Ive heard a lot about the HTC Dream aka T-Mobile G1 aka Google Phone lately. Some good things, some critical. It isn’t being released on the carrier that I use (AT&T) so I haven’t really looked into it a whole lot. I don’t believe in breaking contracts with carriers just to buy a phone, especially since Im still enjoying a really good service contract on my phone that will go away if I change (unlimited minutes for $49/mo carried over from the Suncom buyout).

Today I decided to take a look at the phone and see what all the fuss is about. The first thing that I need to do is disagree with everyone that has made this criticism

The New Android phone is Butt Ugly

Tmobile-G1-Android-PhoneYea that has been a pretty common description of the phone in some of the web reactions Ive read. From what Ive seen, those making that claim are wrong. I don’t know why they think the phone is ugly (weird). If compared to the iPhone, or a few of the other phones  being made, even by HTC, the G1 isn’t as fancy looking as those phones. But at the same time, it is a decent looking phone.

The main think that has me interested in this phone is that it has the touch screen interface, like the iphone, and a qwerty keyboard. One of my biggest complaints of the iPhone was the lack of a qwerty keyboard. from day one it was a concern of mine, and now I think it is the main reason why I want to replace my iPhone with another phone. To be honest, I like the screen size but I could do away with the touch screen altogether.

Looking at the actual hardware, It looks as if it has all the same features the iPhone has, minus the storage space. Storage space that can be made up (somewhat) by adding a memory card. Back to the interface for a second. Many people will hate me for this, but just by taking a quick look at some of the videos available on the web, I think the Android interface beats out the iPhone interface. When I watch those videos, It really reminds me of how plain  the iPhone’s interface is. But who cares right. what matters is how the apps function. The browser, Email, Txt messaging, Navigation etc. Other than pictures, I don’t know how those things will fare.

As of right now, the G1 looks to be a good choice, and I’m gonna keep my eyes open for more news/reviews of this device.

Oh in case you didn’t know, the phone is going to be released later this month on T-Mobile for under $200 bucks