First Android phone to retail for $199

Cheaper?

The iPhone 3G costs £99 (at least the 8GB version does), which was less than £110 the last time I looked.

Oliver

2nd ed

even if they are refering to the much more useful 16GB version, @£159, thats still (only) £49 pounds more/less (depending on which way you look at it) and in my books at least, that doesnt qualify for "much less than" status.

(and incase your wondering, neither does £50, in this case, might do on a bag of crisps, £50 over on a bag of crisps, now thats a lot of money, but i digress)

Further more, unless it has a fully functioning mp3 player, (or more to the point, iPod) with either 8 or 16GB nestled away at its core, i would expect it to cost "much less than" an iPhone anyway, due to the reduction/lack of feature.

Seems to be just another case of people trying to pick away at the sheen that covers the iPhone, because their product isnt up to scratch "yeah, yeah, but, look, look at how cheap it is....." oooooh cheap, thats what i want.

end rant

Re: Someone needs a calculator

I think you need to open your eyes. For $199, you get to OWN THE PHONE. It's not locked to a shite network, and it's yours to keep.

An iPhone 8GB total cost of ownership is massively more expensive than the $199 for the android handset. Wake up! =)

@ Jiminy Krikett

Seriously? You're splitting hairs over this?

...much less than Apple's iPhone...

Which is surprisingly $199 as well.

@Jiminy Krikett

In today's education system it's more about 'having a go' than getting the correct answer...

It is better, if El Reg wishes, so it will be...

Are El Reg going to rate the Android higher that the iPhone come-what-may? Is El Reg cutting its nose off to spite its face? Since when has £110 been less than £99? Lets see what the price plans on offer are first eh?

I can't wait to see..

how they've reconciled 'Open' with Operator lock-in. My guess is it won't be as open as people are expecting.

I-Drone

I just checked the car phone warehouse and the i-Drone 8GB is £345.99.

Need a better name

As the Register, now boringly, calls the iPhone the Jesus Phone a better moniker is needed for the Googlephone.

How about the Lib-Dem Phone. It promises much, but is late to the party and doesn't quite deliver.

@AdamC

AdamC: You're an idiot...

"For $199, you get to OWN THE PHONE."

You also own the iPhone.

"It's not locked to a shite network, and it's yours to keep."

Who's says the Google phone is not locked? And T-Mobile is shite too. And the iPhone is still also yours to keep.

"An iPhone 8GB total cost of ownership is massively more expensive than the $199 for the android handset."

So, what's the Android 'total cost of ownership' - do you know what tariffs it will be available on, and for how long? You can't compare something you don't know the fact of.

What an idiot!

Better moniker for the Googlephone ?

G-Spot

Paris, because she'd had hers hit a few times too...

re: new name for google phone.

goo-bile

(can be pronounced goo-bull or goo-<stomatch fluid>. Though i like the sound of the latter (gurgle))

4(5)g

Goggle +3g =4g =gggg

I wonder what the gooey will look like.

IGMC

Should be called

Roid Phone. Hemmor (ok, the h isn't only silent, it's invisible in this example), Ster, And you decide. But I shall, forever more, refer to it as the roid phone. Did you get rogered by the roid phone cause in the U.S. T-Mob appears to think 3G is the year they'll offer broadband speeds, not a network speed? Seriously, who wants a data phone on EDGE?

Mine's the one with a Nokia 1100 in the pocket.

Better than a Lib-Dem how about...

How about if we go for the truth? Let's call it the conservative-republican phone? Absolutely empty and worthless inside... No substance. Just a phrase, a ditty, a mindless blathering of bankrupt nannering.

$billions of dollars (welcome to the United Socialist States of America) to cover the greed and ineptitude of the private market? Oh yes! Please, continue thinking based upon dated and very pathetic attempts to rhetorically attack Libs-Dems. Yes! Chase down your neighbor to make sure they are only having sex with the "proper" other sex! Chase down a woman using food stamps, a child eating a free lunch at school and see what kind of car the family owns. Ignore the $billion in the Savings and Loans of the 80's, the ENRON, Global Crossings, TYCOs and the meltdown of the economy based upon the deregulation and "free market" that is costing us. Yes, please continue to blather on sounding like the mindless minion that they want/need. Geeez. Some people find any excuse to try to slam Libs-Dems and they continually show their stupidity. It is so sad. Give it a break. It ain't cute, it ain't witty. It is presenting your stupidity to the whole world. Sad.

(Moderator, I am sorry, but this crap is really really getting to be a pain. Snide comments that should be answered. I didn't start it... but I sure as hell refuse to sit back and let it pass.)

Tariffs

I don't know what the contract and data situation is in the UK, but in the US, T-Mobile is VASTLY cheaper than AT&T for the same service. When I was on T-Mobile I had 300 anytime, unlimited weekends and M2M, with unlimited data (meaning unlimited bandwidth, although limited to web and email, but tethering was actually allowed!) and 100 SMS, for about US$40 (after taxes). This was the lowest service level with unlimited data, and was more than sufficient for my needs.

Eventually I got the odd notion that I "needed" an iPhone and so I switched to that. Now my bill is nearly doubled (about $70 after fees and taxes), and while the actual numbers for the service I get have gone up (450 anytime + rollover, unlimited nights + weekends), and the data service is now theoretically not restricted to what ports I can use (although for all practical purposes it is unless I jailbreak my phone), I was hardly coming even close to my previous plan limits, and while my iPhone certainly is a better web browsing and music-listening device, if I had just unlocked it I could have done all this for half the monthly price.

One thing to note, by the way, is that in the US, T-Mobile doesn't provide any sort of PAYG data (except on the Sidekick), unlike AT&T which has a wide variety of overpriced PAYG data products (and in order to use the only economical ones you have to have a monthly minute plan which is for all intents and purposes even MORE expensive than their contract fees).

Basically, cellphone service pricing in the US is completely out of whack.

@Darren7160

at least mick's comment was witty and short; as a lib-dem myself responses like yours are simply embarrassing.