Not even a fortnight after HTC's Touch HD went official in Germany, out pops a review from Deutschland calling it the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, so maybe our translation skills are a bit off, but one thing's for sure -- it was hailed as the first "iPhone killer to deserve that name." Right off the bat, reviewers praised the TouchFLO 3D interface for masking Windows Mobile, and of course, the expansive display was drooled upon numerous times. Additionally, critics praised the Opera browser while scolding Internet Explorer, and while it's hard to say for certain whether the battery life was remarkable, it definitely seemed to get their vote of approval. Of note, the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack was also loved, making us weep while thinking of what could have been with the T-Mobile G1. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that the Touch HD is going to rock some socks off, but we're trying to push it out of our minds until it becomes available on this side of the drink. Too bad that approach isn't working at all.

[Via WMPowerUser]

Read - Early Touch HD review
Read - Video showing off Stocks tab

So the good news is that T-Mobile has decided to keep right on taking pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, just one day before the handset's official launch. The bad news, though, is that it doesn't mean you'll be getting your Android on come October 22. Turns out that the initial allotment of G1s set aside for pre-orders is now sold out completely, and any names taken between now and launch will be allotted phones being shipped "at a later date." It's not clear if a "later date" means a week, a month, or a decade after the 22nd, but for the sake of everyone involved, we hope its the former.

Update: T-Mobile's site says that pre-orders taken from here on out will be delivered "as early as November 10," so it looks like you early birds are going to have a nice little period of exclusivity. Thanks, everyone!

Like most new HTC codenames, the Rose had been a bit of a mystery to us when it first came out of the woodwork in some Bluetooth SIG documentation; it later turned out to be the very well-concealed S740. Unlike the ROSE100 model that we saw with the SIG, though, the FCC latched onto a ROSE110, giving us fleeting hope that there might be some North American 3G buried in this one. Alas, it's nothing more than EDGE 850 / 1900, Bluetooth, and WiFi -- a crying shame, considering what a unique little beast the S740 turned out to be. Maybe we can hold out hope for a ROSE120 down the road?

Ah yes, the natural progression of a release. First comes the hands-on at the introduction, then comes the leaked user manual, then comes the pre-order fiasco -- now, it's time for those always titillating in the wild shots. The box and handset are nothing out of the ordinary / surprising (respectively), but at least you now know that bona fide unboxing images are just around the bend.

If you're a T-Mobile customer who's been dozing off for the past few days, you've already missed your chance to pre-order yourself a G1. With any luck, that won't be a problem and you'll just be able to march into a store on or around October 22 and pick one up the old-fashioned way, but the window of opportunity for an utterly stress-free Android buying experience is closed. We don't have hard numbers on just how many units were being offered through the pre-order program, but 60,000 is getting tossed around as a rumor, which would work out to about 10 percent of the total outlay HTC is said to be aiming for by year's end. Of course, if you're not a T-Mobile customer, this is all business as usual and you're just chuckling under your breath that everyone's stuck in the same boat now, aren't you, you sick puppy?

[Via TmoNews]

Update: Well, that was quick -- the "Log in to order" button is working once again. Any bets on how long until they're out a second time?

Let's do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon's forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon's version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint's iteration. Now that we've rounded the tables, let's have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon's internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we'd say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW -- think you could make that "Blocking Features Assessment" available to the public? We're guessing it'd be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

It's going to be a few weeks yet until your unwashed hands are touching an actual G1, so how'd you like some reading material to pass the days in the meantime? T-Mobile has trotted out its first Android phone's user's manual -- probably not on purpose, if we had to guess -- and there are some interesting little morsels in there that'd be even more interesting if you actually had the phone in front of you. For example, did you know the G1 had a status light? Don't see those too often these days. You've also got a full rundown of the notification icons, apps (including the Android flavor of T-Mobile's myFaves app), and -- get this -- procedure for battery removal. Fancy that! [Warning: PDF link]

[Via TmoNews, thanks Jose]

How many Google and HTC engineers does it take to build an Android phone? We don't have the punchline to that one, exactly -- but at least we have a pretty good idea of how long it takes. HTC's Chief Marketing Officer has revealed that it kicked off negotiations with Google some five years ago -- before it had even acquired Android, interestingly -- and has been deeply embedded in the Android team for the past three years. That's a long frickin' time, but we figure the first model's probably ten times harder to throw together than its successors are, so hopefully we'll see a nice cadence of "HTC Innovation" from here on out. We know it's been said many times before, but it probably bears repeating: Touch Pro and Touch HD with Android, guys. Please.

