March 16, 2009 by Tap
Paging through my copy of Stuff magazine again (old-school I know) this weekend I was confronted once more by the stunningly sleek and sexy new Toshiba TG01. With its 4.1 inch screen and at just 9.9mm thin, this phone is guaranteed to be a top seller based on looks alone. A few pages on and there was a write-up on HTC's new Touch Pro 2, another great looking (albeit chunky thanks to the QWERTY keyboard) piece of kit.
Now there's one problem with both of these phones (if you're an Android fan that is) – they run Windows Mobile. I have no doubt that the majority of phone users don’t know or even care what OS their phone is running and the T-Mobiles/Vodafones of this world know this. Just look at Vodafone's preview page for the HTC Magic – there is no actual mention of Android on the page (in the browser title and meta description only). Instead they try to pitch the Magic as sleek and stylish. The problem is that compared to the likes of the TG01 and Touch Pro 2, the Magic looks like a bit of an ugly stepchild.
But are looks really that important? I would say yes. Some phones sell because they are technically superior, but a lot of phones sell simply because they have the looks and the desirability factor. Is it possible that without the looks, the current Android phones will never be able to achieve the same degree of desirability (and sales) as their sexier competitors?
Come on HTC, we know what you're capable of, so what happened with the G1/Dream and the Magic? It's almost like the HTC Android team was ring-fenced and told to keep well away from the WinMo team. What's that all about? Yes Android has some specific requirements in terms of buttons an then there's the trackball (or chinwart as I like to call it) but surely all of that could have been incorporated into a better looking design.
That said, I can understand why maybe HTC didn't want to commit its best designs to a platform which, until now, has been an unknown and therefore a bit of a risk. Hopefully, based on the popularity of the G1 to date (and no doubt the HTC Magic from April), HTC will now commit its best and brightest designers to come up with some new designs for their next Android phone. I think it's time that we had a sexy Android phone don’t you?
March 11, 2009 by Tap
It looks like the wait is finally over for UK G1 owners as T-Mobile confirms that paid apps will be available in the UK from tomorrow, March 12th. This news comes straight from a live blog post on Pocket Gamer this morning, reporting from a T-Mobile Android event in London.
While the bombshell was obviously paid apps, Richard Warmsley, T-Mobile UK's Head of Internet and Entertainment, also revealed a few other tasty titbits. He confirmed once again that the G1 currently accounts for 20% of T-Mobile sales but went on to say that it's now reaching 70% of iPhone sales in the UK. He also went on to reveal some interesting G1 user demographics as well as some of the current top Android apps including The Weather Channel, MySpace Mobile, ShopSavvy, Daily Horoscope, Free Dictionary, RingDroid, BarScanner, SaveMMS and CompareEverywhere.
The overall impression is that T-Mobile is incredibly enthusiastic about the future of Android and will be ramping things up by Q4 2009 with not just more Android phones but also possibly Android tablets and Ultra-Mobile PCs in future. It looks like we have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.
Via: Pocket Gamer
March 2, 2009 by Tap
It looks like Orange want to get a bit of a head start and grab themselves some market share before Vodafone's HTC Magic launch this April. This comes as we hear news that Orange France is to release the original G1 as the Orange Dream as early as this week.
According to SVM, the Orange Dream will cost 99 € on a 24 month Origami Star Plus, 42 € per month contract.
Via: SVM
March 2, 2009 by Tap
It seems that while the rest of the industry is facing financial woes, HTC is bucking the trend thanks to Android. This comes as we hear news that HTC almost doubled its workforce last year. HTC released its G1 handset in October last year with a forecast to ship one million units by the end of December. Although the company hasn't published any actual G1 shipment figures, if T-Mobile UK's report of successful sales is anything to go by, and based on US pre-orders, we know that HTC more than met its target.
According to Macquarie Group Ltd's Lu Chia-lin, HTC "made a lot of investments last year to expand their portfolio, including the move into Android handsets." He estimates that the company will release as many as five new Android phones this year. I'm not sure what he bases that estimate on but so far it’s one down (HTC Magic), four more to go.
All I can say is well done HTC. While other manufacturers seemed to have taken a wait-and-see approach up until now, HTC was willing to commit, and as a first-mover, is now reaping the rewards.
Via: Business Mirror
March 2, 2009 by Tap
According to a recent post on UK's Mobile Today, T-Mobile is crediting the Google G1 as part of the reason why they incurred minimal losses in 2008. The G1, launched in October last year turned out to be the operator's top selling launch and now accounts for 20% of all contract sales. I think 20% is pretty good when you consider that the G1 is up against phones like the popular Nokia N96 and the Samsung Tocco, both of which are also available free on similarly priced plans, and this kind of uptake can only help to encourage further Android rollouts this year.
No doubt Vodafone is keeping a close eye on the G1's sales, hoping to emulate T-Mobile's success when the HTC Magic is released in April. Now I guess we just have to wait and see if/when Orange and O2 follow suit in the UK. If a post on Basic Thinking is anything to go by, O2 is the next operator to keep an eye on. According to the post, an O2 product manager at O2 Innovation Days 2009 in Munich was quoted as saying, "we want to get out 6 to 8 Android devices this year." If that is the case we really are going to be spoilt for choice.
Via: MobileToday | Basic Thinking