T-Mobile G1 'Google' Phone Now Available in Frosty White
by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 25th 2008 at 1:01PM
Posts with tag android
SnapTell Lets You Lookup Products on Your iPhone
There's a new, free iPhone app on the App Store there called SnapTell Explorer that's going to make buying stuff even easier (though no more spiritually satisfying). Essentially, you take a photo of the cover of any CD, DVD, book, or video game, and it automatically identifies the product and finds ratings and pricing information online. And, remarkably, it works.
It's not perfect, however; once you locate a product, you have to link to stores like Amazon to get the information, rather than said information just coming up in the window. There's also no way to view prices across multiple stores (though this will apparently be included in the next release, which should be in the next few weeks).
Basically, much like the app's rather ugly name, SnapTell is just a bit awkward; it's not as slick as it should be, and it's slow when using EDGE. And for you G1 users, the app will be coming to Android soon as well.
Yaaaay capitalism. [From: TechCrunch]
How a Smartphone Could Save You Money When You Shop
Smartphones are getting cheaper and cheaper every day, with the simple ones like Palm's Centro available for well under $100 now, and the fancier new ones like the Apple iPhone or Android-toting G1 for well under $200. Yes, that's not exactly loose change for most, but did you know that today's intelligent handsets might just help you save some money in the long run?
The idea is that an Internet-capable phone enables you to shop online while you're shopping in a store. The G1 is particularly good at this, enabling you to take a picture of the bar code of any product and then run it through an application called ShopSavvy, demonstrated in the video above. That application will bring up reviews of whatever it is you're holding and even find you the best price, so you can know whether or not you're getting a good deal without driving all over town. It's the same sort of thing you'd do when comparison shopping online before ordering something from a given retailer, so why not do it when out in the real world, too? Besides, it's not like you really need much of an excuse to get a new phone, right? [From: The New York Times]
The idea is that an Internet-capable phone enables you to shop online while you're shopping in a store. The G1 is particularly good at this, enabling you to take a picture of the bar code of any product and then run it through an application called ShopSavvy, demonstrated in the video above. That application will bring up reviews of whatever it is you're holding and even find you the best price, so you can know whether or not you're getting a good deal without driving all over town. It's the same sort of thing you'd do when comparison shopping online before ordering something from a given retailer, so why not do it when out in the real world, too? Besides, it's not like you really need much of an excuse to get a new phone, right? [From: The New York Times]
T-Mobile G1 Coming to Wal-Mart for $148.88
by Darren Murph, posted Oct 28th 2008 at 2:49PM
Well, now isn't this something? Best Buy has its fancy little iPhone 3G, but it'll be Wally World offering up the G1 outside of official T-Mobile outlets. As we'd heard yesterday, 550 Wal-Mart stores across the country will begin selling the Android-powered handset beginning tomorrow, and folks who opt to pick one up here versus a traditional T-Mob store will save $31.11. Yep -- according to company spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien, the new / upgrade-eligible customer price for a Wal-Mart-sourced G1 will be just $148.88 with a 2-year agreement.
Wait, what? You already purchased your G1 at the full price? They always said the early bird pays the premium... or something along those lines.
Could Your iPhone or BlackBerry Ever Replace Your Laptop?
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that some business users (though a relatively small portion) are even starting to phase out the laptop entirely. As smart phones have gotten more powerful and loaded with more features (full QWERTY keyboards and large touch screens), mobile professionals are beginning to leave the laptop at the office (or hotel) and rely on these souped-up handsets while on the move.
While the iPhone, BlackBerrys, Android, and Windows Mobile handsets have given cell phones surprising amounts of power and versatility, they're still fairly limited when compared to a full sized laptops. Professional tools like Salesforce and Office have made their way to handsets, but with limited feature sets. The tiny keyboards (or touch screen keyboard, in the case of the iPhone) are fine for text messages and quick e-mails, but really aren't ideal for lengthy editing of text or spreadsheets.
Could smart phones one day replace laptops? Perhaps, but the limitations of the form factor pose a major roadblock. Viewing large spreadsheets on even the relatively large screen of the iPhone requires far too much scrolling to be practical and writing even brief blog posts on a BlackBerry is just asking for thumb cramps. [From: Wall Street Journal]
T-Mobile G1 "Google Phone" Now Available
by Chris Ziegler, posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 1:02PM
Update: Full press release with all the details just hit the wires.
[Thanks, Elisha]
T-Mobile Stops Taking G1 'Google Phone' Pre-Orders
Of course, the G1 is only available to existing T-Mobile customers right now -- will HTC be able to keep up with demand once they start selling this thing unlocked in a couple of months? [From: CNET]
Meet the T-Mobile G1
by Joshua Topolsky, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 8:53AM
Update: TmoNews has just uncovered new specs and info on the phone. Here's what they've got so far: the phone is 4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 inches, weighs 5.6 ounces, features a 480 x 320 HVGA display, sports 3G (obviously), GPS, has a 3.1-megapixel camera, supports up to 8GB of memory (though no format is mentioned), and will feature 5 hours of talktime with 130 hours of standby. Strangely, the phone won't do video capture (what?), won't have stereo Bluetooth, will require a Gmail account, and won't be sold at stores outside of a 2-5 mile radius of T-Mobile's 3G coverage areas. That last bit sounds a little odd to us, but we're guessing a lot of the functionality of this device will be shot in non-3G regions.
Head on over to Engadget for a gallery.
[Thanks, Luis; Via, TmoNews]
G1 'Google Phone' Appears on T-Mobile's Site
by Nilay Patel, posted Sep 19th 2008 at 4:30PM
[Thanks, RionSTL and Mike]
T-Mobile to Sell Google Smart Phone as Early as October
by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 15th 2008 at 8:54AM
Here we go folks. The New York Times is reporting that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer Android. According to "people briefed on the company's plans," the HTC phone will go on sale in the US "before Christmas, perhaps as early as October." The NYT's sources also say that the 5-row QWERTY slider from that Dream video (embedded after the break) matches the HTC device that T-Mobile will sell. The device is still waiting for FCC approval with a three-way Google, T-Mobile, and HTC announcement coming as early as September. The deal is expected to be exclusive making it the only Android phone available in the US this year.
Of course you know what this means? It's the birth of the Android fanboy -- sure you love 'em at First!, but then they never shutup about Street View.
Update: We've added a second video (from March) of what looks to be the same device demonstrated by Google's own Andy Rubin. The 3G reference design runs a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200-based processor at just over 300MHz, includes a trackball, 3D graphics processor, and appears to have an HTC logo. [From: NYTimes]
Of course you know what this means? It's the birth of the Android fanboy -- sure you love 'em at First!, but then they never shutup about Street View.
Update: We've added a second video (from March) of what looks to be the same device demonstrated by Google's own Andy Rubin. The 3G reference design runs a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200-based processor at just over 300MHz, includes a trackball, 3D graphics processor, and appears to have an HTC logo. [From: NYTimes]
