GooglePhoneFilter: I got Blackberry in my iPhone!

December 17, 2008 11:29 PM

CanadaCellphoneFilter: How can I use a Google G1 Android phone on Canada's Telus network?

I am lusting after a Google G1 Android phone. I want to replace my Blackberry and end my frustration that the iPhone doesn't have a good keyboard, and the BB doesn't browse the web properly.

I am on a corporate plan which requires me to use Telus. I don't understand enough about the specs of the G1 to be able to tell if the phone is compatible with their network.

posted by mrmcsurly to computers & internet (6 comments total)

The G1 is a GSM phone, while it appears that the Telus network is entirely CDMA. Basically, it's a no-go.

As for web browsing on the G1 vs. the iPhone, even though both browsers are based on the WebKit rendering engine, the G1 browser is nowhere as easy to use as Safari on the iPhone, mostly due to lack of multitouch zooming, though they both beat everything else out there. I use both phones on a regular basis; the iPhone is my personal phone, but I write Android software at work.
posted by strangecargo at 12:35 AM on December 18, 2008

You can't. You must have Rogers of Fido if you want to use a G1 or any phone with a SIM card.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:20 AM on December 18, 2008

Sorry, Rogers OR Fido.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:21 AM on December 18, 2008

FWIW, there are a few rumours on Howardforums that Telus will get the Android (amongst other rumours about what's coming). If this is actually true, it will have to wait for a CDMA version to be produced. The current ones won't work.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 6:50 AM on December 18, 2008

Telus is also moving to the 3G GSM standard (HSDPA) by 2010, so that may be where the rumors are coming from. So unless you are willing to go with Rogers/Fido, that's probably what's going to happen. Google still may be working on a CDMA version...
posted by hylaride at 9:15 AM on December 18, 2008

Let me try to de-conflate the terminology here. The G1 is the phone, while Android is the OS/platform running on the phone. Google is responsible for Android, while the G1 is manufactured by HTC.

It's possible that *HTC* (not Google) may be working on a CDMA version of the G1, but it's also possible that any number of other manufacturers may make a CDMA phone that runs Android before this happens (if it ever happens at all).
posted by strangecargo at 4:00 PM on December 18, 2008