Gearfuse

Google. Oprah. The two should really sit down for a cup of coffee sometime and talk billions. They actually have a lot in common, believe it or not. Oprah is more accustomed to giving out things like books and cars, but today, Google one upped the queen of daytime TV and gave out free Android-based G2 phones (aka HTC Magic). The recipients? Attendees of Google’s I/O developer conference. Rumor has it that the phone even comes with a SIM card with 30 days of talk and 3G access. Hey, it pays to be a fan of Google sometimes.

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Good news for consumers who are looking for a hot cellphone that isn’t an iPhone. HTC is set to release “at least three” new Android devices in 2009. The report comes from a Merrill Lynch technology conference where CEO Peter Chou responded to a question about Android-based devices.

This is a good move by HTC. While the T-Mobile G1 is undeniably popular, its gusto is starting to wane. HTC can really spice competition up by unleashing three Android-enabled phones into the cellphone market. Couple that in with the newly re-tooled Android Market and Apple has a serious problem on its hands.

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Leave it to the Boy Genius to get yet another exclusive mobile phone leak. This time around, it’s the T-Mobile G2! Except that, it’s not called the G2. In Europe, it’ll be known as the HTC Dream and Vodafone will be offering it to customers sometime this year.

What’s the Dream going to pack? For now, BGR speculates mostly standard stuff: 3.2-megapixel camera, WiFi, HSPA (for high speed 3G connectivity) and some other bullshit like the “Cupcake” version of the Android OS. Finally, there’s also speculation that the name could be changed to “Pioneer” from Dream. Kind of stupid sounding, don’t you think?

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According to Gizmodo, these are some spy shots of the upcoming T-Mobile G2, the sequel to the much-liked G1 Google phone. This time around, we see a very-welcome 3.2-megapixel camera and no keyboard. This leads us to assume that the G2 will feature a digital keyboard much like the iPhone. The device doesn’t look half-bad either. I’d say let’s give T-Mobile a month to announce the G2 before we go jumping to conclusions, no?

After the jump, another spy shot from the front.
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Some online retailer is selling the HTC Dream, otherwise known as the T-Mobile G1 and Google Phone, unlocked and ready to roll. Get ‘em while they’re hot. At $700 a pop, however, I’d think twice about plunking down that hard-earned cash. That is, unless you’re a drug dealer. Then it’s not hard-earned whatsoever.

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The lovely folk at T-Mobile just sent us our Android-equipped Google G1 phone for review. After the jump, all the pics you could ever want, including a sampling of the supposedly three-megapixel camera it has.
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Planning on designing a malicious app to install on all those G1 phones coming out? Think again. Google reserves the right to “…remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.” Better watch your back! And your privacy!

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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 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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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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