Retail T-Mobile G1s showing up in loving customers' hands

by Chris Ziegler, posted Oct 20th 2008 at 11:51AM

October 22 was supposed to be the date, but you know, when you add in the shipping fudge factor, buffoonery was destined to ensue -- and sure enough, G1s are already showing up on some buyers' doorsteps days ahead of the official release. These pre-orders were only open to existing T-Mobile customers, which means us AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel types are gritting our teeth and shaking our fists at merciless gods right about now. Wednesday, here we come. Anyone else nab theirs?

[Thanks, cWj]

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android

Tags: android, dream, g1, htc, t-mobile

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lowest Ranked

DAPPER DAN @ Oct 20th 2008 12:16PM

i GOT MINE yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaY.......I CAME BACK FROM A LONG SHIFT OF WORK AND WHEN I WOKW UP MY MOM WAS LIKE A PACKAGE CAME,WHAT A NICE WAY TO WAKE UP LMAOOOOI GOT MINES AT 11:00 AM.....BUT I"M WAITING FOR A VIDEO OF AIM BEFORE I OPEN IT IF IT IS FAST LIKE A SIDEKICK I"LL KEEP IT IF NOT I'M SENDING IT BACK TO t-mobile.......Guys let me know how it is ASAP???

Highest Ranked

Brian @ Oct 20th 2008 12:31PM

you know you can try it and within 30 days send it back right

Highly Ranked

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 4:17PM

Dude, caps=yelling/rude just so you know. Also, he's lowest ranked but he isn't faded away, what's up with that? Did they get rid of the fading ::hope::

Highest Ranked

Hush @ Oct 20th 2008 1:05PM

So you bought a G1 for AIM... And you're debating even opening the box... You're the last person who should have one of these...

Lowest Ranked

carlo2 @ Oct 20th 2008 3:15PM

you missed the boat, obviously. most people on tmobile are sidekick users and it looks like a sidekick. most people buying them think they are buying the new sidekick.

you wand a real phone, get a real phone. not a sidekick with a sooped up OS.

just wait until xda or someone ports it over.

Highest Ranked

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 5:36PM

Why is everyone being so damn bitchy. He was excited. Everyone has their own features that they cannot do without, like a certain contact manager or sling box app or anything of the sort. Maybe AIM is a cheaper and more private way of having a conversation with someone then talking, for example on a bus or on the subway. Also, like he said, he paid for it, why the f*uck can't he want a feature? Sounds more like "I can't have one so you shouldn't get one either, especially if you'd use it differently from me" talk again.

Neutral

cwj @ Oct 21st 2008 2:03AM

Um. "Most" T-Mobile users *you* know, perhaps. Most of the people I know who use (yours truly included) T-Mo, do not.

In the time I spent with it, I've characterized it as a grown folks Sidekick. I really don't consider that a bad thing....all the WinMo HTC sets are basically that anyway.

The system seemed to be choppy compared to the iPhone at first. The more I used it, the smoother it seemed though. 'Droid is, to me, what the iOS could have been. It reminds me of a mobile Gnome (in fact, based on kernel 2.6.something.something). Not perfect, but on it's way.

I nitpicked the hardware at first. Now, I just really wish they'd made the screen and trackball end all one piece, CENTERED and stretched the keypad out, put spacebar buttons on both sides of it (so you're not searching for it in the middle), and made them sumbitches reach further out toward one's digits - there's some space for it under the screen. And frankly, the olay-swoop-action of the screen could've been left to the Sidekicks...oh, and the buttons could be bigger. So, I'd say all the reviews are pretty much on.

All that said, I think it's a good device, at $299 for the upgrade, though - I don't quite agree. I'm going to call and chat with cust serv to see if I can get the $120 difference back. At $149 or under (which is where I'm suspicious this will appear 'round the 12th month holidays), I'd say jump all over it. Android itself is a really nice experience - as long as it stays open.

