Release date for most European countries is set for June 2009. Nothing on the US yet.

The operating system itself is beautiful and easily navigated with the touch of a fat finger. The OS is developed by Google and then released into the wild with its source code exposed shortly after release of the G1. The phone itself was created by HTC working closely with T-mobile and Google.

The phone I purchased was unlocked running the developer code (as all unlocked G1's are considered.) These are some limitations that come with buying an unlocked G1:

1. Google will not let you purchase certain programs or games because of a hole in unlocked OS's allows someone to download progarms for free, so Google blocks your phone at the server level.
2. At&t's 3G is not the same as T-mobile's, you will not get 3g signal just Edge and wifi. This is a hardware issue, not software. There is no fix.
3. The integrated instant messaging application won't run AIM. You can download a free AIM app to get around this

As for the model itself its important to know a few things:

• This phone is a computer and will often run like one. Meaning application crashes, delay, lag, and reboots. It's not too bad compared to a computer, but awful compared to a basic phone.
• Running powerful applications and games will deplete the battery like camel's piss. Seriously, an hour and a half of any strenuous activity will completely empty the battery's bucket.
• This phone doesn't have any headphone jack. You have to buy a USB adapter. it sounds the same but will cost you extra, plus its one extra part to carry around.
• The camera on this phone is useless for any timed shooting. The object must remain still for at least 36 minutes. This camera will blur at the slightest movement or batting eyelash. Forget you even have one.

On a positive note this phone is capable of things I can barely conceive right now. Developers are hard at work on some of the most amazing applications that have yet to exist anywhere until this point. The phone has integrated Bluetooth (stereo), Wifi, 3G, GPS, and an extremely intuitive user interface. These features combined make for astounding capabilities in the work and recreational markets. The full sized, back lit, qwerty keyboard has a the most functional and cleanest layout on a phone I've ever used.

The real prize is location aware application can provide a simple interface to find weather, news, restaurants, movies, stores, and off the grid places relevant to your precise location. By combining Yellowpages type sites and user feedback on forums a G1 user can discover anything about an area. So maybe I'm in the middle of a city, and I'm curious about private spots to bang my hooker. I can check an application to receive directions and previous tenants' information on its quality, privacy, and features. One can easily find the value in thousands of users sharing their knowledge on the places and issues we all invariably deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Overall I have fun using it for games and various tools that are free or very cheap. It'll change the way you shop and travel with its easy Internet based applications, maps, and browser. However, this phone and others like it have the ability to change everything about our lives at a speed that humanity has yet to see. Even laptops don't stand a chance at making an impact compared to these little devices.

Despite what fast, powerful computers are capable of, the convenience of an item wins out over its versatility. The only recommendation I have is, if you can help it, wait for the next set of phones running the Android OS . The phone is great but very overpriced considering that despite its potential the phone is stuck in the "what if" stages until developers and larger companies light a fire under their ass and develop the fuck out of this operating system.

No, this steaming pile of crap is a choppy, useless, graphically rendered AOL chat room. When it isn’t telling users their graphics cards aren’t good enough to handle its shit pile game engine, it’s wasting millions of users' time with its poorly designed controls. So much so that a miniscule task will use up 20 minutes of precious Internet surfing life.

Second LifeOnce you figure out the controls and can navigate with relative ease, another conundrum reveals itself: What the fuck is the point of this program? (Furry Porn~Tony)You have the ability to create an entire world from nothing but to what end? Why would someone want to visit your world? There are ways to turn your world into a game, but its a shell of even a rudimentary flash game found online; modern hardware just isn't built for it.

Ok, so maybe you want to create a virtual rendition of something in real life. Ah, now this is interesting, right? The building looks nice but what are you supposed todo in it? There in lies the problem, the game lacks enough realism to accomplish its goal in creating a simulated life in which users can interract. It's boring and difficult because the game has the feel of something out of a CD from Wal-Mart advertising "Over 2,000 games inside!" The end result of the most carefully crafted virtual planet leaves the user with nothing but a moderate bit of eye candy in trade for hours of hard labor that won't repay itself.

Although, some major companies have joined in on this concept (Sony & Google), no one hasgiven it the functionality it deserves (Though there is technology very similar to SecondLife being used to reproduce historic places, like www.beyondspaceandtime.org; an accurate reproduction of the Chinese Forbidden city~Tony) . The Second Life realm would see a serious increase in active users if only it took the time to develop a world that was physically responsive. If Linden Labs does this then their end product would surpass the Grand Theft Auto series in its simulation of real world fantasy and hence it's following.

Armed with the ability to simulate everything in real life in detailed textures, life like faces, and a physically responsive environment; Linden Labs could shape the one platform for everything digital. Web sites would be converted to simulated buildings. Meetings could be held in the rocky mountains, surveying a model or a live video feed of a new store or oil rig. Users could tour a hotel with web cams to back up the model. Friends could watch movies together from the corners of the earth. Gamers could interact with the world around them using only minds to create an immersion never seen before.

Sony's Home

This what every Internet user out there wants in a game like Second Life: believable fantasy. The immersion factor in second life just isn't there. The characters walk around as if boards were stuck up their arse and flying reminds me of Lego men held by five year olds. The realism of a person walking and flying shouldn't be hard to produce considering the not so recent innovactions in gaming that have effectively simulated flying air planes, dragons, and spaceships for crying out loud.

This sort-of three dimensional (current) pile of crap has the potential to alter the world in its Internet habits. No longer will flat web pages be enough to satisfy the average web user, shopper, or teen looking to chat. When this game or one like it is built to these expectations you can expect the entire world to shift its perception of the Internet and life itself.

The application needs some serious upgrades along with plenty of company developed content to spur on the rest of the population. Alas, I don’t see this happening until affordable hardware can catch up with the requirements of a detailed game like this. (And if people stop trying to e-bang each other on virtual giant Swastikas~Tony)

I, enjoying the audible aspects of gaming and much of the visual aspects, had to investigate further. Where I stumbled upon the Siberia Neckband Headset. What caught my eye was the neckband design, which is convient for those of us who enjoy wearing hats in of doors...which I do. So, being the cheap bastard I am...I put it on my Christmas list to Santa Claus. Waking up Christmas morn, soon to my wondrous surprise, I had said headset. Story time is over now.

The first thing one notices when trying this headset is the feeling of your head being bald, I've always used a headset that goes over the top of my head, and intentionally found the neckband design to be uncomfortable. Within about 15 minutes though, I was used to the feeling and it has not bothered me further.The neck thing that I noticed was that the actual speakers were slightly too small for my ears, making gaming marathons less comfortable than I would like.

The specifications of the Headset are very robust. The speakers themselves pick up frequencies well beyond what the human ear can actually hear, though we can feel sound at a much high and lower frequency than we can hear. The Acoustical impedance (That is basically how 'true' the sound is) is very good, it almost makes up for my sound card less computer. The microphone itself picks up well beyond the frequency range of the human voice, picking up more nuanced sound so that your opponents in COD4 can hear just exactly how much bullshit and haxz you think they're full of.

Pros:

~Excellent sound quality in stereo and microphone

~Comfortable around neck

~360 headset jack accessory

~Compact size

Cons:

~Short cord (the cord does come with an extension

~Small speakers

~Expensive, though well worth the money.

Overall I give this product:

8 screaming-12-year-old-Halo-players out of 10

With these hollowed halls shall be the miscellaneous section, whether it be device or software review, news that matters to me. (This isn't really about you is it, I pay for this anyway...sheesh, always so self you lot.) And anything else I feel like adding. So please, enjoy.