Google has just announced the availability of a developer phone that can be purchased by registered Android Developers. Costing $399 (roughly the same price as a contract-free G1 phone from T-Mobile), the phone offers an unlocked bootloader and allows easy flashing for the installation of custom Android builds. It is available for purchase in 18 international markets. You must join the $25 Android Marketplace program in order to purchase a device. Regular users interested in an unlocked phone are being warned that these units are intended for developers only and are to be used at your own risk.

Although developers can always purchase standard retail units, the new hardware allows you to test on a real device without contract and with any SIM you want. This latter point can be especially valuable for anyone who lives outside a normal T-Mobile service zone. G1 developer nyquildotorg told me that he wishes Google and T-Mobile had announced they were going to offer a dev unit before launching the G1, saying "I would totally have gotten one of those instead. Maybe that's why they didn't tell us."

For some overseas developers, these units can represent a significant savings over retail prices. $425 (handset plus marketplace membership) equates to just £290. The G1 in the UK goes for £40 per month under contract, although that contract offers minutes and data. In most cases though, taxes, duties and shipping are extremely expensive. I'm told that shipping to Canada may run as high as $264.49.

In contrast to the Google, Apple has yet to introduce a developer iPhone—devs must sign a contract and pay full going rates. The first generation iPhone offered contract-free prepay units; the 3G does not. Some iPhone developers have ended up signing contracts and then pay the early termination fee to limit their cash outlay. Here, Google and T-Mobile have set an example that Apple really should follow. There's no price break on the hardware for developers but at least they can acquire their unlocked units with a simple cash purchase.

G1 developers dream_kill, cmonex, and JesusFreke have already managed to install a developer-style bootloader onto retail units, making them effectively the same as the dev version. This only works, we're told, if you already modified your firmware prior to RC30, the firmware update that Google released, which broke existing jailbreaks. G1 hacker Jashsu writes, "The unlocked bootloader (at the current time) is mainly for those who wish to modify the Android framework itself, recompile the entire OS, and test their patches on hardware. Theoretically however, it opens the doors for things like custom xda-dev builds of Android or possibly other operating systems like winmo, symbian, access linux, etc."

Doing this kind of mod is not for the weak of heart and will appeal to a very limited audience of developers. Over at GotOnTheInter.net, the JesusFreke mod has the following warning: "If this goes wrong, you WILL DESTROY YOUR PHONE. Seriously. It will go PTHHTHTH. So don't interrupt it, don't let the battery die, etc." Clearly bad things can and will happen to retail phones that do not perform the update properly, which should make the new hardware more appealing for those interested in doing so.

The Android Dev Phone 1 costs $399 with free shipping available in the US only. Participating markets include US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary.

Source:arstechnica