My G1 review

[Sundog]

OK, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts after a day of playing with the phone. Maybe it will be of use to someone on the fence.

Things I like: The touchscreen is great, OS is great, screen is great, trackball, etc. Let's face it, it's a real nice phone. Glad I got it, look forward to making a bunch of money from it.

But here's what I don't like, and other comments:

- No stereo Bluetooth AND no real headphones? Very nearly a dealbreaker! The stereo Bluetooth needs to be in the FIRST update. I can't live without my wireless toonz.

- The keyboard is too flat. Couldn't they have raised the keys a LITTLE? It's so flat you can't touch-type, you have to watch your fingers. VERY annoying.

- Minor quibble: when the screen is out, it's not lined up properly, it's tilted a few degrees. The Mr. Monk in me HATES that.

- You have to open the keyboard to get landscape screens? Huh?

- NO facility for an onscreen keyboard? Umm, folks, this thing has a touchscreen!

- The "chin" doesn't bother me stylistically - not nearly as much as the out-of-line screen - but it's horribly in the way for typing.

- I HATE that I am tied to Google. I have NO interest in Google and want nothing to do with them. Again, very nearly a dealbreaker.

- I don't like having my personal data in the cloud. Didn't like it on the Sidekick, don't like it now. And don't tell me that I shouldn't use it for anything sensitive; that's like telling people "If you're doing nothing wrong, why are you worried?" when they complain about tapped phones.

- T-Mobile gripe: There is apparently NO way to get my push Email account from T-Mobile, that I had on my Sidekick, to work on this phone. Grrrr.

On the whole, though, nice phone. Since my only interest in it is as a development platform it will do me fine. I'd buy it again.

Interestingly, though, my wife isn't impressed. She wants to keep her Sidekick.

 

[FlyerG]

One thing I can say is that the software is better than I anticipated. It is smooth as silk, just as good as the iPhones touch sensitivity. The phone itself is ok, all soft touch material and the keyboard is very good, but one thing I don't like is the weight, this baby is heavy! I think it's stated as 158g but it feels heavier than that, heavier than my Blackberry 8800 world phone. This trackball is actually very useful and works great.

I have to say that 3G works very fast and even when on Edge it is slower of course but faster than any AT&T edge that I used in the past. Unfortunately I don't get as many bars with 3G as I do with Edge, hopefully that will be fixed. GPS is fast too and spot on.

I agree, "You have to open the keyboard to get landscape screens? Huh?" This is annoying because if you just want to surf the internet in lanscape mode you have to flip open the screen. Terrible in my opinion.

I only see this UI getting better. Like I said the only thing other than no landscape with screen closed is that I don't like that it has the weight of a brick.

 

[Sundog]

Yes, surely it won't be a big deal to add a choice of portrait or landscape.

I am sending this from my phone and I must say thatthis keyboard is just downright AWFUL. I really really don't like it.

 

[Sundog]

And am I the only one who hits the phone volume buttons every FREEKIN' time I try to type? Gah.

 

[nelsonf]

I like the Phone but i agree i thought this pone had an Accelaromitor (SP) in it from what i can tell it does not i swear i asked this question before i ordered it and was told it did that will be a deal breaker for me i will sell it and get an Iphone like i prob should have months ago but i wanted a tmobile phone. on a tmobile Network. Please tell me i am wrong and it really does

 

[Sundog]

It does indeed have an accelerometer. Why it isn't tied into the OS to orient the display is a mystery to me.

 

[nelsonf]

I was hoping sombody would set me strait my buddys Iphone has some really cool apps like the Dyno and the Level and all the Rugged car guy kinda stuff i really hope gets developed for Android

 

[AdamHC]

I was hoping sombody would set me strait my buddys Iphone has some really cool apps like the Dyno and the Level and all the Rugged car guy kinda stuff i really hope gets developed for Android

I think you'll end up with more cool stuff than the iphone's app market has when Android becomes more popular.

Since Android will be used on a lot of phones and access Apple's Appstore is limited to only those with iPhones and iPod Touches Android should become more popular and hence end up with more developers.

Whether those particular apps will come onto Android I can't tell for sure. There will definitly be a lot of apps which are on appstore come onto Android. Already I heard the program Shazam which my friend has on his iPhone, is now also on the Android market.

 

[wordlife1998]

Hi everyone. It is possible to use the web browser in landscape mode without opening the keyboard. While in the browser, press Menu>More>Flip Orientation. While I agree it's not as easy as just turning the phone sideways, its nice that we have that option. Works with your pictures too! Hope that helps a bit.

 

[punkzanyj]

- I HATE that I am tied to Google. I have NO interest in Google and want nothing to do with them. Again, very nearly a dealbreaker.

Then why did you buy a phone that runs on Google software?

That's a bit like buying a Moto Q and complaining about Microsoft. Or buying a Playstation 3 and complaining about Sony.

 

[Insignia]

- No stereo Bluetooth
This is a confirmed update in january

- You have to open the keyboard to get landscape screens? Huh?
This has been fixed, via an application, to rotate when the screen is rotated, much like the iphone

- NO facility for an onscreen keyboard? Umm, folks, this thing has a touchscreen!
again, this is a confirmed update for january

- I HATE that I am tied to Google. I have NO interest in Google and want nothing to do with them. Again, very nearly a dealbreaker.
then why buy a Google phone?

info on the update in january
http://source.android.com/roadmap/cupcake
includes

Video recording and playback,
Bluetooth stereo support,
On-screen virtual keyboards and keypads,
New browser features like copy/paste, quick searching, and an improved Javascript engine,
and many bug fixes...

Link to Auto Rotate Screen software...
http://www.droidsans.com/droidsans-tweak-tools

enjoy

 

[Sundog]

http://www.droidsans.com/droidsans-tweak-tools

enjoy

Obviously a lot has happened since that months-old post. I'm already playing with Cupcake, very nice.

Why did I get an Android phone if I don't want to be associated with Google? To write apps. Doesn't mean I want to mess with Google itself for this that and the other thing.

 

[punkzanyj]

Obviously a lot has happened since that months-old post. I'm already playing with Cupcake, very nice.

Why did I get an Android phone if I don't want to be associated with Google? To write apps. Doesn't mean I want to mess with Google itself for this that and the other thing.

Winmo has apps, iPhone has apps, Blackberry has apps. You could write apps without having to deal with Google. It would actually be pretty easy to do so.

You still don't make sense as you chose to write apps for a GOOGLE product. Your apps will run on GOOGLE's OS. By doing so you are chosing, voluntarily, to associate with GOOGLE. Just like everyone who writes apps for WinMo is choosing to associate with Microsoft, just like everyone who writes apps for Blackberry is choosing to associate with Research In Motion. If you don't want to have anything to do with Google, the choice is clear: stop developing apps for GOOGLE's product: Android.

Whether you like it or not, you're on a site dedicated to a google product, you're not going to find a lot of sympathy for Google bashing, and you're going to run into people asking the same understandable questions.

 

[alvincool]

Hi everyone. It is possible to use the web browser in landscape mode without opening the keyboard. While in the browser, press Menu>More>Flip Orientation. While I agree it's not as easy as just turning the phone sideways, its nice that we have that option. Works with your pictures too! Hope that helps a bit.

It is also possible to flip the orientation automatically without opening the keyboard, u just have to go to
Settings>sound & Display>Display Settings>Orientation,,,,,,,,
This will automatically shifts u'r screen to landscape while u turn the phone sideways,,,, also got on screen landscape keyboard too,,, so enjoy with G1

 

[Thefoodman52]

Check the date on that last post, brah. lol