Maven Mapper's

Google recently leaked a code road map that indicates that we can all expect the real Google Android mobile phone to launch sometime between January 26 and April 2009.  The G Phone that is offered on T-Mobile networks was always basically a beta gadget. 

Google loves to do beta’s on the internet and typically offers them for free, so why not offer a beta gadget and charge for it no less!

That appears to be exactly what they did.  You take on part, early adopters, 4 parts semi-developed good ideas, mix it up with some out-sourced manufacturing and give it a healthy over dose of Google aps, and you basically have the G-Phone.

The only thing is that the G Phone was never really ready for prime time.  Google just charged people to beta test it for them, so that they could perfect the device a bit more before launching the ‘real’ G Phone now known as the G2, as in ‘Geee We get to buy 2!’

Now, the first G Phone was a decent looking device (in the age before touch screens.  Plus, it had that stupid slide up access to the Qwerty keyboard.  Why not just have the hole face slide up?  There’s nothing important about those buttons on the right, why leave them in the way of your thumbs?  Despite the stupid slide up thingy, it was seriously missing one important feature.  It lacked  video camera capability. 

You’d think the owners of YouTube might have had a better grip on the importance of video?

The G(eeee)2 has a 5 megapixel camera and a VGA video camera that should not only support video messaging, but video calls (and presumably live video streaming via services like QIK.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a good feature to add, but WTF was Google thinking launching the G1 without it?  Launching the G2 with video capability is far from ‘brilliant’ its just the bare minimum necessary for Google to stay in the game.

So for all you non-sucker early adopters that wanted to pay Google to beta test their phone that wasn’t ready to come off the drawing room table, the real G Phone should be launched sometime soon.  If Google really has there stuff together, they’ll launch to this new phone to the CE industry in 2 weeks at CES in Las Vegas.  If they can’t make that launch date, then we can all probably expect a late summer launch to the actual public.

Yes, its been a while since I had the opportunity to talk about Verizon Wireless.  I have been fortunate and have not had to use their services in a couple months until today when I was traveling.  Of course, as soon as I tried to connect to VZW, I get the nasty message that my air card needs to update.

These silly updates can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes. I was lucky this time, and it was only about 4 minutes, but these always seem to happen when I’m in a hurry.  That goes double for those times when I’m in a hurry and I’m traveling!

How do they know I’m on the road, when I do not have a Verizon Wireless cell phone?

Must be that blasted air card.  ;)