Having been an iPhone 3G owner since July, I was prepared to not be too impressed with the T-Mobile G1, the very first mobile phone to use Google's Android software as its operating system. The photos from its unveiling made it look big and clunky, and screen shots of the software seemed almost cartoonish in design.
But as a product manager for T-Mobile admitted to me, the G1 "doesn't photograph well". It's a lot more exciting in person -- it's sleeker than you think, and the software is quite impressive for an initial version. No, neither the hardware nor the software are as elegant as that of the iPhone, but the G1 is a close runner-up. Of the smartphones out there, it's the closest contender yet.
I've been using a review unit for about a week, long enough to find both things I like and things I think need fixing. The best news about the G1 is that not only can T-Mobile fix its flaws, so can any other skilled programmer.
That's because, like the iPhone, the G1 has a place you can go to download new applications for it. The G1 Market, like the iTunes App Store, is increasingly full of useful programs. But unlike the App Store, there's no gatekeeper for the applications. Anyone can write a program and add it to the Market.
What this means is that, yes, quality is going to vary wildly. But G1 users will be able to rate and review apps, and it should become quickly apparent when a program is junk. This open system also means that features that are missing or don't work well could be overcome by downloadable applications.
For example, neither of the e-mail applications on the G1 support Exchange, the Microsoft e-mail protocol that's favored by many corporations. That makes the G1 pretty much worthless as a serious business device. But someone could write an Exchange-compatible e-mail program and submit it to the Market (provided they got over Microsoft's licensing hurdles, of course). While Apple won't allow apps that compete with the iPhone's native ones, Google and T-Mobile have no problem doing that for the G1. That potentially gives the G1 a serious advantage.
The hardware
The G1 is made by HTC, which is known for its brick-like phones with screens that slide up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. That's the design for the G1, though the screen slides out first and then up, with a satisfying click. I enjoyed handing the G1 to curious friends, who expressed surprised delight when the screen slid up. It's very cool, but purely cosmetic, as an HTC spokesperson confirmed.
The phone feels solid in the hand -- I get the impression it's a lot more rugged than the delicate iPhone, which must be swathed in a case for serious protection against scratching. I've been carrying the G1 around in a pants pocket full of change, and so far it's unscathed.
It's thicker than the iPhone, but not quite as wide. And actually, with the SwitchEasy CapsuleNeo case I've got on my iPhone, it's about the same thickness.
Those who are familiar with other HTC phones -- such as the AT&T 8525, the T-Mobile Wing or the Sprint Mogul -- may be disappointed in the physical keyboard. The keys are small and round, which makes it difficult to hit keys quickly. You also have to press down fairly hard on each key. On previous HTC phones, the keys were square, larger and adjacent to each other, which seems like a better design, though not as visually attractive.
The 3.2-inch screen is bright and its resolution crisp. As with the iPhone, it can switch between landscape and portrait modes, but not automatically. To get into landscape mode, you must raise the screen. The G1 does have a motion sensor, so it's not clear why it doesn't switch automatically based on how you're holding the phone.
The touch screen is not quite as responsive as the iPhone, but definitely not as balky as the Samsung Instinct or LG Dare. It lacks some of the slicker multitouch capabilities -- there's no pinching to shrink or expand images or Web pages, for example.
The G1 has an angled "chin" below the screen that includes a trackball; the traditional cell-phone answer and hang-up buttons; a home-screen button; and a menu button. The angle of the chin is designed to protect both the trackball and the screen when the phone is placed face-down on a surface. I liked having additional buttons, though I sometimes became irritated with having to press the Menu button to get access to features in the G1's applications. More on that later.
As you'd expect, the phone comes with GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It will use T-Mobile's new 3G network, which is available at the moment in less than 20 markets, Houston being one of them. If it can't find a 3G signal, it can use the older EDGE network.
Much has been made of the fact that the G1 does not have a traditional headphone jack. Instead, the G1 comes with a stereo headset that plugs into the same port used to charge the phone or connect it to a computer. If you want to use a different headset, you'll have to buy an adapter. This actually is not uncommon. For example, Samsung's BlackJack I and II both require an adapter to use third-party headsets.
Audio quality is very good during phone calls. In fact, this is one of the best-sounding phones I've used in a long time. It comes with built-in voice-dialing, so it's also one of the safest, too.
