UPDATE 11:26 a.m.
Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, make a surprise appearance at the end of the event. They both talk about how the phone is a geek’s dream. Mr. Brin talks about how he wrote his own application, using the phone’s accelerometer, that allows you to throw the phone up in the air then (hopefully) catch it. The App will time how long it was in the air.
“We didn’t release it, but maybe I should put it up on the App store,” he mused. (Yes Google will run an app store for all the phones that use its Android operating system just like Apple.)
In the closest anyone got to discussing Google’s business model, Mr. Page noted that it’s hard to search the Internet when you are away from a computer.
“It’s hard to carry your laptop with you all the time, especially when you are roller blading,” he said. The Android phone will bring search (and all the money Google makes from it) to people’s pockets.
UPDATE 11:12 a.m.
Some facts from the demo videos:
My first impression is it is a lot like an iPhone, only with a pop-out keyboard. The differences that we can see are subtle. There is a different interface feature: if you hold the touchscreen down for several seconds, what Google calls a “long press,” up pops a menu of other things you can do, much like the right mouse button on a PC. When shopping on the Amazon store, it brings up related merchandise. When surfing the Web, it gives options for sharing the page. Apple, the devotee of one button mice, doesn’t have a context menu on the iPhone.
One of the crucial differences in the software is that it allows several applications to run at the same time. That means you can still receive an instant message from a friend while you surf the Internet. Apple said multi-tasking takes up too much system resource.
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of integration with Google. There is a button on the keyboard to bring up search. And Google Maps is woven through the service, including its Street View collection of photos. That means as you walk through a city, you can look at photos of where you are as well as simply looking around.
UPDATE 11:07 a.m.
Finally the key facts: In the United States, the price is $179, $20 less than the iPhone. The official launch date is October 22. But it will roll out over several weeks, and will be available in cities representing 80 percent of the population by November. Existing T-mobile customers can order them now on a special Web site.
It will be available in Britain in early November and in the rest of Europe next year.
T-Mobile has two data plans: $25 per month for limited data, e-mail and text messages. $35 a month for unlimited data and messages.
———————————-
I’m here at the Google, T-Mobile press conference.