Hey, Bell, you can't let Telus hog all the spotlight over there with its shiny (literally) new Touch Diamond, now can you? Nah, 'course not -- we knew we could count on you! All signs are pointing to Bell launching its own version of HTC's hottest CDMA WinMo set this side of a QWERTY keyboard, possibly as soon as October 15 if sales reps are to be believed. Pricing is looking like $149.99 CAD on a three-year plan with a minimum monthly plan of $45, or $449.99 contract-free if that's how you prefer to roll.

The rock stars over at the Federal Communications Commission took some time out of their fiendishly busy schedules recently to grant approval to HTC's monster-spec Touch HD, revealing a model number of BLAC100 (the "BLAC" stands for "Blackstone"). EDGE 850 / 1900, check. WCDMA 850 / 1900, on the other hand -- yeah, not so much. Approval of the Euro piece doesn't really get us any closer to having a version with North American 3G bands, but okay, it's a start.

Psst, heads up: word on the street is that Google and T-Mobile launched the world's first Android handset today, the G1. No, seriously! In fact, we were there covering every last detail -- so we thought we'd take this opportunity to cobble together all our live action into one place so we can all relive the emotional rollercoaster one last time. Shall we?

Read - T-Mobile G1 video hands-on
Read - T-Mobile's CTO on G1 unlocking and tethering -- plus a few details you might have missed
Read - T-Mobile G1 first hands-on (updated)
Read - Live from T-Mobile's Android event in New York City

Hey, that's pretty awesome that Amazon's thrown together an MP3 store app for the G1, isn't it? What would be even cooler still, though, is if you could actually listen to those tracks without a crazy dongle hanging off your phone. Like many recent HTCs (Touch HD notably excepted), the G1 eschews a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for its proprietary ExtUSB connector, meaning you'll need custom headphones or an adapter to plug in your own. What's worse, the adapter won't be available immediately at launch, just a bundled headset. Why, HTC? Why?

The T-Mobile G1 web site went up with a bunch of placeholders late last night, but it's finally fully live after this morning's big unveiling, and while it's not exactly bursting with detailed info, there's plenty of new pictures and details, including updated 3G coverage information. The first G1 ad has also surfaced -- if you were tearing your hair out over Apple's grammatically-questionable "funnest iPod ever" pitch, wait'll you get a load of how "smarterer," "connecteder," and yes, "funnerer" the "most exciting phone in the history of phones" will make you. Video after the break.

[Via Pocket-lint]

T-Mobile's newest set was officially announced today at a press conference in New York. Set to launch on October 22nd for $179 on T-Mobile in the US on a two-year stint, or $399 contract-free. Starting in early November all you folks in United Kingdom will have access and Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands can expect their release in the first quarter of 2009. The G1 features WiFi and 3G radios, a 3-megapixel camera, and support for the Android Market and Amazon's mobile MP3 store, giving owners apps and tunes on the go. Existing T-Mobile subscribers get first dibs, with orders being accepted starting today. Here's a quick rundown of the specs:

• HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
• WiFi
• 3D graphics acceleration
• 3-megapixel camera
• 256 MB integrated storage, 1GB microSD card included
  
• Android Market for on-device app purchases
• Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
• Push Gmail support with full HTML client
• Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
• Google Maps with Street View
• No Microsoft Exchange support
• No desktop synchronization -- it all happens over the air
• 350 minutes talk time over 3G, 406 minutes over GSM
• 402 hours standby over 3G, 319 hours over GSM