I really dig Android. I like it's promise of delivering an open platform, the solid SDK and how easy it is to get familiar with it's framework and libraries. The day the SDK came out I put together a little utility application for Codebits that answered a question I had overheard while walking in the venue "where's the nearest ATM?". Taking advantage of location, maps and SAPO's GIS it took me just a few hours to get into it and, with 0 experience, create an application that allowed you to search in the real world and narrow down the results to what's closest to you.

Anyway, a few days later while discussing Android I remember saying that the first device shouldn't be out before this year's 4th quarter and, almost like clockwork, the first Android phone is out: the HTC Dream.

So at 15:30 (local time) I plugged in the headphones and watched the video coverage of the device's launch made available at T-Mobile's website. Unfortunately, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed.

The good stuff is that pricing is really competitive. They're (all of them: Google, HTC and T-Mobile) pitching it as a consumer product and it's great to see a price tag that reinforces that pitch: $179 USD. I'm really curious to see how it'll be sold here in Europe and at what price range. And that's really just about it, in my opinion it's all downhill from here.

The device marks, if memory serves, the entrance of HTC on the consumer market. HTC is a well know manufacturer of enterprise smartphones and it shows. To be honest, I don't really believe HTC will continue to churn out consumer devices but I've been proven wrong before. Anyway, the fact that the first device comes from an enterprise vendor really shows although it's missing some critical enterprise features, e.g. compatibility with Microsoft's Exchange and Office file formats. But I guess it's all part of the Google-plan, on which they want to challenge the dominant enterprise player, just not in an obvious heads-on way but instead borrowing a page from guerrilla warfare.

From the video presentations all I saw was a mobile phone that, just like a PC, has everything and the kitchen sink and, just like the PC, is confusing as hell. They even imported the desktop concept, complete with workspaces, desktop shortcuts and clock widgets. Now I don't know about you but I don't want that. I don't want a mobile phone that's just like a PC, only smaller. What I want is a mobile phone that's almost like a PC only simpler. And this comes as a surprise because the SDK's UI is actually pretty good at being simple.

The other thing I didn't like to see was brand confusion. To HTC it's the HTC Dream, to T-Mobile it's the "T-Mobile G1 with Google" (not kidding, that's what they kept calling it), to the vast majority of people out there it was the Google phone but under what name will I, a Vodafone Portugal customer, know it? Maybe the bells are tolling for "smaller" manufacturer brands?

This state of confusion kept getting stronger as speakers took turns at pushing their agendas but never telling me, in a clear way, why I should consider buying (into) the Dream. The only guy I actually enjoyed listening to was Sergey Brin, who showed up in rollerblades and said that after getting the device he created a non-sense application to measure the time between you throwing up the phone and grabbing it (or it hitting the ground). I can see how it would be useful to measure the time between users throwing the phone against the wall and the time of impact, in acts of frustration.

In conclusion, I believe the best surprises will come from Samsung and LG who are also part of the Open Handset Alliance and have a bit more experience in designing consumer market devices. There are no official launch dates for them so I'll have to wait and see but one thing is true: I won't go out of my way to get an HTC Dream when it becomes available in Europe.

And how about you, what's your opinion on the first Android mobile phone?