So I had my G1 for a couple of days already and I'd be lying if i said that I don't love it. I barely put it down wherever I go!
BUT I also keep seeing design "flaws" (for me at least) that I wish they would have put more thought into. Again, these are just me.
1. Speaker
- The speaker is located in the back part of the phone. While it has that tiny bit of embossed dot to lift it up from the surface, its still not enough to prevent any major sound muffling. Especially when you place it on a soft surface (like a pillow for ex). The sound is muffled significantly. I actually have to put my phone face down so that I can hear the alarm clock when it goes off in the morning. Maybe an additional speak on the front or when you open up the face would be helpful. Or does a significant volume come out of the ear piece as well? I didn't really notice.
2. Camera
- I'm not really complaining about the quality but rather the usefulness in which it could have been potentially maximized. Sooner or later video conferencing will be a whole lot more common and I wish that they would have placed another camera on the same face where the screen is.
3. Grip
- I guess im just real clumsy but there were a couple of times when I thought I would drop the phone whenever i start using the keypad. Maybe a little ergonomic design for the hands on the back part (kinda like a "grip" thing) would be nice especially when you open up the phone.
Overall I still love it to bits. the reason i got the phone was actually more for the features than the actual design so its still totally worth it for me.
ah good point. Although I think the grip feature wouldn't be too much of a size increase but rather just having a "curvy" design on the back. Then again, it would require them to re-fit everything inside =(
1. Speaker
- The speaker is located in the back part of the phone. While it has that tiny bit of embossed dot to lift it up from the surface, its still not enough to prevent any major sound muffling. Especially when you place it on a soft surface (like a pillow for ex). The sound is muffled significantly. I actually have to put my phone face down so that I can hear the alarm clock when it goes off in the morning. Maybe an additional speak on the front or when you open up the face would be helpful. Or does a significant volume come out of the ear piece as well? I didn't really notice.
I definitely agree with this one.. while i don't necessarily want a speaker on the front, the location of the speaker really does suck... have the time i can't hear my phone cause the speaker is muffled by something.... especially cause i don't like putting my phone screen down... either way, i wish the speaker was relocated somewhere..
i also don't know what it is, but the hinges are somewhat insecure since it is focued on one area... if you press on the top left corner of the phone wihle it is closed, you can't hear the squeaky noises that you usually hear, suggesting that it could've been better supported. however, the squeak i hear when it's closed doesn't really bother me too much, but enough to where i notice it everytime..
other than that, the device is pretty cool. i'd like it better if it didn't curve, but it works out... getting used to typing with a usb in takes a while... but the trackball + buttons + touch screen is phenomenal. (i dunno if i spelt that right)
2. Camera
- I'm not really complaining about the quality but rather the usefulness in which it could have been potentially maximized. Sooner or later video conferencing will be a whole lot more common and I wish that they would have placed another camera on the same face where the screen is.
What I think they should have done, or should do in the next version is first leave the nice high mp camera where it is, however add a small, webcam like camera to the same side as the screen, this could be very low res (640x480) cheap enough to add and perfect for video confrencing, or say, on the spot youtube-ing.
Actualy, with a camera in both sides you could video confrence with someone and be showing them something (like a product) seemlessly.
speaking of cameras, do any of you know if there's a setting that you could tweak the camera functions? the camera's uber slow for me unless there is adequate lighting.
I wish the keyboard keys werent to recessed - it would have been nice for them to be domed, too. Also, the dedicated buttons on the chin... domed! The trackballl - perfect, I just wish it was illuminable. Hey, a new word!
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another annoyance is that it only stands on one side. if you wanted to place the phone on its side to take a picture you cant, it'll tip over. but it'll stand on the other side where the volume buttons on top
Last edited by gsr717; November 27th, 2008 at 01:32 AM.
I like my G1, bar one gripe - when I've got the phone 'open' so I can use the keypad I frequently find due to the way I hold/rest it the volume buttons get pressed by accident...
The only other thing I'd like is a soft keyboard for quick replying to SMS - even just bringing up the dial pad and using T9 would be something (not sure what but it would certainly be something ).
The phone size for me is ideal as I've got rather large hands and find alot of modern small phones tend to vanish when I hold them
Camera - rubbish but then again I've got a few k's worth of cameras and lenses for when I want a photograph... for quick photos I've got a good cheep (read l don't worry if I drop it etc) compact digital...
Battery life - not good but then again I'm addicted to trap so that explains that one.
Video calling (lack of) - Had other phones which could do video calling, never bothered, dont see the point.
Speaker - not noticed it being muffled...
Display - excellent quality for the size, good brightness range
Touch screen - mine seems to be very accurate and as good as my ipod touch
Keyboard - best small form factor keypad I've used...
Software gripe: Would be nice if I could allow the SD card to be used for email/calendar/program storage...
I wish the keyboard keys werent to recessed - it would have been nice for them to be domed, too. Also, the dedicated buttons on the chin... domed! The trackballl - perfect, I just wish it was illuminable. Hey, a new word!
Your model must be different than mine, my keyboard has domed keys.
So I had my G1 for a couple of days already and I'd be lying if i said that I don't love it. I barely put it down wherever I go!
