Comments on: T-Mobile launches iPhone challenger

T-Mobile sees its second Android phone, the MyTouch 3G, as its best hope to take on Apple's iPhone on AT&T.

[FrameRunner]

The problem is, you can't just compete directly with the Iphone. The goal should be to innovate to a new level..There is no such thing as a Iphone killer, but when a better device comes out that is able to redefine smart phones it will naturally take the fan bae.

[Norseman]

I'd be very interested to hear some of your ideas about what this "redefined" smartphone would be like.
Care to share them?

[TyDiz]

There is a difference between competing against the iPhone and saying its an iPhone killer...I don't think Android is an iPhone killer...The operating systems are too different and really can't be compared in that way. But they are definitely the same market, being smartphones that aren't really set for corporate use...more like smartphones for the average user. Its a great option for T-Mobile users compared to switching to AT&T.

[Random_Walk]

Makes perfect sense, actually.

The iPhone broke out and took off not because it was trying to aim at the Blackberry, or at the Treo, or at (insert smartphone leader here)...

The iPhone became a hit because it offered a combination of features that the big boys didn't have, and put it in a package that consumers wanted.

If you compete directly with something, the best you can hope for is to beat that one competitor, and usually you'll fail as a wannabe or also-ran. Proof? There's been at least five or six touch-screen smartphones that have come out since the iPhone... all of them looking suspiciously like one. Each has been swooned over by the press as an "iPhone killer", yet each has either failed entirely, or came in at a very distant 2nd/3rd/4th/etc. place.

[ballmerisanape]

Isn't this phone $199 with a 2 year contract? You can get an iPhone 3G for $99. Also.. it's not even multiouch... so, yes.. competitor would be a good word to use. My guess is you will no longer see the term "iPhone Killer" anymore.... since none of those came even close.

Google is starting with a scalable platform... and that is why Android will last.. now.. they just need to find a hardware company that can design well.

[ckh1272]

"by daniel172008 July 9, 2009 2:22 AM PDT
As biased as he is, he is right. The iPhone is limited.

"Can only use Apps from the iTunes store? What, is 40,000 not enough for you? "

Sooo then why do the majority of tech savvy iPhone users jailbreak their phone? lol "

What do you mean by "majority" of users. Care to prove this or do you just like to throw empty stats out there?

[johnqh]

Less than 2% of iPhones are jailbreaked. There are studies done by ad providers.

[bugsy3333]

yawn...

[Orion Blastar]

The iPhone is limited and locks in a lot of options like no user serviceable battery, can only use apps from Apple's iPhone apps store, can't use it on a non-AT&T network, etc.

Maybe this MyTouch won't be locked in and have better freedom and rights for its users. One can only hope.

The whole reason why I won't use an iPhone is the price, lack of freedom and rights, limited in what I can install on it, and when the battery goes bad I have to buy a new one I cannot swap out the bad battery. Plus the iPhone gets really hot and can burn people when left on for a long time.

[Zippy-T-Pinhead]

I love how people complain as to how "limited" the iPhone is.

Can only use Apps from the iTunes store? What, is 40,000 not enough for you?

No user serviceable battery? I've had all 3 iPhones and never have had any need to do anything with my battery but charge it once in awhile - plus as I have with all cell phones, since I owned my first one in the early 90s, I always carry a spare battery, or in this case, a battery pack.

Can't use it on a non-AT&T network? So? My AT&T works just fine, thanks.

It can burn people?! Who are you, friggin Elisabeth Hasselback? You believe every sensationalist piece of crap you read on the Internet.

Dude, you've never owned the phone and are basing your opinion entirely on what you read. Have an original thought for once in your life.

[monkeyfun14]

@Zippy-T-Pinhead


A good portion of these apps do the same damn thing and a good portion are useless.

[ckh1272]

"by monkeyfun14 July 8, 2009 6:55 PM PDT
@Zippy-T-Pinhead
A good portion of these apps do the same damn thing and a good portion are useless."

