General Mobile showing dual-SIM DSTL1 Android phone at Mobile World Congress... iPhone killer?

The phone, called the DSTL1, is shown in a few renderings in the gallery below. Astute readers will note that the button configuration on the phone, as shown, won’t fly for Android. Android phones currently need 5 hardware buttons in order to work (home, back, menu, call send, call end). General Mobile says that the front of the phone will change from what is shown in the renderings in order to accommodate Android. But I’m also a bit worried about the display, which is said to be a 400×240 pixel unit manufactured by Sharp.

Lastly, expect the device to ship during Q3 of this year.

Current specs (which are not the same pre-Android ones as those listed on the company’s website) and photo gallery after the jump:

The specs as they stand today are as follows:

* Dual-SIM cards with dual-Standby mode
* 624MHz Marvell PXA 310 processor
* Tri-band GSM/EDGE support (900/1800/1900MHz)
* 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, 260k colors
* 802.11b/g WiFi support
* Bluetooth
* 135g (4.75oz), 112 x 54 x 16mm (4.4 x 2.1 x .6 inches)
* 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash (made by Sharp)
* FM Radio:es
* TV: Yes ( MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 )
* MP3/MPEG4: Yes/Yes
* Face to Face videoconferencing: Yes
* Weight: 135gr
* Dimensions: 112 x 54 x 16 mm
* Memory: 4GB internal memory, 256MB flash + 128MB SDRAM ,"Up to 8GB T-flash
* Voice Recorder: Yes
* Talk Time: 240 minutes
* Standby Time: 150 hours
* Battery: 1200 mAh
* Accessories: Extra Battery, USB Cable, Earphone, AC Charge Adaptor

Source

La preventa del T-Mobile G1 es un éxito y HTC fabricará el triple

De acuerdo a lo que indica T-Mobile la pre-venta del HTC G1, o T-Mobile G1, es tan grande que ya han vendido todas las unidades fabricadas y que HTC deberá fabricar el triple de los que tenía pensado, lo que podría hacer superar la primera estimación de que Android se quedaría con el 4% del mercado de smartphones.

El G1 está siendo pre-vendido por T-Mobile desde su sitio web y estará disponible el 22 de octubre en las tiendas de T-Mobile de Estados Unidos. Costará a partir de los 179 dólares con dos años de contrato, unos 20 dólares menos que el iPhone de AT&T.

El T-Mobile G1, que ya tiene micrositio, tiene Android como sistema operativo y tiene el apoyo de Google en lo que respecta a software precargado, a Amazon como tienda de música y ya tiene varias aplicaciones en descarga y desarrollo a través de su tienda de aplicaciones Android Market.

El T-Mobile G1 llegará a Europa recién en 2009, y podría llamarse HTC Dream o HTC G1.

Fuente de la información

Top 5 Cellphone Busts of 2008 (according to Wired.com)

2. Google G1
The Hype: Googlephone rumors have been circulating for years. So, when news surfaced that HTC, Google, and T-Mobile were (finally) bringing the G1 to market, froth mouthed gadget geeks, pundits, and journalists were driven into a frenzy. Lofty expectations included a totally customizable OS, loads of free applications, and a snappy form factor. Also, with Google's penchant for unloading free stuff on the public, the overall assumption was that the G1 would be the smartphone for the everyman. Boom! Take that iElitists!

The Letdown: Letdown: The G1's unveiling was a lot like the Bigfoot press conference — a long, awkward presentation that left a lot of people confused and/or disappointed. The handset poised to out-iPhone the iPhone had a laundry list of hardware letdowns: bulky, unattractive, and saddled with yet another proprietary headphone jack. Under the hood, the G1 had even more perplexing issues. Any sort of multitouch interface was missing, as was Microsoft Office support (beyond viewing), and video playback. Updates to Google's Android OS could salvage the device (à la the iPhone 3G). But for now, the G1 doesn't even trigger the same excitement as a gorilla costume in an ice chest.

1. iPhone 3G
The Hype: The fevered buzz surrounding the latest iProduct to emerge from the hive mind in Cupertino was deafening. Sure Apple adherents were dizzy for updates like GPS, a thinner profile, and a flush headset jack. But the real prize was the promise of 3G delivering gushing access to pr0n our favorite websites. And hey, don’t forget how “fun” it is to stand in line for Apple products every 18 months.

The Letdown: Turns out the iPhone's second coming was less Jesusphone and more false idol. After camping in long queues and enduring a hellish activation process, customers found themselves with a handset that was essentially borked. With applications like Mobile Me initially M.I.A., 3G functionality that was severely crippled (a firmware update managed to patch the problem), and a battery that died faster than a suicidal lemming, the whole debacle left us feeling more deflated than circa 1998 Apple stock.

....more here

¿Palm debería apostar por Android?

Primero vimos como Motorola y Nokia se fijaban en Android, y poco después fue el turno de LG y Samsung. Ahora, Jon Fortt de la revista Fortune realizó una interesante columna de opinión argumentando que Palm también debería apostar por el OS abierto de Google.

Sabemos que Palm está perdiendo por goleada contra RIM y que sus productos ya no parecen llamar la atención de la audiencia. Eso sin contar que su prometido nuevo OS basado en Linux cada vez se retrasa más.

A su vez, las licencias de Windows Mobile le salen a Palm entre 8 y 16 dólares por cada celular, un costo que podría ahorrar con Android haciendo sus móviles más baratos.

Entonces si la compañía apuesta por Android en un principio ganaría mucho en el llamado cool factor y reduciría sus precios. Así, podría dejar de lado su OS y, dedicar más esfuerzos a desarrollar sus propias aplicaciones y celulares.

Fuente de la información