The Chronic Consumer

I’m not one of those people who thinks everything Google touches must be gold just because they’re Google and they do no wrong (or evil). So forgive me for not being as excited about the T-Mobile G1 Google cell phone as most of the other fan boys and girls are. I mean, the first thing that crossed my mind is why on earth is Google getting into cell phones? Aren’t they big enough and omnipresent enough already?

Anyway, the G1 phone is supposed to be an “iPhone killer” — I guess because it has a touchscreen just like the iPhone, but also has a QWERTY keypad and can handle all the popular Google apps like Gmail, chat, Maps, and Street View. Moreover, it supports multiple browser windows (that does actually sound cool) and something called Compass mode that also sounds kinda cool.

The phone is slightly thicker and heavier than iPhone, and initial reviews indicate that it doesn’t handle or play music nearly as well as the Apple product. Well, duh.

The T-Mobile G1 Google cell phone will retail for $179, which is significantly less than iPhone, and has two data plans available ($25 and $35 per month).

I’m sure a bunch of people will snap these up, but I don’t think I’ll be buying this — especially not just for two cool features that I probably wouldn’t even use very often anyway!