jailbrake HTC T-mobile G1

If you’ve been waiting to play around with an Android phone and put it through its paces, but don’t want to get on contract which is exclusive to the T-Mobile service provider, the only way your going to be able to get a phone which isn’t on T-Mobile is to jailbreak it similar to the iPhone jailbreak hack, remember by doing this comes with serious compromises in functionality again similar to the iPhone.

Now, if you’re prepared to get your wallet out and chuck a hefty £265 (plus a £20 sign-up fee), you can get a G1 with its hardware and SIM completely unlocked, and no need to commit to a T-Mobile data contract for two years (although the minimum contract was reduced recently from £40 to £30 a month, that still makes the unlocked version cheaper over a period of a year).

Officially, the unlocked G1 which is the HTC handset that is currently the only device available based on Google’s Android software platform, it is currently for developers only, but anyone can register as a developer for a one-off fee of $25 (likely to be around £20 in the UK). This option will also be available to users in countries where there is no T-Mobile network – 18 countries at first, with more to follow next year, including India.

The Android DevPhone 1 is SIM and hardware unlocked, but otherwise identical to the T-Mobile model. This shows Google’s level of control over Android and T-Mobile seems to have had little say in the decision to unleash an unlocked G1 just as the operator is reaching the peak of the product’s sales cycle, pre-Christmas. It also shows off Google’s determination to take a different approach to the tightly closed strategy of Apple for the iPhone and to rely on this contrast heavily in its marketing and its appeal to developers.

To get a DevPhone 1, users need to register as Android developers at the Android market applications store site. There is a limit of one device per developer account. The scheme will be available initially in 18 markets USA, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Hungary.