Friday Poll: What would get you to buy a T-Mobile G1?

News.com Poll

Android aspirations
What would get you to buy a T-Mobile G1?

It's the first Android phone!
I want a phone I can tinker with on my own.
It's not an iPhone.
Charles Barkley is so getting one.
Don't bother me, I'm playing with my iPhone/BlackBerry.

View results

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET Networks)

Unless you've been living in a cave (and as comedian Jon Stewart recently pointed out, that might be the safest real estate investment around these days), you probably noticed that a little phone called the T-Mobile G1 made its debut this week.

Now that you've had a chance to glimpse the first phone powered by Google's Android software, would you plunk down for a G1? And if so, what would be the main factor motivating you to become a G1 owner?

Click here for full coverage of Google Android.

[JCPayne]

I badly needed a new phone anyway. I realized that my Sony Ericsson Z710i has yet another flaw. When I send text messages it will ALSO randomly send copies of messages to other people in my phone's address book. I can't seem to figure out how it chooses to CC: my text messages but that right there is vary embarrassing to have happen... Never mind it being potentially problematic to have third parties randomly getting copies of your text messages that you're sending to only one person...

[m4dgfxk1d]

Man I wish I could have selected A, B, and C

[gilliganjr]

I wish there had been a choice like...

"If it was offered by another provider"

[gtdtm]

My thoughts exactly, I was going to say...if it was on Verizon...

[trey2trey]

i wont be getting this phone. it has 256mb(aproximate) worth of internat memory. and comes with a puny 1gb memory card. all for $179 if you are able to upgrade to that price point. $200 gets me a iphone with 8gb of memory and a 200% better looking phone. this is absurd. Oh yeah sprint instince $130 with 4gb internal memory and 2gb memory with purchase. this is totally ridiculous

[AlexHill7]

The iPhone (version 2) is a sleeker phone and in a head-to-head is probably better than the G1(version 1). I'm not happy about the headphone jack! :(

BUT, in terms of space I much prefer the G1. You can get a SansDisk 8GB micro SD (Class 2) for $23.25 on Amazon.com. That's not much of a difference.

But that's not the real breaking point in terms of price; it's the plans! The iPhone's plan are ridiculous compared to the $35 unlimited data plan on T-Mobile.

Wired found the iPhone to be at least $380 more expensive (based on the basic plan and a two-year contract.), but they admit it wasn't an apples to apples comparison. For example, the basic voice plan for the G1 had more minutes and unlimited texts, while the iPhone obviously had less minutes and it cost an extra $20 for texts and an extra $10 for the premium data plan.

It is ridiculous, but I think you got it backwords. The iPhone is over-priced.

(Of course, I mean the iPhone's plan and not the iPhone itself.)

[castelazo]

Hey, Blackberry or Iphone? What about Windows Mobile? HTC made its presence thanks to windows. Don't forget that.

[Pikachu62]

Full access for $50 or less a month....

Put that in the poll please...

[canberra_photographer]

It lacks refinement, simple as that. It's not up to the usual design standard of HTC and looks like the 90c shop version of HTCs Windows devices. Compared to the iPhone and HTC Windows devices and of course the Blackberry, this was a very poor move by Google. It's not revolutionary so whose going to care about it.

[make_or_break]

Since I'm a happy T-Mo customer, I'll certainly give it a serious look, especially since the CrackBerry Bold isn't going to my carrier of choice straight away. The lack of NAND cap is a mild concern, but then again I don't plan on draining away my battery on MP3 files, either. Fast mobile connectivity is more my concern, as well as what other things (courtesy of apps) can The Android known as G1 do. I've gotten used to putting music on memory cards anyways, so even IF I should go stupid and decide to *converge* from my Zen X-Fi and solo with the G1, it ain't all heartache. But then again, that's not what I *want* MY 3G phone for.

[mwolfson8]

Your survey was silly because it didn't provide choices that were realistic, like:
- Easy syncing with Outlook
- Greater memory
- Stereo Bluetooth
- Fast internet access

[holycroc]

All these new touch phones are great. They've all got something to offer. I'm with Sprint, and seeing the G1 or Iphone, or Storm and whatever is next, is all great. I want all of them. However until the other carriers join the "simply everything" parade, it's hard for me to leave Sprint for one of these great phones. G1 might be worlds better than the Instinct, but instead of $129 for me and the wife, how much more do I want to pay for msging, internet and data just to have the next cool device??? I hear they're gonna have an unlimited option for msg/data/net I think, for $35, so for a family plan that'd be $70, plus $70 for the unlimited package. And whatever other charges. So I'm excited about all these new phones coming out, but comes down to MONEY. And not the phone, the MONTHLY BILL.

[dieseldog49]

I think its important to note tat the G1 will be available Unlocked 90 daqys after release (or when you buy it) ,and T mobile is the one unlocking it for you... for free oryou can buy a unlocked version for 400 dollars. Also a 8gb SD card costs about 25 dollars and I can upgrade to more in the future. Oh and a replaceable battery so I wont have to worry about battery life as I can always have a spare. also there is no integration problem that cannot be solved with a open source system if there is a demant for a app or fix someone will program it. Furthermore nothaving to deal with draconian DRM policie swith punish the paying customer and not the pirate is well worth my money. Will I get one I dont know yet I will want to hold it and toy with it first and dsee how well itdoes unlocked on AT&T's networks before I commit, but my expectations are high and google rarely disapoints.

[tysone22]

I would buy it if it was on At&t