September 24, 2008

Everything you want to know about the T-Mobile G1

by mohsin

Amid a lukewarm reception of the new T-Mobile G1 on its launch, the phone may not have surprised us but it surely disappointed many Google fans. The phone was supposed to rock the iPhone from its cradle as many Google fans were anticipating; on the contrary, the launch must have surely made Steve jobs laugh. The phone like we mentioned in a web leak yesterday,does not even have a 3.5mm standard jack to make us enjoy our conventional or even favorite set of head phones to listen to music or make a call with. The new T-Mobile has flaws that will make any iPhone user thank god they stuck to their devices. Here is a rundown on what we found great and what the phone missed.

Pros:
1. No Multi touch but faster than any other touch screen: The G1 has a very responsive touch screen just as the iPhone does. It also has a feedback system, which prompts you on the actions you just performed
2. Intuitive Interface: It’s fair to say that even though the Android is new, users will not get lost in a maze of menus. The layout was easy to understand, and simply makes sense.
3. Google services integration: Gmail, Google Map with Street View, Google Search, YouTube, and others are built into the UI and work great.
4. Having a keyboard: Yeah the iPhone has multi touch, but typing on it can be a serious pain. The G1 has a real, physical keyboard for typing out e-mails, instant messages, and test messages.
5. Upgradability: The Android UI is open source, and can be upgraded and added to over time. Google, T-Mobile, and HTC pretty much promised as much.
Cons:
1. Tacky hardware. HTC really slacked off the design phase for this baby, the G1 feels cheap, and the phone’s plastics were not high quality. QWERTY keyboard is hard to work with. The worst flaw is that the phone does not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack.
2. The camera. The G1 may have a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, but it does not have a flash, or a mirror. Do not even get me started on the phone not having Video recording.
3. No PC synchronizing. There is no desktop syncing client available for the G1. That means if you want to synchronize your contacts, calendars, etc., you have to do it all through the Internet. While this functionality is a large part of the G1’s premise, there are those who are going to want to have more control and sync directly from their computer, especially those who don’t have unlimited data plans.
4 No support for multiple Gmail accounts. If you thought of throwing away that desktop for the G1 manage your email on the go, think again. The G1 does not support more than one Gmail account.

Source 1, 2, 3, 4