Rogers brings Android to Canada with HTC Magic and G1
Rogers is teasing the Canadian smart phone public (you’ll have to pick your province when you click the link because Rogers is SO down with web design) with a live countdown to announce the arrival of Google Android phones to the Great White North. Not only are they getting the HTC G1 with the sliding keyboard, but they’re also getting the slightly slimmer keyboard free HTC Magic.
This comes just a day after Bell announced the Palm Pre coming to Canada later this year, which leaves only Telus to bring a ‘hot’ new device. My guess is they’ll be announcing the HTC Diamond 2 and/or the HTC Touch Pro 2 before too long.
Warning… Android rant after the break…
For what it’s worth, I’ve had a chance to play with Android for about a week, and I’m thoroughly non-plussed by the operating system. There are certainly some things to like about it, such as a good web browser, but it’s contact management is aggravating. If you’re used to any kind of real contact management on your phone. Other annoying points like a weak on-screen keyboard (including Cupcake’s), make it a non-starter for me.
Oh yeah, the battery life sucks. REALLY sucks, as in gold medal level of sucking.
Who knows, maybe future iterations of the OS will do something to help with the battery issues, but that remains to be seen.
RebelScum also chimed in on the announcement, mainly from the Rogers Marketing of it… enjoy the bonus rant:
Gwad I love Rogers’ marketing rhetoric:
“Who else but Rogers would be the first carrier to offer Canadians thefirst chance to join the mobile revolution with a choice of not one, but two,handsets powered by the Android platform?”, said John Boynton, Senior VicePresident and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless.– Well duh. Considering you’re the ONLY GSM carrier outside of Quebec (I don;t even know if Videotron IS GSM), who else indeed?TRANSLATION“Because we’ve been busily buying up all the competition in the country, we’re the only option you got. It’s pretty much a lock that we’ll charge you a substantial monthly fist-raping for this device, but we know you;ll pay it because you’re all lemmings. Remember the iPhone? Yeah, we’ve got our ducks in a row on this one, don;t you worry. Maybe we’ll throw in a pair of tickets to the Rogers’ Blue Jays at teh Rogers Centre. Enjoy a Rogers Dog and a nice cold Labatt Rogers and think about how awesome it is that we’re offering you a choice of not one, but two, handsets powered by the Android platform. Suckers.”
~ For what it’s worth, Roger’s “largest network” has a LOT of 3G dead spots travelling between Toronto and Montreal, when RebelScum and I put the iPhone head to head with a Bell Touch as recently as March of 2009.~
Technically, Rogers has a larger network nationwide, but technically, BELL’s 3G coverage is larger. Which concisering I only ever travel from a big city to another big city, that’s all I care about. But yes, the 3G showdown on the way to Montréal resulted in EPIC FAIL for the poor iPhone and the Rogers Network.
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