T-Mobile G1

With a high-quality capacitive touch screen and the much anticipated open source Android Operating System from Google, the G1 phone currently offered by T-Mobile holds a lot of promise to change the way people use mobile phones.

This handset, manufactured by HTC, is the first phone with Google’s open-source Android OS and despite the generally impressive hardware — a touch screen that responds smoothly and quickly, a full QWERTY keyboard — many people will purchase this phone because the Android software.

The G1 is probably most appealing to users who want to tinker with applications and explore the phone’s possibilities, whereas average consumers and businesspeople who want a more proven smartphone might be better off for now with Apple’s iPhone 3G or a Windows Mobile device.

The main reason is that third-party applications for the Android OS are just starting to take off and while developers are providing solutions for shortcomings on the phone, such as the lack of support for a Microsoft Exchange Server, the applications are new and some users might not want to deal with early hiccups.

Even with the G1 Android phone’s shortcomings, notably a camera that fails to measure up to the Apple iPhone 3G, its potential to become a powerful mobile mini-computer is very exciting.