The first device to run on Google's Android mobile operating system (OS), the G1 was supposed to be a real competitor for Apple's mighty iPhone, but hardware shortcomings have apparently doomed the device to a short shelf life.
For the uninitiated, here's the difference between the Android OS and the iPhone: Apple's iPhone runs on its own operating system that is the epitome of proprietary. Apple doesn't let users customize the OS and vigorously polices its applications marketplace.
Multiple outlets are reporting that the G1's initial release only has enough memory to handle version 1.5 of the Android OS, codenamed Cupcake. Forthcoming releases, codenamed Donut and Eclair, probably won't be released for the G1.
Android developer Jean-Baptiste Queru revealed the news on his Twitter page.
"As much as I'm hoping that it'll be possible to somehow continue updating the G1, I can't promise anything," he said, confirming criticism that's rolled in from around the tech world.
"Let’s not beat around the bush: The G1 was not a very good phone," said TechCrunch analyst MG Siegler. "That’s not to say Android isn’t a good mobile OS — it is, it’s just that the initial hardware built to run the OS didn’t do it justice. It was poorly designed and had a fairly cheap feel."
In April, rumors swirled that the entire Android OS was in trouble because no one was developing any phones that ran it.
"Six months after T-Mobile released the G1, there's a grand total of one more Android phone available: the HTC Magic, which looks like a G1 with the keyboard snapped off," said analyst Sascha Segan. "That's not about to burn up the marketplace."
Those rumors dissipated in the light of at least 10 different devices in the works for Android, though to date, only five have made it to the market with the OS preinstalled: the G1, the HTC Magic, the HTC hero, the HTC Dream and Qigi's i6. Many other devices can run the OS in a post-installation scenario.