I called T-Mobile today and decided to see how cheap I could get a HTC G1. I was quickly offered the G1 for $160by a customer loyalty agent, including tax and next dayshipping. The phone, with 2 year renewal, is listed for $179+tax+shipping ($200).
The new Google phone, originally billed as an iPhone killer, really isn’t all that cool compared to the iPhone.. For example, the specs given by HTC for the G1 have it as a non multi-touch device, meaning you can only use one finger or point of contact on the screen. That eliminates a lot of cool tricks that the iPhone is capable of. Due to the current multi-touch screen being used, it is possible to hack them into multi-touch devices, but no applications will support multi-touch.
On the other hand, the iPhone in it’s second generation is slick looking and has over 16k applications available. It’s easy to see that switching to AT&T is easily worth it.
My contract is not up for another week, at which time I could probably get another $20 credit when I call in to cancel. Unfortunately, $140 for a G1 just isn’t worth it. I’ve owned HTC before, and don’t plan on making that mistake again.