantic. Their service has never been terrible, but their voice + data pricing plans are very expensive and their phones suck. At least their extra-crippled BREW-based OS sucks. I've had an
HTC XV6700 for the past two years, and though it's been the best phone I've owned, it's not perfect. I'm not a huge fan of Windows Mobile. Sure, it beats the hell out of Verizon's proprietary UI, but that's like saying someone is more attractive than Danny DeVito. It's kinda hard
not to be.
Now along comes the G1. It's got the qwerty slider form factor that I am no longer able to live without. It has a higher resolution (480x360) than my current phone (320x240). It has all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a modern smartphone - GPS, wifi, 3MP cam, touchscreen, TF slot. But most importantly, it's running an OS that is not only open, but looks
slick as hell. The touchscreen interface looks nice, but I'm much happier that HTC has done the right thing (they usually do
) and included a trackball for tactile navigation as well. The fact that this is a Google phone is just icing on the cake.
So after something like 12 years with Verizon, I'm jumping ship when my contract is up next month. I'm not thrilled to be going to T-mobile - their 3G coverage is abysmal compared to V's EVDO - but this phone is worth it. It doesn't hurt that my monthly bill will be about
half what is is now.
I'll be watching closely for the next month and a half to see what kind of software they trot out for this beast. Not that it really matters. The G1 is going to be my next phone regardless.
EDIT: This thing just
keeps getting better. Looks like they're not even going to try to prevent people from unlocking their phones or penalize you for tethering.