The Mike Abundo Effect

I just watched the New York press conference announcing the T-Mobile G1, the first handset to use Google’s Android mobile OS. It’ll be available October 22 in the US, November in the UK, and Q1 ‘09 across Europe. Price is $179 with a two-year T-Mobile contract. Two data plans available: $25 with unlimited data and some SMS, $35 with unlimited data and SMS.

Aside from the previously leaked details, Google released the rest of the specs and launch apps. The G1 avoids the pitfalls of the iPhone keyboard by including a slide-out QWERTY keyboard aside from the touchscreen. Additional notes from the presscon: Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s another reason Android phones will be better than the iPhone: DRM-free music.

…the Amazon MP3 music store will be pre-loaded on the T-Mobile G1, the world’s first Android(TM)-powered mobile phone in partnership with Google. T-Mobile G1 users can search, download, buy and play music from Amazon MP3, which offers over 6 million DRM-free MP3 songs from all four major music labels and thousands of independent labels that can be played on virtually any hardware device and managed with any music software.

The T-Mobile G1 comes pre-loaded with an Amazon MP3 application, giving customers a phone-optimized version of the Amazon MP3 store and the immediate gratification of buying and playing their favorite music.

Downloading music from Amazon MP3 using the T-Mobile G1 requires a Wi-Fi connection but searching, browsing, listening to samples and buying MP3s can be done wherever customers are connected to the T-Mobile network. Downloaded MP3s can be played anytime on the T-Mobile G1, PCs, Macs or any other MP3 music player.

Hope this is replicated on all Android phones across all networks. Take that, iTunes.