T-Mobile G1 Smartphone review
Its time to review the Google’s latest entry into the mobile phone arena that has now sold over 1 million units worldwide since its launch.

The T-Mobile G1 mobile phone is the very first mobile phone powered by Google mobile operating system. There was so much hype about this phone before its release and now its time to see how well it has held up to that hype. So let’s jump right to it.

We like:
There is plenty to like with the T-Mobile G1 that has a full QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, GPS, BlueTooth and 3G support. The operating system is Googles own Android OS that works quite nicely with all Google Apps, Amazon MP3 store and YouTube as well. The G1 is still new but more and more apps get launched everyday for the power Android OS.

We don’t like:
The phone doesn’t score all the design points a iPhone would so they could use to make it look better. There are also a few missing details which would have been great like a standard headphone jack or stereo Bluetooth. There is also no Microsoft Exchange support which is annoying for business users. The GPS is lackluster and so is the speakerphone function.

Overall:
The G1 won’t win the hearts of stylish phone seekers but the Android operating system is so full of potential that it is hard to ignore this phone. The phone really does everything you need and will only get better with more apps. Having said that a G2 will certainly be the ultimate way to go.

Since a whole year has passed since the G1 was first released we have had time to get everyone’s views on the Google Phone. Some people were blown away at how powerful the Android Operating Systems is and on the flip side there were those not at all impressed in what could have been a trend setting phone by Google. Most people lay somewhere in between. It is safe to say that the majority of people were expecting a phone that would rival Apple’s iPhone for the mobile market supremacy and the G1 has failed to do that. Mind you it is the first release of a Google phone but they could have paid more attention to design details and not just the ever powerful Android Os.

Most people are more than happy with the Android system and how it could change the mobile application world with its open platform. Yet there is something really missing when compared to the current market leader iPhone. There are still limited apps available for the G1 and business users are shying away due to the fact that it does not play nice with Microsoft Exchange. Hopefully these issues are dealt with in future versions of Google Phones. So let’s get an indepth look at the G1 and see how it compares to the iPhone.

Design:
While the T-Mobile G1 is not an ugly phone it certainly isn’t the iPhone. The finish on the G1 could have been made a little sleeker and the overall feel could have been better too. The G1 is made by phone maker HTC and one look at the G1 will reveal that it looks quite similar to the other HTC Pocket PC smartphones. The G1 is 4.6 inches tall which gives it a big viewscreen. However it is 2.1 inches wide and 0.6 inches deep and weighing in at 5.6 ounces which don’t exactly make it slim or sleek. It looks a bit funny overall and sitting beside a iPhone it definitely doesn’t win in a beauty contest.

Keyboard:
One of the main reasons the G1 is not as sexy as the iPhone is the keyboard. While the iPhone is all touchscreen with a virtual keyboard the G1 makes use a full slide out QWERTY keyboard. This naturally gives the G1 the extra thickness and weight. The slide out keyboard will please many users who simply don’t feel comfortable without solid button to push while typing messages and emails. To access the keyboard simply push the screen to the right and keyboard is revealed. You will notice that the screen slides out at an angle rather than a straight motion.

As for actually using the keyboard it is a bit odd to properly. Since your right hand is obstructed by the right part of the phone your speed and accuracy will greatly affected. Most users will tell you that they can’t type as fast as normal. The keyboard itself is almost like the one found on the T-Mobile Sidekick. The keyboard is quite spacious but the buttons are a tad on the small side and flush with the phone. We guess you will get used to all this after a few weeks use and forget all about the quirks of the keyboard.

Touchscreen:
This is where new smartphones go to be judged it seems. How does the touchscreen work. We are glad to report that the G1 stands up against the top touchscreens like on the BlackBerry Storm or Apple iPhone. The T-Mobile G1 is just as good when it comes to mesmerizing color displays that just begged to be played with. It measures a full 3.2 inches and runs at 320 x 480 pixel resolution. It is a capacitive touchscreen that will only respond to your finger but not your fingernail or a stylus pen. To make sure you know what you are pushing the G1 is haptic for certain features. Some features could leave you wondering if you pressed the button or not while others give a long vibrating feedback after pushing an icon.

A thing of note on the touchscreen is the automatic screen rotation. Some phones are constantly aware if it is being held in portrait or landscape mode and rotate their screen to match. The G1 is loaded with all the required hardware to follow suit, yet it does not. It only shifts the display to landscape when the keyboard slides out. Google reps claim that users preferred it this way in early trials and that future apps could adjust the way this works.

Using your fingers on the touchscreen is a breeze as it responds quite well to your touch. When you need to access a menu just touch on some empty space and hold it for a second. A nice contextual menu will pop up and give you a variety of options depending on where in the operating system you are or what application you are using. With quick flick of your finger you can fly through long lists or drag you finger nice and slow to take a longer look at anything you want to read in detail. Another nice feature is the ability to pan webpages and other documents by holding your finger down and moving it around the touchscreen. There is one handy feature missing on the G1 that is found on the iPhone. The G1 is not multitouch so you can’t zoom pages in and out like the iPhone by pinching your fingers apart for a zoomed view. Its a handy but not required feature that would have been nice to have on the G1.