Unlike the iPhone, the G1 has a replaceable battery. Battery life is a little better than the iPhone -- I can go a good two days without charging the G1, so long as I don't make heavy use of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. That can cut usage time to half a day!
The G1 also has expandable memory. It comes with a 1-gigabyte mini-SD card, and can take up to an 8-GB card. The iPhone's memory is fixed, but its 16-GB model eclipses the G1's storage capacity.
The software
Google's Android software is fun to use, and includes most of the features you'll want in a smartphone. Its home screen features the most commonly used items -- the dialer, contacts, the browser, maps and, of course, Google search. You can add more, and use your finger to slide back and forth between horizontally scrolling screens. At the bottom of the screen is a tab, which you touch to reveal your available apps.
As you'd expect, the phone is heavily tied to Google's services. When you first set it up, you have to enter your Gmail account information -- and if you don't have a Gmail account, the phone will help you set one up. It then pulls in all your contact and calendar information.
For some odd reason, if you have other e-mail services you want to access, you'll need to use a second included mail program. Why the two aren't combined is a mystery, and it makes using multiple accounts a hassle. Again, Google or another software developer could come up with a unified e-mail program -- and they should!
The G1's Web browser is based on Webkit, the same core component used in the iPhone's Mobile Safari browser. This means that the G1 shows you Web sites as they are meant to be seen. Unfortunately, it also means you can't see Web pages that use the ubiquitous Flash -- though again, someone could build a Flash player for Android.
I found the applications included with the G1 to be . . . OK. Generally, they're simple and uncluttered. As an example, the browser's page viewer takes up the whole screen. On one hand, this means you have more room to view Web sites, but it also means that you must press the Menu button often to get to frequently used features. I'd rather have a URL field always visible than have to constantly press the Menu button.
Since you can't pinch to zoom, Android puts plus-and-minus buttons on-screen. The zoom levels are imprecise, and I found myself hitting them multiple times, trying to get what's on the screen to size correctly. On the Web browser, a second button lets you box off a specific area to be enlarged, and I found I preferred this method of zooming, though it's still not as slick as the iPhone's system.
There are components of the Android software that show real innovation. For example, many phones allow you to set up a numeric password that must be entered before you can access its features, known as a lock code. On the G1, this has been replaced by a grid of nine dots. You set up a lock code by dragging your finger over four of the dots, and then only that pattern can open the phone. That's clever, but there's a real flaw in it -- the shiny screen easily shows fingerprints, and unless you wipe it clean after unlocking the phone, anyone can see the pattern via smears left behind. Oops!
Unlike the iPhone, which requires that you tether to iTunes to update the software, upgrades to Android will come automatically via T-Mobile's network. Don't expect T-Mobile to update the G1 as often as Apple does the iPhone, but it will be delivering both fixes and new features this way.
The G1 doesn't come with software required to connect to a computer. An included USB cable connects it to either a Mac or a PC, and you can then access folders on the phone. That's how you put music into it (though an included app also lets you download songs via AmazonMP3 when connected to Wi-Fi) -- by just dragging song files into the Music folder. Some folks may think this is simpler and less intrusive than using iTunes with the iPhone; others may think it's kludgy. I can appreciate the simplicity, but if you have a large library of songs, manually dragging/dropping can get old quickly.
Want one?
If you want a G1, you may have to wait awhile. It officially goes on sale on Oct. 22, but T-Mobile has said it's sold out of its pre-order. It sold 1.5 million phones in advance, and it's unclear whether you'll be able to walk into a T-Mobile dealer next Wednesday and buy one.
If you do, you'll pay $179 with a two-year contract. Usage plan pricing varies, but expect to pay a minimum of $55 a month for both voice and data.
And should you get one? If you're an existing T-Mobile customer who has been thinking about an iPhone, you suddenly have a real decision to make. This is a great phone for consumers -- for business users, not so much. It's about at the same place the iPhone was in its initial release.
If you've been trying to decide between the iPhone 3G and the G1, I'd have to say that the former is far more elegant and polished. But the G1 holds a lot of promise, particularly with its open-software approach. There will be more Android-based phones coming, and those who aren't wedded to any particular wireless carrier may want to wait until next year to see how things develop.
Both the iPhone 3G and the G1 are miles ahead of Windows Mobile and RIM BlackBerry phones -- at least, in the consumer arena. The smartphone market is suddenly a much more interesting place.
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