Oh, in reference to the AIM question, I'd say it runs just fine. Better if you've got a Wi-Fi connection o'course. There doesn't seem to be a 3G connection out here in the suburban boro. I'll comment once I play with it in Manhattan tomorrow.

Neutral

frank @ Oct 20th 2008 1:07PM

As of last night, the automated 611 customer service system said it was on backorder (as it has for a month). Today, it says there are no pending orders, which I'm assuming means that it shipped but that doesn't make locating an order number any easier.

Highest Ranked

Adam @ Oct 20th 2008 1:08PM

Mine is scheduled for delivery tomorrow (Washington D.C. Metro area). It spent 3 days in Lexington, KY without moving. I loathe Lexington, KY...

Neutral

Darion @ Nov 28th 2008 2:04AM

bad news buddy, the 3g network wont be going up in the washington dc metro area until beginning of november, so whats the use of the phone without the experience? i do here rumors though that t-mobile is already in the works for 4g network.

Neutral

Adam @ Oct 20th 2008 1:46PM

Yeah the slow roll-out to D.C. is frustrating. But I do have Wi-Fi to keep me sane until November.

Neutral

Chris Murphy @ Oct 20th 2008 6:20PM

How can you tell? I pre-ordered, but don't know how to track the shipment?

Neutral

Adam @ Oct 20th 2008 6:42PM

@Chris

If your phone has shipped then you can track it using your phone# as a "reference" code on UPS's website.

1. Goto http://www.ups.com/WebTracking/reference?loc=en_US&WT.svl=SubNav
2. Enter your phone number w/ dashes (ex. XXX-XXX-XXXX) in the Shipment Reference box
3. Click the Track button at the bottom of the page and cross your fingers

Neutral

Phillip Vassenkov @ Oct 20th 2008 2:21PM

So i'm peeing my pants because Im verizon and I cant have this phone... but the article made me do a double take. why would verizon and alltell people want this phone if its for Tmobile? Can it be used with verizon? Are there any plans for a verizon Android phone?

Neutral

The D Train @ Oct 20th 2008 2:26PM

Its because they have to port over to TMobile or werent an existing TMo customer before, pretty easy to read it that way.

Neutral

Jhon @ Oct 20th 2008 2:21PM

I got mine at 10, but there is something wrong with the android Market, it says it is a beta version. Does anyone is experiencing the same problem? Thanks

Highly Ranked

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 4:55PM

Remember, the official launch date is the 23rd, so things are still in progress.

Neutral

celsius0010 @ Oct 20th 2008 3:02PM

tmobile 4g lol what the heck are u talkin about my dude... sprint is one the few networks in the world working on 4g.. everyone else is waiting on lte which is better and isnt ready yet and sprint will probably jump on too.. tmo wont have 4g for at least 2 to 3 years

Neutral

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 5:38PM

T-Mobile needs to get it's 3G coverage reliable and at least in all major American cities before they go hopping off to 4G land.

Neutral

Daperdan @ Oct 20th 2008 3:09PM

stfu hush......i get money so i get what i want if i paid 300 + dollars it should have everything i want or expect. aim is a simple thing to have included..among it's other faults...matter of fact i just put it together

Neutral

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 5:29PM

AIM is included on the G1 - just touch "IM" on the application window and you'll see: There's AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. BUT dude, I've heard some rumors that any IM other then Google Talk which runs over data will uses text messaging, so if you didn't opt for the unlimited text, be wary.

Neutral

cWj @ Oct 22nd 2008 12:13AM

That's true. I was told that about IMs at a store today. At least it will be true until some enterprising young wielder of code magic solves that problem. We'll see just how open "open" is soon enough.

Anybody know how

Neutral

cl347bv @ Oct 20th 2008 3:42PM

hell, i work for verizon and i want one of these haha

i just want an andriod device. i wonder what VZW is gonna approve for android.

