Today, people interested in seeing the first Google-branded consumer-hardware product will get to satisfy their curiosity as the company, joining with T-Mobile, unveils its $179 G1 handheld computer. This touch-screen device will compete with Apple’s iPhone, and it includes a key feature missing in the iPhone: a physical keyboard.
Change is a familiar concept in the mobile-phone industry. Most recently, Apple and Google introduced mobile devices with two vital innovations: They run on fast 3G networks and use touch screens. Yesterday Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, brought out a device that goes halfway: the BlackBerry Bold, which runs on AT&T’s 3G network, but doesn’t have a touch screen.
Katie reviews Latitude, a new feature of Google Maps that uses location-based technology to track its users’ movements. Latitude displays the user’s location on a map for friends to see, so they can know where the person is at all times.
RealPlayer SP grabs videos from the Web and converts and transfers them to over a dozen portable devices. While other software programs perform two or just one of these tasks, RealPlayer’s trio of talent make it like a digital Swiss army knife.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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