BUT I also keep seeing design "flaws" (for me at least) that I wish they would have put more thought into. Again, these are just me.
1. Speaker
- The speaker is located in the back part of the phone. While it has that tiny bit of embossed dot to lift it up from the surface, its still not enough to prevent any major sound muffling. Especially when you place it on a soft surface (like a pillow for ex). The sound is muffled significantly. I actually have to put my phone face down so that I can hear the alarm clock when it goes off in the morning. Maybe an additional speak on the front or when you open up the face would be helpful. Or does a significant volume come out of the ear piece as well? I didn't really notice.
2. Camera
- I'm not really complaining about the quality but rather the usefulness in which it could have been potentially maximized. Sooner or later video conferencing will be a whole lot more common and I wish that they would have placed another camera on the same face where the screen is.
3. Grip
- I guess im just real clumsy but there were a couple of times when I thought I would drop the phone whenever i start using the keypad. Maybe a little ergonomic design for the hands on the back part (kinda like a "grip" thing) would be nice especially when you open up the phone.
Overall I still love it to bits. the reason i got the phone was actually more for the features than the actual design so its still totally worth it for me.
Your thoughts?
Maybe it's just me but the phone is quite technical. I guess if you are not into phones this would not be the best idea. I'm not gonna lie I just got mine and I haven't been able to put it down either. That's because I have spent four days trying to figure it out or CUSTOMIZE it to my taste rather. I don't have the patience for this phone.
The volume buttons.
When you hold the phone in landscape, the volume buttons are reversed! They should make it so when you push down(the right side button) in landscape, it should increase the volume(despite it having the - on the physical button) and vise versa
If you don't get what I mean, here's me showing off my ascii skillz
Code:
_______
/ === \
| _______ |
+ [| VOL ||
- [|[### ]||
|| ||
|| ||
||_______||
| oo O oo |
\_______/
Makes sense here, pressing up makes the volume higher and pressing down makes
the volume lower, but in landscape...
______________
/ ___________ \
| | |o |
||| VOL |o |
||| [#### ] |O |
||| |o |
| |___________|o |
\__===_________/
+ -
You would expect the right button to move the bar right to raise the volume,
but it seems to do the opposite because of what the buttons have printed on
them.
The volume buttons.
When you hold the phone in landscape, the volume buttons are reversed! They should make it so when you push down(the right side button) in landscape, it should increase the volume(despite it having the - on the physical button) and vise versa
If you don't get what I mean, here's me showing off my ascii skillz
Code:
_______
/ === \
| _______ |
+ [| VOL ||
- [|[### ]||
|| ||
|| ||
||_______||
| oo O oo |
\_______/
Makes sense here, pressing up makes the volume higher and pressing down makes
the volume lower, but in landscape...
______________
/ ___________ \
| | |o |
||| VOL |o |
||| [#### ] |O |
||| |o |
| |___________|o |
\__===_________/
+ -
You would expect the right button to move the bar right to raise the volume,
but it seems to do the opposite because of what the buttons have printed on
them.
Is anyone else tweaked by the everpresent blue hue to all photos? I love the overall quality and detail of still photos taken on the G1, but I wish the color saturation was a bit more natural.
(And yes, I did remove the protective plastic over the lens when I first got the phone!)
Is anyone else tweaked by the everpresent blue hue to all photos? I love the overall quality and detail of still photos taken on the G1, but I wish the color saturation was a bit more natural.
(And yes, I did remove the protective plastic over the lens when I first got the phone!)
I don't have a blue hue. Mine's pretty much natural given whatever lighting conditions exist.
I don't have a blue hue. Mine's pretty much natural given whatever lighting conditions exist.
It's funny... after manually downloading 1.5 this weekend, I swear that blue hue has disappeared from my phone too. The last several pics I've taken -- in both indoor and outdoor lighting conditions -- have much better color balance than I can see in my earlier pics. I dunno... improvement, or the power of suggestion?
Really? I have yet to see or hear about a cameraphone that has a flash as those are huge battery hogs.
My Old SE 990i had 2 cameras one front and one rear (video phoning) and had flash ... normal use more than a day ...
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My Blackberry Pearl had a flash on the camera but it was only a 1 MP camera so the pictures were bright but crappy. I took a picture at dusk with my G1 last night and it was still remarkably clear.
I love my G1!! I probably love it more not being an early adopter, but I do have the problem where when I'm using it in landscape mode I hit the volume buttons. I can get around that though, it wll just take some getting used to.
The only thing I miss (and its not a hardware thing please don't bust my balls for putting it in this thread) is Activesync. If Apple can incorporate it Google should be able to as well. I'm an Exchange admin, so I was able to setup the servers for secure IMAP, like in the original IPhone, but Activesync is just so much easier and faster.
grip, I don't have an problem, but then I put on a body glove protector with a belt clip right away. The body glove is textured, and the button for the belt clip rests between my index and ring fingers when typing on the keyboard.
Camera, I don't use much, I have a 10 megapixel Nikon digital for when I am seriously taking pictures.
The video format bothers me, why would an Android phone, the ultimate competition for the Apple Iphone, use Quicktime as the default video format? Arrrrggg???
Hardware design [things I (or you) wish they did]
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