And of course you know this because you use an iPhone right?? Didn't think so.

[Perry_Clease]

"A good portion of these trolls say the same damn thing and a good portion are useless."

And good portion of the iPhones apps are damn useful.

[TyDiz]

I agree...there is a lot of pointless apps on both androids market and iPhone's app store. A lot of developers have a hard time innovating when 40,000 other apps exist already...you can only do so much before you really can say everything is done.

Being locked down is a big deal to a lot of people and you really can't get offended by someones opinion about that, especially since obviously its not a huge deal to you or other iPhone users, seeing that a good chuck of people have an iPhone.

[professionaladventurer]

So you don't use an iphone because you can't afford one? I get that, but let me dispells some of the other thing you said.

I m on my second iPhone (yea got one of the first ones and got a 3G one about 3 months ago) mine never got very hot and I never wore out the battery. And my wife has one to with no really issues other then right at the beginning . ATT works pretty good every where I have been. From the north slope of Alaska, to most of the Hawaiian Islands, and all the west coast states by car on and off the interstate. Sure sometimes the EDGE was slow, but 3G is pretty wide ranging now. I have even serviced my phone (well it was my wife's) and even living 3000 miles from an Apple store the turn around time was 24 hours from phone call to Apple to working phone back in her hands. Sure, it's not for every one, but Apple is a good company that makes a good product. For Proof I am no nerd fan boy, this is who I am: www.anadventurer.com

[daniel172008]

As biased as he is, he is right. The iPhone is limited.

"Can only use Apps from the iTunes store? What, is 40,000 not enough for you? "

Sooo then why do the majority of tech savvy iPhone users jailbreak their phone? lol

Even though you can "jailbreak" android (the G1 at least, not sure about this new one), you don't really need too. Not only can you rearange icons on the home screen, but you can completely replace the home screen with a 3rd party one. Same with everything else on the android phones...

AT&T obviously has problems, otherwise Apple wouldn't of practically told them to F off and not renew their contract and go to Verizon. If you want an iPhone, wait until Verizon has it. A lot of the limitations that Apple is blamed for is because of AT&T, not all of them are though.

[ApplerPS3]

Why do you have to accept the status quo? Do something about it...Jailbreak the iphone, and you will see the phone's true power. jailbreaking is a process that takes minutes, and you end up taking control of this beautiful machine. Customize your theme, wallpaper, use third party applications that are (1) sometimes more useful than the ones on the app store (like the brighter flashlight as a very simple example (2) Mostly free. Not because Apple or ATT says youre not allowed means youre not allowed. You bought the damn thing, do whatever you want with it...and its very safe. I have been using the 1st Generation Iphone for almost a year and a half on the same jailbreak (back when the process took hours to complete) and it never failed. I also did it on the 3G iphone before it fell in the toilet, rendering the phone useless, and now i already bought a 3GS device but waiting for the dev team's jailbreak to be released (there is already one out there, just search for purplera1n). Unlocking is optional, done from the Cydia app on the phone itself- Cydia being the equivalent of the app store). Use your imagination! The iphone's backdoor community is huge. Enjoy.

[Random_Walk]

"A good portion of these apps do the same damn thing and a good portion are useless."

...ever been to the Blackberry app store? I have... and it has the exact same problems, only in a smaller catalog.

[monkeyfun14]

@ckh

You don't need to have an iPhone to know this just browsing through a the app store without one will prove this.

[Psyner]

I love my G1 and would take it over the iPhone any day. I really wish they'd make VPN connections avail like iphone has had since launch(I think?) Huge disadvantage for me.

[Galen20K]

I completely Agree. G1 has so many MORE Advantages over the iPhone and its just the Better phone in so many ways.

[lazycat202]

Android is going to kill Iphone & WinMo soon or later. For now, i'm staying with WinMo until Android become more popular (apps and OS itself). Iphone isn't in my dictionary.If it's FREE, i'll take it and "jailbreak" it. Then I'll have my freedom back.

