T-Mobile’s Google Phone Heralds Android Invasion

Here’s a closer look at the G1: Will the first Google phone become the apple of your eye? We’ll have an inkling [when] the much-anticipated T-Mobile G1 with Google goes on sale. The G1 is a highly capable handheld computer with a responsive touch-screen like Apple’s hot-selling iPhone has. It also packs a slide-out physical keyboard. And it has multimedia picture messaging, a removable battery and other features the iPhone lacks. The mobile operating system at its core — what Google calls Android — is slick, if a little raw in some places. But folks expecting iPhone-like glitter and glitz are bound to be disappointed. The hardware is unsexy. The phone performs better on T-Mobile’s fastest data network, but the carrier is only now rolling out that network in a lot of places. Even with access, Web pages took a long time to load. What’s more, without such things as Outlook synchronization or Microsoft Exchange, the G1 is not a smart choice for businesses, not that T-Mobile is saying it is. The battle for tech supremacy is increasingly going mobile. While Google products and services are embedded in other phones, Android marks the company’s entry into the high-stakes smartphone market dominated by Apple and Research In Motion. The phone was built by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. It costs $179 with a two-year T-Mobile voice plan, $399 without a contract. Data plans are reasonably priced: $25 or $35 a month, depending on whether you choose 400 messages or unlimited messaging. Plans include unlimited Web browsing and e-mail, plus access to T-Mobile Wi-Fi HotSpots. T-Mobile says demand for the new smartphone is three times what it originally anticipated. But if the G1 hardware fails to ring your chimes, there’ll be lots of other Android-based phones coming. LG, Motorola and Samsung are among companies producing prototypes. Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions…