Are you stupid or something?

Google's touted "Android" mobile phone platform made it's big splash today in New York. Everyone wants to compare it to the iPhone but it appears that the comparison has already fallen on its face. The first Anroid phone, the G1, is available through T-Mobile but lacks one very important feature....there's no 3.5mm Headphone jack. Who's bright idea was that? You have to use a "dongle" plugged into the device's USB port to use any standard headphones. I think "dongle" is French for "a little piece of plastic that you'll lose five minutes after you take it out of the package."

So let's see what Google needs to do in order for their Android to be better than the iPhone.

• Come up with a application better than iTunes for hosting apps, buying music and subscribing to podcasts. Sure iTunes is flawed and you can't subscribe to Podcasts directly from your iPhone but it's still pretty good.
• Add a fucking headphone jack....seriously, WTF?
• Design a good UI. I hate Apple as much as the next guy but the iPhone's User Interface is awesome...it's what apple does after all.
• Make it smaller. The G1 is basically an HTC Tilt in terms of form factor. The Tilt feels like a brick in your pocket so I'm guessing the G1 will to.
• Only 1GB of storage on board. Sure the G1 has infinite expandability via a microSD slot but $179 for only 1GB when Apple gives you 8GB for only $20 more?
  
• T-Mobile? Yuck, what am I a tweenager?
  

Ways the G1 will be better

• User replaceable battery. Apple still hasn't figured that one out.
• Physical keyboard. Sure the iPhone's predictive on screen keyboard is good but a physical keyboard will always be better.
• Open application support. The app store for the iPhone cuts both ways, it's easy to use but restrictive. Google's will be the opposite, harder to use but completely open.
• Better integration with Google services....debatable