A lot of discussion is happening in the blogosphere regarding T-Mobile and Google’s G1.  While I ilike the iPhone, I think the G1 could be better.

No 3.5 mm jack isn’t a deal breaker. When you have a decent BT headset, the sound is okay as long as you’re not a audiophile. With the price of stereo BT headsets coming down, then complaining about a 3.5 mm headset won’t be a big deal. Besides, if they say a MicroUSB plug will fit, then there’s no proprietary connectors on it at all.

The Open Source Android is going to take off. More and more I hear from people who don’t want to be tied to iTunes. Some might say it may be because I hang out with only geeks; however, I don’t. Many of my friends at church tell me that they don’t want tied to iTunes. They all also realize what the real problem with iTMS is…..DRM. I have a bunch of tracks I bought on iTunes that are useless now that I am sick of the junk in iTunes. Apple’s iTunes used to be about simplicity.  Now they are going the route many others have gone, and while they are executing it better, they are cluttering up the iTunes interface in the name of the almighty dollar. When the $179 G1 hits T-mobile, it could also use other GSM services as well. Eventually, I see HTC making a CDMA version and then it will be all over….unless Apple beats them to CDMA. That does not look like it’s going to happen.

Being able to write your own software if you want to is power. Even then, there will be legions of developers willing to write free software for Android. There will be a podcatcher for the G1 if there isn’t one already. Tmobile or Google have no “music” service except the non DRM Amazon MP3 service. There’s no incentive for either Tmobile or Google to lock you into any service…..except the Google services. Even with Google’s missteps recently, I don’t see them doing anything close to what Apple is doing and will do to “protect” iTunes and the iTMS.

The G1 will be a success because people are tired of getting tied to a software package. People want things to just work and it likely will on the G1. It’s funny.  Apple used to pride itself with that and with being open and tricked alot of people. In reality, Apple is more open than Microsoft, and far less open than Google. In fact, Apple’s far more sinister than even Microsoft. At least you know what you’re dealing with when you use Microsoft. With Apple, you can’t be too sure!

Related posts:

  1. T-Mobile G1 Android review wrap-up
  2. September 23: T-Mobile Unveils the First Android Phone
  3. When is Android open source not open source? When Google kills your app.
  4. T-Mobile revamps 1GB bandwidth limit for G1 – exact terms still fuzzy
  5. MOTOBLUR Android UI ported to T-Mo G1