Looks like Google is taking Nokia’s route, as opposed to Apple’s known secrecy policy. The new T-Mobile Dream, or G1, is not even released yet, or for that matter, has not even been officially announced, and there are already leaked pictures and specs on the Web.

I personally am not as excited by the hardware of the HTC Dream as I am with Android. The phone looks kind of big and bulky, and I am not a huge fan of the whole Sidekick, slideout keyboard form factor. As for the specs, there really is nothing too exciting about this handset’s capabilities. It has the standard 65k display, 3.1 MP camera, and 5 hours of talk time. It lacks stereo Bluetooth (ouch), video capture (um, why?), and corporate push mail. The phone requires a Gmail account to access your email, and from what I understand, does not have any built-in memory.

I think Google could have done better when choosing the first Android handset. For example, if Google would have chosen the HTC Touch HD to introduce their new OS, I am pretty sure they would have many more interested customers. Having said that, I am not worried about Google, Android is appealing enough by itself, that it does not need a fancy shiny phone to make it attractive. On the contrary, it might have distracted the user from the beauty of the Android interface.

-Hillel