Cross-posting this from another forum, want to see if others feel the same:
For some time I wasn't sure what the G1 really was. Coming from the Treo/Centro line, it wasn't as handy as the quick Treo with front facing keyboard and stylus, and I imagined it wasn't quite an iPhone in polish. I'm ambivalent about finger-based touch screens, they dictate huge and inefficient layout. It can be said that not having to pull a stylus out is an advantage, but on my Palm devices I often used the tip of the finger nail instead of the stylus, and often took advantage of keyboard shortcuts on the front facing keyboard. That is still possible on the G1, if you open the slider keyboard. I find that most of the time, I prefer to work in landscape mode anyway, and thus have the keyboard available. I love the keyboard, messaging is definitely easier on the G1 than on the Centro.
It's definitely a device to stop and use, rather than use quickly on the go like a Blackberry or Treo. But I find that I'm using it more and more in place of my laptop, everywhere, for any length of time. I once spent a whole day researching stuff on it in a local cafe, it was easy -- all I had to do was keep it plugged to the charger while those around me were pulling laptops out of their backpacks. And so I recently have been gradually moving away from my laptop, and relegating it for the occasional Netflix stream or work related stuff. Otherwise it remains shut outside of work, which is amazing to think about.
So I think I'm coming around to seeing this phone as a tiny netbook. It's not what I thought it was initially, and I still don't edit documents on it, but for all other purposes, it does everything I need throughout the day. It's a good music player (though it sometimes forgets the last track I was listening to), great web browser, very good email, mapping and search tool. This is it then, it's the unlikely netbook. Truly portable, lasts longer and has an easy OS. It connects to WiFi smoothly, 3G reception has been generally just fine anywhere in the bay area, and Edge where necessary is quicker than it was on my Sprint Centro. I'm glad to have WiFi because the signal where I live has been weak with all carriers, so at home it's plenty zippy. Call quality on par with the Treo's I've used, though the phone UI on the Treo was better.
I wonder if Google is thinking of a possible line of netbooks based on Android, but I have to say that the G1 already does the job.
So while I certainly won't say its PIM capabilities are as mature and efficient as a Palm OS device, I can say that it holds its own in a new and unlikely niche.
For some time I wasn't sure what the G1 really was. Coming from the Treo/Centro line, it wasn't as handy as the quick Treo with front facing keyboard and stylus, and I imagined it wasn't quite an iPhone in polish. I'm ambivalent about finger-based touch screens, they dictate huge and inefficient layout. It can be said that not having to pull a stylus out is an advantage, but on my Palm devices I often used the tip of the finger nail instead of the stylus, and often took advantage of keyboard shortcuts on the front facing keyboard. That is still possible on the G1, if you open the slider keyboard. I find that most of the time, I prefer to work in landscape mode anyway, and thus have the keyboard available. I love the keyboard, messaging is definitely easier on the G1 than on the Centro.
It's definitely a device to stop and use, rather than use quickly on the go like a Blackberry or Treo. But I find that I'm using it more and more in place of my laptop, everywhere, for any length of time. I once spent a whole day researching stuff on it in a local cafe, it was easy -- all I had to do was keep it plugged to the charger while those around me were pulling laptops out of their backpacks. And so I recently have been gradually moving away from my laptop, and relegating it for the occasional Netflix stream or work related stuff. Otherwise it remains shut outside of work, which is amazing to think about.
So I think I'm coming around to seeing this phone as a tiny netbook. It's not what I thought it was initially, and I still don't edit documents on it, but for all other purposes, it does everything I need throughout the day. It's a good music player (though it sometimes forgets the last track I was listening to), great web browser, very good email, mapping and search tool. This is it then, it's the unlikely netbook. Truly portable, lasts longer and has an easy OS. It connects to WiFi smoothly, 3G reception has been generally just fine anywhere in the bay area, and Edge where necessary is quicker than it was on my Sprint Centro. I'm glad to have WiFi because the signal where I live has been weak with all carriers, so at home it's plenty zippy. Call quality on par with the Treo's I've used, though the phone UI on the Treo was better.
I wonder if Google is thinking of a possible line of netbooks based on Android, but I have to say that the G1 already does the job.
So while I certainly won't say its PIM capabilities are as mature and efficient as a Palm OS device, I can say that it holds its own in a new and unlikely niche.
