One of the smartest things Apple has done with the iPhone platform is release a non-iPhone device that has the same OS/capabilities—the iPod touch. If you’re not interested in buying an iPhone, in switching to Cingular, in all of that, you can still build and thoroughly test iPhone web apps and native apps by purchasing a cheap iPod touch.
This is not the case with Google’s Android platform. Currently, the only way to play with an Android device is to buy a T-Mobile G1, and sign up for a T-Mobile account. There’s no way for a non-T-Mobile user to buy a cheaper device or an unlocked G1 to build applications, test web apps, etc. This is a huge mistake on Google’s part, and one which I hope they rectify.
