Google, T-Mobile and HTC finally unveiled their Android-based T-Mobile G1 smartphone. This new smartphone is packed with tons of features that make it a worthy competitor to the Apple's iPhone.

The one thing that sets it apart from the iPhone, however, is its being "open" - an open platform that provides free access to its SDK and allows developers to distribute their applications for free, with no "censorship". Is this a great thing or what?

Personally, the apps that come built-in to the G1 are paltry compared to the iPhone. A video-player is not even provided with the phone - you still need to download it off of the T-Mobile Application store. Speaking of the app store, this time, both Google and T-Mobile have no intentions of screening the applications that get distributed thru the store, either free or paid. This one is an improvement to iTunes App Store BUT there is a down-side to this - what happens to malicious applications? Do G1 users need to be vigilant of every application that they download because there is no quality-control that ensures that the apps do not hijack the phone's data? So this goes both ways - I think Apple should be a little bit more "open" but without removing the fact that filtering the users from malicious apps.

AS for the hardware, the specs are impressive BUT there is not multi-touch support. That may be secondary only but I find it a bit ugly compared to the iPhone. It just looks like one of those fugly WinMo phones.

That being said, however, I am still waiting for Google to send me a review unit. :) Will I buy one? Being a developer, definitely!