Neutral

yaniv.chokron @ Oct 20th 2008 3:50PM

@Carlo2... dude are you crazy or something or just plain dumb? Comparing the G1 to the Sidekick?
First of all not ALL T-Mobile users use the Sidekick. Ive been with TMo now for a few years and never once thought of getting the Sidekick. Its a child's toy (albeit a very powerful toy, but still a toy). Ive had the Curve for a while now and before that a Nokia 6280 (not even available in the US).
The G1 is a powerhouse, from processor to graphics accelerator to operating system. Now I respect that you have an opinion, but opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. If youre going to make a statement, and a strong one such as that, you better have some facts to back it up.
And then.... best of all.... you say get the XDA? Why? So I can reboot my phone 10 times a day? Dude, Ive had 4 WinMo phones and while tis nice to be able to move from office to phone with all my files/apps, WinMo is noooooo where near being able to support any cpu less than 600-1Gz. Again, unless you don't ind rebooting a few times a day.
The G1 will pave the way for many new devices that will cause us to wonder out loud how we got along before we had them. And Im not knocking MicroSoft or touting google, heck Im a .net software developer (thats microsoft) and I still love them, but a fact is a fact. The Android OS will trounce any WinMo device on the market today.

Highly Ranked

frank @ Oct 20th 2008 4:54PM

Anyone who thinks any *one* device is "the best" has not only missed the boat, they're now lost, wandering the coast, homeless, hungry, and confused. It doesn't matter if you're talking about cars, retirement plans, dogs, or coffee; there is seldom a "best" product of any kind. Unless some very ambitious and very bored developers decide to whip up an Android version of Blackberry Enterprise Server, it will NEVER be useful in a corporate environment. By extension, even among non-business users, no device is right for everybody.

Moving on though, I just got mine and so far I love it. About the only annoying thing I've found so far is that when you're using the Gmail app, contacts don't appear in the same order when you're typing directly in the TO field. For the few people I constantly email, I'm used to typing in two or three letters and their name being right at the top. Strangely, the order is slightly different.

Another weird thing is that by default, the GPS is basically disabled and Maps doesn't tell you this. When you go into Settings, there are two options "use wireless networks" which is on, and then "enable GPS satellites" which is off. I read that the GPS wasn't great but I was freaking out, thinking it didn't work at all until I turned this on.

Can't wait to play around some more!

Neutral

Valicore @ Oct 20th 2008 5:25PM

Android = potential. It has the money of Google, along with the name of Google, which I think somewhat ups the chances of survival. Everyone has to remember that one of the reasons this is so awesome is that it's not device specific and it's open source. Within a few months you'll have different phones, from different manufacturers, but that share the Android OS. That's pretty huge. Sadly, neither AT&T or Verizon Wireless will get Android phones because they chose not to join the open handset alliance... plus, Verizon would never give that much freedom to their customers.

Neutral

i.LA @ Oct 20th 2008 6:45PM

My G1 is in Vernon today and is being shipped tommorow. It got stayed in Illnois for a while and didn't move until this weekend. I can' t wait!

Neutral

Matt @ Oct 21st 2008 3:03PM

Absoltely love my new G1! ZOMG! The apps are now all restored, too. Well, most of them anyway.

Neutral

Mrknowitall @ Oct 21st 2008 7:45PM

I think we can all agree on one thing.... THIS PHONE IS FREAKING HIDEOUS. I mean come on for a flagship and first gen phone when it come to form this thing take the ugliest of all cakes. Looks like they were trying to be nostalgic with there old nokia brick look. as for the operating system looks pretty cool but ill stick with my iphone for now. Still a better choice for the money in my opinion. However if i were with any other wireless carrier I would definately consider this phone ugliness aside.

Neutral

hydraMIRAGE @ Oct 21st 2008 8:25PM

It's different when you get it in your hands. I agree that the phone isn't the prettiest to look at, but it is is built fairly sturdy for the most part. The interface is incredibly customizable with the addition of the new apps in the market place. Besides, the screen is very well done and distracts from the phone's lack of style.