[rrod182]

@lazycat202

No Android will not kill anyone. The developer base for the iPhone is huge. Android is a PITA to develop for, too many moving parts. Every device is different, different features, different screen, different input, etc. Its like the difference between developing for a PC vs. Mac. Time to market with iPhone is pretty fast, and one submission will work on ALL devices, with ALL features. The only exceptions of course are the new compass and video. But every iPhone has the same screen res, keyboard, audio, etc, etc, etc. Android devices don't. (emphasis on the period)

They would have to over take the fan base which would require a major **** up on Apples part. I doubt that will happen.

[lazycat202]

@Rodd:
you're probably right. Each phone has its own features. I woudn't hold to my Iphone (if i own 1) for more than 2 years. Why? I prefer new layout, new design, and new things that current phones don't have. I've used all Iphone new features on my WinMo device long time ago. new compas?? who need it while you're using sound-guidance/turn-by-turn GPS?
Put a faster chip and more storage inside Iphone. Then call yourself King Iphone? gezz!
Once time, i showed my HTC device to a friend of mine (iphone 3G fan) and it knocked him out ;) finally, he purchased a HTC Diamond.

[protagonistic]

I bet you were one of those who also said the iPod would never succeed because other players had more features and were cheaper. Never discount the popularity of a device that doesn't try to do everything and does try to be easy to use.

[TyDiz]

@rrod

As a developer, creating apps on Android isn't to big of a deal. In the future, it might get a little more complicated to be friendly to all android devices, but incompatible apps will be filtered out based on your device in the future...plus handling input isn't hard using the SDK.

I've never coded for iPhone but using Java over C++ is a huge win for a lot of hobby developers out there because it doesn't take so much precision(I love coding in C++ but memory management is just no fun in most cases). There is room for both to exist, ones not going to win against the other any time soon. Both are amazing OS's, and both have an amazing future, mostly because they are going to push innovation on each other continuously, as the mobile market opens up more, which is always good for us consumers :D

[rrod182]

@TyDiz

Yes there is definitely room for both, I doubt the Android platform will fail. iPhone dev is done in Obj-C and not C++ by the way. The Obj-C runtime does have GC and can do all the memory management for you.

Rob

[TyDiz]

Oh ok, that's pretty cool actually. Its still a proprietary coding language though which has at least kept me away at least. Looking at Obj-C it looks like it uses a lot of the same theorys...at least with object messaging(which is one of the most important things to know when coding for android at least. I wonder if this was done to make it easier to translate a iPhone app into an android app...or even to make the transitions easier between coding languages.

Anyway, $99 is a lot of money to get the licensing to publish with Apple...I like the fact that I started out making free apps on Android but $25 isn't that hard to let fly away free, it helps build a reputable name for myself, which will hopefully help out when I do release a paid app on the market.

As a user of Android, I like having competing markets because developers tend to innovate off each other...If something amazing comes out on one market, another dev will try and recreate that for another market(or in the case of all the Flashlight apps ehhh....I think that speaks for itself)

[johnqh]

To the customers, they may be able to filter by the phone model, but how will developers test the compatibility?

Windows Mobile all over again.

[edtechlab]

I am holding off on getting a smartphone because the total cost of service involved. When they come down, hopefully, then I will get the one that has the best value.

[TyDiz]

Its not bad...T-Mobile charges $15 for unlimited messaging regularly(which is similar to most carriers), and for the android phones(G1 & myTouch) its $35 for unlimited messaging + unlimited data...$20 is an amazing deal for unlimited interent, and you really don't realize how true that is until you are internet enabled always, even more so when you have a real HTML browser on your phone.

[myles taylor]

The reason the iPhone will remain the "king" as it were, is because there is only one iPhone, and the market will soon be diluted with Android devices. People who want an iPhone have a choice between.....well more storage space and only more recently the 3G and the 3GS. People who want an Android device have many phones to pick from or will shortly. That's not a bad thing, but it will keep any other one phone from stealing the crown. There are lots of phones out there that are as good or better than the iPhone, but the iPhone has a few things (including an integration with the iPod Touch) that makes it a winner.