User Interface:
There is a lot to like with the user interface of the T-Mobile G1. Its easy to use with a clean design and it is awfully fun to play with. The homescreen is fully customizable so you can add your favorite applications for quick access later. Simply do a long press on some empty space and a nice menu pops up that allows you to create new app shortcuts, widgets and even change the wallpaper. There is also a task bar at the bottom of your screen that gives you access to full menus for all your applications. You can drag the icon of the app right to the homescreen and it will make a handy shortcut for you. Removing shortcuts is a breeze too just drag the icon to the trash and the shortcut ( but not the app itself) is removed. If you run out of space on your homescreen there are two more convenient sliding panels located to the left and right of your screen to add more shortcuts to.

The only downside to the G1 interface is that it is just not as smooth as the iPhones. With the iPhone you are always in your menu display when not using a specific application. With the G1 you have a customizable homescreen but the need for accessing menus is always there. You can recreate the iPhone feel if you were to spend many hours dragging all your favorite app shortcuts to set up the perfect homescreen. The G1 interface is not clunky or clumsy by any means its just that when compared to the super intuitive iPhone it still doesn’t match up. The one upside of the interface over the iPhone is the trackball at the bottom of the display.

Exterior features:
One big difference on the G1 over the iPhone is the fact that you get some tactile controls underneath the display on the G1 mobile phone. The most used buttons are there no matter what you are doing with the phone. The buttons are Talk and End/Power buttons, a Home shortcut, a back button, a trackball navigator, and a Menu key. The talk and power buttons are self explanatory and the menu button is once again contextual just like the menus on the toushcscreen. That means you get the menu you need when you need it depending on which app you are using at the time.

Other features on the outside of the phone include the volume adjustment and microSD Slot. There are also buttons on the side to activate and use the camera. Once activated it can be controlled by the trackball also. On the bottom is the mini USB port which will let you connect to your PC, charge the phone and its the only way to attach headphones. It really is too bad there is no standard stereo jack on this phone.

Accessories:
When you unwarp the T-Mobile G1 you will get a travel charger, a USB cable, a wired headset, a 1GB microSD card, a soft protective case, and reference material right in the box.

WiFi and 3G:
The G1 is the very first phone to offer 3G for T-Mobile so that is a huge plus right away. With 3G being available almost everywhere these days it sure makes it easy to stay connected to a high bandwidth connection. All the speed tests we ran on the G1 against the iPhone 3G made us feel content that the speeds were virtually identical. The G1 also has the advantage of being a Wi-Fi phone so you can hop onto any wireless network and run around the Internet that way.

Web Browser:
Web browsing on mobile devices is what it is all about these days. The G1 web browser is based on the same Webkit that the iPhone Safari browser is based on. This allows for full HTML browsing and it has Java Support. On the downside there is still no support for FLASH. Cruising around the web is easy with either the 3G connection or WiFi and most pages show up just like on a PC. You can use either the touchscreen to navigate the web or you can use the trackball for more standard browsing experience. The only thing that keeps the phone from scoring full web browsing points is that you have to switch back to the menu to use basic Back and Forward buttons.

Android Market:
Having access to an application store is vital for any smartphones success. The Android Market is Google’s way of combating the Apple App Store but the similarities end there. The Android Market is much more limited than the Apple Store and there are nowhere near the amount of apps available. Mind you the G1 is still new so there will be more as time goes on. The App Store will definitely be the key to the Android’s success.

Email and Messaging:
This is where the G1’s slide out keyboard starts to shine. Having a tactile keyboard is really handy when typing emails and SMS messages. The G1 supports a few different email types most notably Gmail of course. You can also configure it for POP3 and IMAP4 since it is a smartphone. There is full support for most common Office documents. On the downside is there is no support for Microsoft Exchange Sever but that is rumoured to be on the way anytime now. Chatting is quite easy on the G1 as it is preloaded with Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo Messenger.

Music and Video:
Well when it comes to Audio and Video it would be really hard to compete with the iPhone. After all Apple got its big break delivering mobile music with the first iPod. Having said that the G1 is a decent enough music player that will play all your tunes in a variety of music formats.

As for video, the G1 has video support and even a YouTube app preloaded but the video quality is not that great and there was some lag when downloading with 3G. It is certainly not an iPhone in this department but it does hold its own just fine.

Camera:
Finally getting to the last vital part of any new mobile phone is the camera. The T-Mobile G1 has a nice little 3.2 megapixel camera that is superior to the 2 megapixel camera on the iPhone. Only downer here is that it does not record video for some odd reason. The camera software is lacking since there is no settings adjustments for things like white balance, effects, and shooting modes. When you do take a picture the quality is not that great mostly due to the fact that it is hard to keep the camera steady for a good shot.

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