Nokia is tight but Motorola? I haven’t seen a desirable phone from you guys since the PEBL. Ouch!

In all seriousness, both phone manufacturers are building up solid Google Android teams in house to help develop phones that will run the OS. Motorola is supposedly forming a huge 350 person team to solve the lack of Android-equipped phones the company offers. Of course, none of this matters since last week, T-Mobile and HTC announced the G1 Android phone. There’s not a lot of news regarding Nokia but those Fins love their precious S60 operating system. We’ll have to see how big of a demand there is for the Android OS before Nokia goes ditching S60. Either way, more options always benefit the consumer, so this is great news!

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The talk about Google and T-Mobile’s upcoming G1 phone isn’t dying down anytime soon. However, in a very stupid move, T-Mobile had capped the phone so that after using more than 1GB of data over 3G, your phone would switch to GPRS-based ‘net and email access - significantly slower than HSDPA 3G speeds. Some speculate that the ‘Mo did this because it’s only starting to develop and expand it’s fragile 3G network. That’s changed though:

Our goal, when the T-Mobile G1 becomes available in October, is to provide affordable, high-speed data service allowing customers to experience the full data capabilities of the device and our 3G network. At the same time, we have a responsibility to provide the best network experience for all of our customers so we reserve the right to temporarily reduce data throughput for a small fraction of our customers who have excessive or disproportionate usage that interferes with our network performance or our ability to provide quality service to all of our customers.

We removed the 1GB soft limit from our policy statement, and we are confident that T-Mobile G1 customers will enjoy the high speed of data access over our 3G network. The specific terms for our new data plans are still being reviewed and once they are final we will be certain to share this broadly with current customers and potential new customers.

This is good….for now. We’ll see what happens come late October.

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I spoke with my peeps at T-Mobile today and was informed about the pricing plans for the G1. You’ll be able to get 400 text messages and unlimited Internet + data for $25 a month. For $35 a month, you get the same with unlimited texting. Not too shabby but considering that you need a voice plan for the phone, expect to spend $80 or more a month as a G1 owner. Worth it? We’ll see come October 22nd.

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I spent my morning with the other journos in New York, where T-Mobile and Google together unveiled the T-Mobile G1. The G1 is a smartphone manufactured by HTC and it runs Google’s open-source Android OS. Speakers at today’s event included Andy Rubin from Google, Peter Chou from HTC, Chris Schlaffer from T-Mobile among others. But enough talk; you want to know the details. Hit the jump for tons of pictures, information on the G1 and a special surprise from Sergey and Larry from Google…
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The rumor that Amazon will be launching a music and movie store for Android-based cellphones has been confirmed by Vince. Like Vince mentions, this will make Amazon a direct competitor to Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The Apple advertisement team is probably hard at work making up some nice bashes they can throw in Amazon’s direction.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

Oh snap! Today will mostly consist of news about Google’s Android platform and the T-Mobile G1 smartphone. The latest rumor to hit our inbox involves the almighty Amazon.com and content distribution. Apparently, Amazon could be releasing a music and movie store just for Android-based cellphones. That would instantly make Amazon a direct competitor to Apple’s iTunes Music Store and we’re not talking sibling rivalry here. Right now it’s too early to tell if there’s truth to this but hopefully, come the end of the day, we’ll really know what’s up.

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We’ll be at the launch of the T-Mobile G1 (aka HTC Dream) this morning in New York City. Expect to see Google, T-Mobile and HTC all talk about the new phone and how it’s going to change the face of the mobile industry. You can watch the press conference live by hitting the link below. Later today, we’ll have a video review of the phone up and a gallery of shots as well hopefully.

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Just a heads up that we’ll be covering the T-Mobile HTC Dream press conference in New York next Tuesday. We’ll have all the latest HTC/T-mo/Android information for you and if all goes well, possibly product shots or a video review. Stay tuned!

Just got a tip from an insider at T-Mobile (or is it Google?) that tells me the HTC Dream will feature a keyboard and trackball almost identical to the Sidekick. Does this mean we could see a Sidekick competitor on T-Mobile? It’d be an odd move but the Android-based Dream will most likely be for the geeked out power user.

That’s about it for now. More information as it comes…

The Luke Arm is the world’s first real, fully-functional prosthetic arm. The video shows Dean Kamen and the progress his team has made with the prosthesis as they work with the arm in either a remote-controlled or thought-controlled method. The Luke Arm’s silicone-rubber inner-side straps work with the arm and distribute pressure at certain areas of the body during use. Made up of magnesium, titanium and a slew of other metals, the Luke arm weighs a mere 8.9-pounds and is said to be able to crush any man in arm wrestling. I’m serious, check the video out.

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