It has been less than two months after G1, the first Android phone, was launch that the second one is announced by Kogan.  It is the Agora, a phone looking more like a Blackberry than an iPhone.  The great thing about this new phone is that it is not locked.  However, it does not have as many features as the G1.

Here is what Howard Wong has to say about the Agora vs G1.

This is more blackberry-ish in style, slimmer and so in a way its a bit more "humble" and makes you wanna compare it to a blackberry.. which sort of allows Agora to scale back on memory features (256 meg, 128 meg flash, no WIFI).  Also I think they were smarter about battery life by supplying a 1300mAh battery as opposed to G1's 1150mAh.. G1 most prolly uses more power anyway.  Clearly Agora's niche is to bridge mainstream PDA users to Android.. a very smart move because quite frankly, most people don't know or care about where mobile applications come from. I believe this phone to be a much more humbler/accessible stage to feature android apps.

Looking back, I think Tmobile should've released something like this and steared clear of IPhone envy.  One of the first things I said to myself when I first played with the G1 was, "I can't believe google allowed this to be the first phone."

I still think the 4 buttons should be electro-sensitive like the touchscreen.  For such mainstay controls, they deserve to be on par with the touchscreen.  At least with this new Agora phone I won't complain because interaction through the touchscreen seems more like a bonus whereas on the G1, it seems required.