[lazycat202]

many people just don't know there're better (than iphone) phones out there.
To compare with Iphone, name few things that my HTC Touch Pro2 can't do (itune???) gateway of hell!

[cary1]

@lazycat202

HTC touch pro? Is that the phone that runs on Windows Mobile? That's like comparing EEE PC to MacBook Pro. EEE PC can do every thing that MBP can do. It's not just what it can do. It's how easy/intuitive it is to do something.

I agree iTunes is gateway to Hell. I hate it myself. I use it only when I have to add music to my iPhone.

BTW, before people pick up their pitchforks, I am not an Apple fan. The only Apple product worth purchasing is the iPhone.

[Stopper90004]

Apple is the "evil empire" to MP3 players and smart phones as Microsoft is to the PC market: Steve Jobs wants to dominate all aspects of this universe and charge ridiculous prices (e.g. for MP3s) when you can get it virtually free on other services (Napster and Rhapsody... $15 a month for over 4 million songs). The iPhone is a stunner, but like the lemmings who flocked to the iPod, buyers will be trapped in the typically overpriced world of Apple and AT&T when they blindly fall on their swords for this techno equivalent to a Mermaid. With the Google platform, you get an even better interface and multi-tasking apps environment PLUS you get to pick the hardware ... within 18 months Google aps will easily overtake the Apple stores line up of useless aps. Eat my corn-Holey apple suckas.

[ikramerica--2008]

If everything else is better and cheaper at the same time, then why do you care? You have choices in phones, phone companies, and sources for music, so make those choices.

But it seems millions upon millions of people like the iPhone, and don't mind the cost of iTunes. So why not let them pay?

As for all those great $15 services: they only work because most people don't use them. If everyone was using the $15 plan, and nobody was paying for music from iTunes or Amazon, then either the $15 services would have to increase in cost, or there would be no content out there because there would be no money to be made in the industry.

[JJohnson1701]

I would be more inclined to buy this phone if it had what nearly EVERY OTHER PHONE HAS - A HEADPHONE JACK.

If you're positioning yourself against iPhones, you need to be able to show your media chops, which will mean you need to play audio and video files as good as, or better than, iPhone. That starts with including a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

[nutzareus]

Never heard of Bluetooth headset? Get a life!

[ikramerica--2008]

Yeah, $100 headsets that you have have to charge and have inferior sound quality are much preferred by all people to the option to plug in higher quality headphones, or noise canceling headphones, etc.

[TyDiz]

The dongle works just fine...I bought a couple for my g1 and it honestly isn't to big of a deal to hook it on when you need it. Plus it comes with the dongles now(it didn't when I got my phone..grr!), so its not really a reason to complain anymore...just a slight inconvience.

[loose_screw]

Yeah, dongles look really cool--NOT. If you're competing against a sexy device like the iPhone, dongles are not the way to win consumers over. Period.

Also, Bluetooth headsets are way too friggin huge. Until they become earbud sized, forget it. You'll never win the young crowd that currently pine for the iPhone.

[Seaspray0]

As someone who's used both an ear dongle and a bluetooth, I can vouch for the bluetooth being the friendliest.

[TyDiz]

The dongle I have looks like its part of your head phone cords...you don't even notice it really. I agree though, not having it doesn't do HTC any favors, but not having it isn't as big of a deal as people make it sound. If HTC didn't do it on every single one of their phones, I might have been offended a bit, but its not a big deal to me, honestly.

[Captain Bebops]

Requiring phone applications to be certified was just the wrong and unimaginative approach for the iPhone and other phone platforms. Android apps don't require certification because their security system works in a way that an app can't tamper with another apps data. Too bad Apple wasn't that imaginative or maybe it was that AT&T wanted to create an "elite" class of developers. That would be typical "suit" thinking.

[Jonathan Monahan]

Yea that $99 developer fee (only needed for submittal and actual iPhone testing otherwise free) is sure keeping a lot of people out I mean over 50,000 apps is just too little!

