11:05 a.m. The G1 demonstration has started. A video is rolling to show the features of the phone.
Here are some of the features: It has a touch screen. Photos can be framed and dropped. Any application can be dragged and dropped. One click ordering on Amazon. The fold-out keyboard can be used for instant messaging and text messaging. Google maps have directions and traffic views. It also has street view from Google Maps. Compass mode allows the scene to move as the user does.
The web browser links directly to websites as they are seen on a PC. On-screen controls allow users to zoom in, much like on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Search mode is linked to a dedicated button the keyboard.
Android Market is just like the App Store from Apple, but filled with third party applications.
Brodman is speaking again, and says "open will drive the future of the mobile Internet." He said we can always count on change. Third party applications will be taken to marketplace and will drive the innovation and the future of the mobile Internet along with partnerships with carriers and manufacturers.
Brodman says that pricing will be $179 with a T-Mobile service contract. Current T-Mobile customers can order it online. The U.S. commercial launch date is October 22nd. It will be available through T-mobile stores and third party dealers. Data messaging plans are $25 for unlimited web and Internet usage. A $35 option will have that unlimited text messaging.
Schläffer says it will be available in the U.K. in early November and in Europe in the first quarter of 2009. Rubin said Google will add more features and functionality as time goes on. Chou said the long-standing partnership and HTC's long-term vision for making mobile Internet a reality, and the proven record of HTC's innovation and execution of leading-edge technology made it critical for HTC to be involved.
Rubin said the it can read Word documents, Excel documents and PDF files. There is no Microsoft Exchange compatibility. The phone will be SIM-locked to T-Mobile as it rolls out.
Brodman says there is no desktop application. It will be available outside markets where T-Mobile USA has its HSPA network up, but the best experience will be on 3G. It has built-in WiFi.
Google and T-Mobile will have a coordinated marketing campaign. The browser is called webkit, and it will not be Google's new browser, Chrome. Rubin calls it "Chrome-lite."
Brodman says it will have mass appeal, and there will be "something for everybody." He expects it to be more of a consumer device.
Rubin said that the G1 gives all of Gmail's functionality.
Brodman said it will work AAC, WMA, MP3 files. There is no Skype application, but it will work internationally. The device is dual-band on the UMTS and quad-band on GSM side.
At 11:10 a.m. Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin show up and extol the virtues of the G1. Brin says the G1 is as powerful a computer as any on the market a few years ago. It has computer-like functionality on a phone.