Devices for Developers - Android

Devices for Developers - Android

Google has released an unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1 for developers costing $399. Shipping to the UK is expensive at around $170 (but this includes import duty).

The phone is both SIM unlocked and the bootloaded is also unlocked so developers can load any version of Android their want i.e. they can build a custom version of Android and use that (T-Mobile's G1's have a locked bootloader that will only run T-Mobile's signed versions of Android).

Google make most of the source to Android available here. Some parts can not be open sourced as they interact with the hardware and as such could effect the GSM networking itself, which means the phone would never get FCC or other approvals.

Google point out that this is a developers' platform and not and end-user phone. Currently they are limited sales to single device to developers registered on their app platform.