More hotly anticipated than a cut in interest rates, the T-Mobile G1 hits Britain later this week. We’ve already ripped it from its packaging in an early unboxing, but when it goes on sale this Thursday it’ll give UK phone fans a first hands on with Google’s open-source Android OS.
Developers have been beavering away on third-party apps for months, and we’ve got the ones that will have Steve Jobs and Apple’s iPhone running scared, right here.
Google Street View
The big G has been busy “doing no evil” for the last few years by driving around every road in the country and snapping the street from ground-level. Privacy issues aside, it’s a handy tool to have on a phone if you’re looking for a location, and the G1 has it as standard. The iPhone still doesn’t have it, even though it was demoed before the G1 was made official. Sure, Apple’s working on it, but even when it arrives on the iPhone it won’t be the same, since the phone lacks the built-in compass of the G1, meaning you’ll have to prod the screen to change view, rather than just spinning around.
gWalk
Street View too confusing? Stick to this deceptively powerful map tool instead when you’re on foot – you can set a route beforehand, but with Android’s location-sensing API, it’ll reconfigure on the fly, should you decide to take a detour for any reason. Points of interest will pop up as you go, and you can even add your own. That certainly beats the iPhone’s Google Maps app, which sticks resolutely to whichever route is chosen when you set out.
BreadCrumbz
Last location app, we promise, but it’s definitely worth installing to wow any iPhone-owning mates. BreadCrumbz takes the concept of Street View’s compass mode, and takes it off the beaten track, letting users contribute their own geotagged photos en route. Never shell out for another tourist attraction map again, BreadCrumbz will let you scope a location before you leave, and then add your own snaps when you get there.
PicSay
Sure, you can get image editors for the iPhone, but what’s the point when you have to work with cruddy two megapixel shots in the first place? The T-Mobile G1 packs has an altogether more useful 3.2 MP sensor, complete with autofocus, and a powerful picture sprucer in PicSay. The software lets you edit photos properly, correcting colours to make them look pristine… before messing about with them using distortion tools, adding text and even tagging the location of the subject.
Twidroid
A swish Twitter client that looks smarter than anything the iPhone has offered so far, and because the G1 comes with a QWERTY keyboard it’ll mean faster tweeting for all. As you’d expect, it supports the full 140 characters allowed by Twitter’s micro-blogging platform, as well as letting you follow other users direct on the device.
Amazon MP3
While Apple’s got control over the App Store, there’s no way you’ll be allowed a serious rival to iTunes on an iPhone. That would be capitalism, heaven forbid, but because Android is open source it’s set to kick off a music download free-for-all! This is the first music store for Android, letting users browse Amazon’s extensive DRM-free music catalogue and download tracks for playback on any device. One catch though: until the desktop version launches in the UK later this year, this is strictly Stateside only.
MySpace
There’s nothing stopping you from logging on to MySpace on an iPhone, of course, but it doesn’t come integrated with Shazam, the software that lets you identify that tune you love but just don’t know who it’s by. MySpace on Android does though, so stick that in your social network pipe and smoke it.
iSafe
This choice bit of Daily Mail-baiting GPS nonsense alerts you whenever you’re in a “high crime” area or near the residence of a registered sex offender. We’d like to think that anyone who can afford a G1 isn’t at risk from paedophiles, and if you’re flashing it about in public, you probably deserve a good mugging, but whatever helps you sleep at night. OK, to be fair, there’s a version in the works for iPhone too, but it’s still in Beta and isn’t available through Apple’s App Store yet.
Quickoffice
Bizarrely, Android doesn’t have integrated Google Docs editing, and so far word processors are thin on the ground. Never fear though, a solution is just around the corner. Quickoffice is busy porting its clever mobile office tools onto Android – There’s no release date yet, but as soon as it hits the Android Marketplace, it’s worth downloading, if only to rub iPhone owners’ faces in the power of your spreadsheets.
LifeAware
If iSafe isn’t scary enough for you, how about an app that lets you know whenever a “friend” is in the vicinity, or any zone that you mark out on the map. Yes, we know, it’s the very height of stalkerish behaviour, but could also be useful for keeping tabs on your pesky kids.
