Finally we can do a ‘proper’ G1 review having had the phone for a while, rather than just having a 2 minute fiddle! So here is a hands-on laymans review of the T-Mobile G1 phone including a small speed test.
Look & Feel
It looks like a mini keyboard with a widescreen attached to it. The G1 packs a nice 3.2 inch screen, making it much easier for us mere mortals to type our messages with larger font sizes, the buttons are a delight to my itchy fingers, the rounded keys are very light and responsive.
We then come to interacting with the other delights this phone has to offer. It feels pretty amazing the way you can switch between using the screen as a touch pad, and using the tiny mouse on the keyboard to switch between.
Aesthetically the phone is very sound, and feels sensational to touch, and Google have announced add-ons such as the Flash Player to watch your YouTube videos and free applications such as games and third party software.
Camera
I played around with the camera and it was simply awful, even if it is a 3.2 mega pixel camera, it produced tacky monotonous photos, which only a 1 megapixel camera could produce.
Speed Test – Phone Call To Map
What has made me very much angry is the iPhone–like advertising I’ve recently seen, it has tried to make using its features faster than it really is. I did a test, to see how long it takes to switch in between a phone call and a map, to try to find out where my friend wanted to meet up later that day. On the advert it was done in 3 seconds. When I tried it, it took something closer to 50 seconds. That’s almost 17 times longer than the advert showed it would take.
Word Processing
Leaving that aside, it doesn’t have a word processor as standard, instead making you compliant to Google’s own Online Word Processor, called Google Docs.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone who doesn’t use Google applications intensively, like Google Mail or Google Maps.
I think Google and its collaborators completely missed the point with this piece of technology, they tried to make a halfway decision of making it look like a Smartphone for a businessman and still trying to make it trendy like an iPhone. It hasn’t done any of that, Google has some long and hard lessons to learn, to be either one or the other.
I would recommend either; a Blackberry Bold for those who want to use it for professional purposes or other work related business, or for the leisure minded individual, going for the Samsung Pixon.
Product Website: T-Mobile G1
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I recently bought a g1 and I like it.the things keeping me from loving it are the camera, bluetooth, battery, and the way the charger plugs into the side of it so inconviently making it really weird to hold while it charges.
The camera = HORRIBLE it takes so long for it to snap, and when it finally does, if you got lucky enough that the pic isn’t blurry, its just plain bad.
Bluetooth = nonexistant maybe? My bluetooth will be on and friends will try to pair with me and send stuff but my phone just won’t take it …idk what’s up with that.
Battery = wtf!?!? Why do you dieeeeee!!?? It can’t hold a good charge (you’d think if google made a phone with a bunch of battery draining things, they’d get a better battery for it eh?)
C: other than that its a great phone
Why is adobe flash player not available for this phone it is useless without it