Live from T-Mobile's Android event in New York City

9:49AM We're here, and we're waiting out front for the big party to start. Stay tuned for more info as it happens!

10:45AM We'd be elbowing people out of the way had we not been playing with one a few moments ago. People are acting rabid... ooh, the brown model is out! It looks nice. Very fashionable.
10:45AM "So the great thing we set this up is you'll get a chance to use it first hand. Lots of devices here running on our network here in New York. But let's take a quick look at what these devices can do..." More video.
10:47AM Video: Great touchscreen, and you can long press. Now showing the photo app -- you can "frame" a picture and drop it on your home screen. Drag and drop of apps. Music downloader! Looks slick... very iTunes like. Search by artists, albums. Now showing the music player -- links back to Amazon.
10:49AM Just start typing on the keyboard and it brings up contacts. Now showing off Gmaps and street view... you can pan just like we've seen Andy do in demos. Compass mode... the scene moves as you do. Pretty cool!
Back to the home screen -- demoing the browser now. Just running through the controls. If you've seen the emulator, this looks somewhat familiar. Yep, tabbed browsing, pop-up menus. Dedicated search button on the keyboard.
10:50AM Showing off the "Android Market" -- user ratings... instant downloads. Ha! Pac-man!
10:50AM Big applause!
10:52AM "So what do you think? Trust me it's a lot of fun. One of the things that's going to bring this into the future is this open platform. We believe it will drive the mobile internet. As humans, we can count on change, as times change, as technology changes, this platform will embrace that change by allowing 3rd parties to write applications..." Seems like they might be going after Apple's closed system here. Not surprising.
10:52AM Now they're showing off 3rd party partners... Android developer community discussing open source. They're really pushing the openness here.
10:53AM Video of devs big-upping open source. "It's risk free." "It's completely open... no one says 'you can't do that'."
10:54AM "Right now it can go so many directions..." Big cheers for the devs! And rightly so.
10:56AM Now showing off some developers here today. Lots of applause. Ecorio... Shop Savvy. The latter group has "turned the G1 into a barcode scanner." "Who doesn't want a better deal given the last few weeks?"
10:57AM Now they're doing question and answer... pricing! $179!
10:57AM Can be ordered over the internet for existing customers... commercial launch is October 22nd.
10:58AM Two data / messaging plans: $25 with unlimited data and some messaging, $35 with unlimited data and messaging.
10:58AM 3G: Will be live in 22 markets by launch, 27 by November. All major markets. Vast network to use.
10:59AM The device will be in the UK in November, across Europe in 2009.
10:59AM Andy Rubin: entire platform is open source. We're pretty focused on more features and functionality.
11:00AM Some questions from the group: Will this function as a tethered modem, can people just get a voice plan?
A: No tethering, data required.

11:01AM Q: Any support for Microsoft office? Is it sim-locked?
A: Can read Word, PDFs, Excel -- no exchange compatibility. The open marketplace has been dry there. It will be sim-locked to T-Mobile.
11:02AM Q: Will you offer push?
A: Gmail is push.
11:02AM Q: Will there be a desktop syncing app?
A: There isn't a desktop app. (What? How are we getting our contacts on there?)
11:03AM Q: Will this be available outside 3G markets? (Ah yes, we've been wondering)
A: Yes it will -- but the best experience is on WiFi or 3G.

11:04AM Q: Do you think there will be unlockers working on this?
A: It's worth noting that $179 is an attractive price. We want to be sure consumers use it on the network it's optimized for.
11:05AM Q: With no desktop app, will it have a server sync? And what Bluetooth profiles are supported?
A: Gmail, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL mail syncs -- does hands-free, no A2DP yet.
11:06AM Q: Will it use Chrome?
A: Yes, call it 'Chrome Lite.'

11:08AM Q: What is the Gmail client going to be like? (That's a good question -- we haven't seen much of it).
A: (And they're being vague about this) It will offer a lot of the same features. (They pretty much avoided answering... how far along is the Gmail app?)
11:09AM Q: What formats will it support? Will there be Skype?
A: AAC, MP3, but iTunes files will need to be DRM free (uh, yep). No Skype right now.
11:09AM Whoa! Larry Page and Sergey Brin are here! On rollerblades!
11:10AM Big cheers for these two!
11:11AM Sergey: "We had to rush here! It's exciting to be here. What really gives me pleasure with this is that I'm a bit of a geek, I like tinkering with things... I grew up messing with Linux... I get that same pleasure playing with Android and the G1... I've been using it for awhile. The first app I wrote was one where you throw your phone in the air and it measures how long it takes to catch it." Chuckles. Oooh, he just called the Marketplace the "App Store." Burn.
11:13AM Larry: "I've tremendously enjoyed my G1 -- Andy knows, I've given lots of feedback. I'm excited about the possibilities. This is as good a computer as you would have had a few years ago. Access to the internet, using applications... there's tremendous opportunity. Let me ask you guys to do a websearch... how long does it take?"
11:14AM "We're excited about having computer-like functionality on a phone with an open eco-system. You'll see a lot of really interesting things."
Joint photo op now. All in the family. HTC, Google, T-Mobile... that's a lot of money up there.
11:16AM Okay, thank you... and that's it! Time to go play with some phones!

[ Via: Engadget ]
[ Tag: android, dream, event, features, g1, google, live blog, liveblog, liveblogging, new york city, NewYorkCity, t-mobile, tmobile ]