[dkgshiz100]

To bad the G1 was kind of a flop. I cant think of any of my friends that actually own a G1.

[TyDiz]

Holy crap!! $99?? Ugh, I guess you iPhone guys won't see any crossplatform apps from me anytime soon. I was worried about releasing free apps for the $25 one time charge that I paid for Android.

[dkgshiz100]

The app store is what makes the iphone the king of the smartphones.

[dkgshiz100]

Woa, this thing has a proprietary headset jack?! *** is this crap?! Sweet I have to use some crappy T-mobile proprietary headphone for this iphone killer!

[bob1xxxx]

uh no it come with a usb to 3.5mm adaptor with the phone , just like the ones you could by off ebay for the g1 to 5.00

[dkgshiz100]

Woa, this thing has a proprietary headset jack?! *** is this crap?! Sweet I have to use some crappy T-mobile proprietary headphone for this iphone killer!

[The_happy_switcher]

"iPhone killer"---zzzzzzzz,
wake me when the Gen 4 iPhone comes
out--the real next iPhone killer. Zzzzzz.

[Otto Holland]

Nice comments...why don't you guys buy a few pairs of boxing gloves and knock each other teeth out? Well... not really, just joking.

While you are all at it and commenting on the iPhone, Andriod etc; I am laughing my a$$ off. No iPhone or Andriod or Pre for me; I am sticking with my Crackberry Curve; it does what I need, make calls, listen to music and what video's. Best of all, the price; yeah I know it's not shiny but it works well and I don't look like a geek or nerd. Oh! the price, free...I use it for the companies business.

[Captain Bebops]

I think that Android phones will begin overtaking the iPhone at this time next year. By then there will be enough different carriers and at least 18 different phones available. Plus there will be the Android iTouch competitors too. Apple doesn't quickly approve apps like they used to and a lot of developers don't want to learn a dead end language (Object C). I'm sure just like our congress critters Apple won't wake up until their boat is sinking.

[johnqh]

If the number of phone models is an indication of success, Microsoft would already killed of all the competition with dozens Windows Mobile models.

And when WM7 releases, again, it will have dozens of models.

[sent2null]

@rrodd

You obviously haven't coded on the Android platform, it has the most elegant API I've ever seen and I've coded on API's from C++ to Java for different platforms and devices. I can't claim personal experience with Iphone coding but I often read of issues developing for it, where yours is the first ever comment I've seen with that charge levied against the Android, so it is naturally suspect.

[TyDiz]

I wouldn't say elegant...it does blend with the java API's really well, but its still has some extremely weird quirks and inconsistencies that is a serious pain sometimes...But on the same regard, there is a lot of really good things about the API that I really like...I just wish they would fix the missing documentation that they have all over the place(usually the stuff I need to look up :S)

[U. Tripps]

With so many competitors for the iPhone coming out, I'm starting to be very happy that have been locked into a T-Mobile contract for a couple of years. When it is over, I'll have my pick of lots of great devices--not just the iPhone with its ridiculous AT&T exclusivity.

[uhpl508]

The price compared is a little misleading because the Tmobile package includes text messages not included with the iPhone, realistically, its $15 difference. $20 vs. $35

[mojoscow]

i love apple i have a macbook pro and an 80GB ipod... however when it comes to the iphone i just have to disagree with it.. i am not a fan of it at all HTC makes such better phones... you will see one day when every major manufacturer has an android enabled phone. androids operating systym will be more popular than iphone.. because when it comes to iphone you only get one choice and that is the iphone.. with Android you could pick a Samsung or Sony or HTC and im sure Motorola will make one as well and nokia but i know for sure Sony and Samsung are releasing one or two soon. and the hard ware on them is better than that of the iphone plus androids operating system is better. so you are getting the better of two worlds

[anilsudh]

HaHaHa!!! Your post is beyond funny. Laughing my guts out.

[a_flores]

Ugly. Look is not essential but important.