Comments on: Official Android Development Phones

By: android developer

android developer — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:44:42 +0000

Pretty neat. I think Apple should release a phone like this too, so developers can test their apps. Its kind of a pain when you can your regular phone with a contract on it.

By: Ramon Cahenzli

Ramon Cahenzli — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:41:39 +0000

To give an update on that, the USPS ships a 2 lb. package to Switzerland for USD 27.00. Add taxes and you’re at USD 57.33.

By: Ramon Cahenzli

Ramon Cahenzli — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:51:54 +0000

I call bollocks on the customs fees. For Switzerland, the Google order form wants to charge USD 210.00.

The customs fee calculation for this type of package to Switzerland goes as follows: Deduct US VAT if it is on the price (let’s leave it at 399.00 for the example, 0.00 US taxes). Deduct the “free shipping” that’s included in the US price (0.00 since I don’t know how much that is). Add 7.6% Swiss VAT (30.33). Add shipping (UPS Worldwide Expedited) USD 99.94. Total fees including customs USD 130.26. Still steep, but better, and removing US VAT and shipping cost should bring that down a few more dollars.

If the sender manages to put a full commercial invoice on the OUTSIDE of the package, Swiss customs will not charge the CHF 10.00 customs inspection fee either, just the VAT. I suppose this is what “dutiable” and “non-dutiable” refers to when getting a price quote from one of the express delivery services.

Doesn’t the USPS offer some slow-as-snail service that could be used instead? I suspect that the shipping service the shop offers is set one notch too fast, making it one notch too expensive. There’s always the option of shipping the phone to a friend in the US, of course, but who wants to annoy people? :)

Maybe I should sneak into the Google research center in Zürich and see if they have a group order going on any time soon.

By: Bart Vanhoutte

Bart Vanhoutte — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:19:42 +0000

I’ve learned alot from the talks at Devoxx, thanks for that!

ps: Hi Ineke :p

By: Ineke Van Severen

Ineke Van Severen — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:18:20 +0000

Dear Sir,

is it possible that I found your USB-stick in Room 5 of Metropolis, Antwerp, during the conference concerning JavaFX. I wasn’t able to check its content till this evening. I found a presentation on “Filthy Rich Clients” and since I followed the seminar this afternoon, I thought the stick would be yours or mr Chat Haase’s. Could you please contact me so I could return the stick, because I only followed the University Days at Devoxx.

Sincerely yours
Ineke Van Severen

By: Francois

Francois — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:58:50 +0000

Hi Romain,

Just for information (French article on Le Monde):
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2008/12/08/que-vaut-le-telephone-de-google_1128466_651865.html#ens_id=1128473

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:25:33 +0000

Unfortunately this phone doesnt have GPS built in like the G1.

Also if you are outside the US you have all these extra import fees & tariffs added into your shipping charges.

,Michael Martin
http://www.googleandblog.com/

By: Mihai

Mihai — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:53:43 +0000

I’ am also looking forward to getting my hands on one of these babies, but for now, Romania is not on the shopping list either. I think they should arrange their distribution to work better and quicker, that will get a boost to the development on the Android platform.

By: Top picks for Devoxx 2008 University day 2 | Java Blog

Top picks for Devoxx 2008 University day 2 | Java Blog — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:20:08 +0000

[...] Romain Guy, who’s now working on the UI design of the Android phones as a Google engineer, always manages to impress the crowd with cool demos and knows what it takes to design a intuitive user-interface. (which is more important than most programmers think!) [...]

By: Wim Bervoets

Wim Bervoets — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:49:14 +0000

Too bad Belgium is not on the shipping list yet :-/

Looking forward to your Filthy Rich Clients session on Devoxx.

Wim