I am Intrigued by Android

I've been a die hard Blackberry user for nearly 10 years now, sans the week or so I played around with a T-Mobile Dash last year. I currently use the Blackberry 8320, which is the best Blackberry device I've used to date. My friends and family always ask me why I don't use the iPhone since they know my penchant for gadgets and figured I'd always have the latest hot thing. There are actually a few reasons why I haven't jumped on the iPhone bandwagon yet:

1. Push email if vitally important to me, and my corporate email address is not MS Exchange based.
2. I need the ability to get push email for all of my email accounts
3. The Blackberry allows you to create server-based filters, so that I determine which emails to be sent to the device and which ones I can just read later when I'm on my laptop.
4. Ability to type easily - nothing beats the tactile feel of a real keyboard.
5. Cost - Right now I pay $79 a month for 1000 minutes, unlimited email, data and SMS, and T-Mobile Hotspot.  The equivalent set of services if I were to move to an iPhone would probably cost me an additional $50 a month with AT&T

As everybody knows by now, earlier this week T-Mobile and Google announced the new Android G1 device which will be available in late October.  I read several of the reviews, and I have to say that I'm quite intrigued by Android and this could be the platform that finally gets me off Blackberry once and for all.  With built-in push email support for Gmail accounts this will address most of my email requirements.  The G1 also has a full keyboard, and the monthly cost would actually be lower than what I'm paying right now for the equivalent set of services.  Plus, I am hopful that Android will really take off as a development platform and that we'll see a ton of cool 3rd-party apps developed for it.  To be honest I'm getting really tired of Apple's heavy handedness these past few years, and we're seeing that once again with their App Store.  I mean come on, not allowing an app to run in the background?  If that is such a big concern to Apple then their stinkin' OS should be smart enough to lower thread priority and/or swap the app out if it becomes too resource intensive.  

The G1 may not be the sexiest beast out there, but it's the first of what I hope to be many new Android-based devices to come.