man... we have been so busy, this blog and the family blog haven't seen updates in a while.
most of my time has been on family stuff, but one thing of personal note is that after five years of owning a Kyocera 7135 with Palm OS on Verizon, I finally got a new phone. I have been looking for a new phone for over a year now, and have been almost depressed at the lack of smartphones and how big network providers cripple them in their interest.
I was already looking at T-mobile as they seem to have a better selection of uncrippled phones, particularly those that include 802.11 wireless (since I want to be able to connect to the internet and not use an outrageous data plan.
Then the T-mobile G1 came along. I must say, I am absolutely amazed at how revolutionary this is. Most consumers might see this as just another phone. But the phone isn't the revolution. It's the entire operating system and development being open sourced. Open... to anyone. Want to use that operating system on another device... then do it! Want to fix a problem on it... do it! Write your own applications and load it straight into your phone??? do it! Here is a page outlining how to download the source to Android and do with it as you see fit:
I think Google realizes that the real power needs to be in the hands of the consumer, and not the big companies and lobbyists, which is why they support open networks, open hardware, open software, and most of all, network neutrality. It is nice to see someone fighting for the consumer. Google appears to be one of the few people doing that.
I got the phone in last week, expecting it to have some issues and be unpolished. But man, it is really slick. It hasn't crashed or glitched on my yet. It really is impressive being the first one out. I think it really does rival the iPhone in many ways, but that isn't why I didn't buy an iPhone. If I wanted an awesome smartphone, I could have bought an iPhone a long time ago. The reason I don't is because while Google might be fighting for a more open environment, Apple is bordering on the most closed environment one could imagine. Try to buy a song in iTunes from something other than the iTunes store. Try to use something other than iTunes to manage your iPod. I could go on and on, but Apple really has turned me off... WAY off.
So, kudos to T-mobile and Google. I am really enjoying my G1 and happy that I have a smartphone that does what I want.
Labels: Android, Google, phone
