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Tmobile G1

ricco67

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ricco67

ricco67

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I've been beside myself waiting for Tmobile's answer to the Iphone.

No, I didn't wait in line overnight and NO, I wasn't there bright and early this morning.

When I arrived there was no line, but a bit of a delay because other customers were getting other things taken care of and right before me sat a working demo of the G1.

Nerdy Nirvana, oh yes. While this calm cool exterior casually played chess on his (soon to be old) Samsung (of 3 months), the inner geek was jumping up and down with an anticipation that can only be matched by a World of Warcraft addict getting a new toy online.

No,I don't play WoW. I'm not that fargone and I like to PRETEND I have a life.

Rushing forward, the sales guy got out the BRONZE version and I thought it looked cool, so I said I'll take it.

No sooner had he hit the "On" button, I snatched it out of his hands and immediately started playing with it. Somewhere in the muffled background I had heard something that resembled an amount, like a coke addict I handed him all the bills in my possession and received the change.

Immediately throwing my old phone into the backseat I fiddled more with it in the parking lot and I was brought back into my reality that laundry needs to be done...and was done.....30 minutes earlier.

Damn.

After dealing with the boring everyday crap, I got down to business.

The G1 definately has a little heft it and it has a comfortable feel. Unlike the Iphone, I won't feel like I'll break it by staring at it too hard. With as much abuse I give my phones, I was thankful for it.

The sliding screen gave another sturdy "click" when it opened and closed. Again, it seemed like it was engineered and sturdy enough to take some punishment.

Imported Contacts. Check.

Maps with current location. COOOOOOOL.

Web with HAIF? COOOOL!

IMG_0504.jpg

As you can see, the screen is crisp and easily readable. While you can't easily zoom in and out like Iphone, it does offer those particular features. Navigating through websites is initially tricky since, like most people,I didn't rean the manual and it turns out that you had to do was type in the new address. Duh.

Bluetooth. WTF? It won't recognize my Jawbone! Aw man! That was a serious buzz kill. After about 30 minutes I gave up and decided to let the geniouses and spare what little braincells I have left.

The Map feature I haven't really had a chance to play with, but even with the GPS turned off, it gave a very accurate location of where I was.

And yes, the map was very legible.

The only real problem I've had with the phone so far (and I already made a number of calls on it) is the bluetooth and I hope (need!) to have it resolved later on today.

Since I only had a few hours to play with it, I haven't had a chance to test out all the features, but I hope to do so later tonight.

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ricco67

ricco67

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Having had the G1 for a full week, I got to know what it can do and some quirks that other consumers should be aware of:

First off, I think this is a very rugged phone, I've dropped (and tossed it on tables) it several times and aside from the case and battery flying apart, it came through without a glitch or even a noticeable damage.

The GPS function is awesome, it kept very accurate track of my movements and positions throughout the city in real time like any other GPS.

IMG_0513-1.jpg

My suggestion is to keep it plugged into your charger while doing this so you can actually view it without having to worry about the screen blacking out at you, plus the fact that it'll drain your battery faster than daughter in college can drain your wallet. I'm sure someone will eventually make an app for the blackout feature to be disabled during the GPS operation.

Options for viewing your GPS information are interesting as shown:

IMG_0506.jpg

From here you can look for a specific address, get the directions from your current locations, get your exact location (in case you scroll off screen or whatever), and switch to different styles of maps. The satillite view is obvious, but it also offers a regular map, Traffic and street view. I tried the traffic map and street views, but there was little difference that I could discern on these.

IMG_0507.jpg

Truth be told, I didn't spend much time on this because I was a bit too busy to stare at it and had other things I needed to do with....like play games! Oh yeah, that little icon on the top left shows that I'm on the phone while taking this picture. It was a boring phone call.

But I'll get to that later.

One complaint I have about the GPS function is that it seems to take forever to get a signal. I don't know if this is common with other GPS devices, but after 5 minutes, I was rather annoyed. It's a relatively small issue in my case, but the only workaround is to turn it on a bit before you intend on using it and keeping it on your charger.

IMG_0508.jpg

The dialing feature is interesting is that they mimic Iphone's format, but the numbers are large and easy to hit, you're also able to type in the numbers your keyboard as well. Nothing spectacular there, but it is a good option if you're already in that mode.

IMG_0514.jpg

Hooking up my bluetooth (Jawbone) was a nightmare for some reason, after struggling with it for 30 minutes, I gave up, went to T-Mobile and was secretly thrilled that they were having the same problem. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about it as it took them 10 minutes to do it.

After doing so, I found out that I can play use all the phones functions while talking to people. GPS, Games, Texting, Browsing websites, downloading, and calendar updating, went without a hitch. Which comes in handy on some of those really, really boring conversations.

One of the more pleasant surprises is both notifications and text managing.

As I had mentioned earlier, the icon on the top right also signifies when you have a new text, msg in Gmail, or download. The transition to these is as simply as touching the icon and dragging it do view what exactly are the alerts (missed calls, voice mail) are and touch what you want. It'll take you to the appropriate screen, or as in the case of voicemail, dial it for you.

The texting is even better;

It keeps all texts in individual threads their respective numbers. This is particularly handy when you're trying to remember what a conversation was, or trying to retrieve information from a previous text. I have 5 threads topping 200 messages, so I will see how far they can go.

I haven't really done the email client since I heard nightmare stories about it, but I'm downloading an app. for it later today and will see how that works out.

This brings me to downloading:

There has been a substantial increase in the amount (and quality) of apps since the phone went on sale. They really do add substantially to the functionality (or fun) to your phone. Listing and installing them on the phone is very straight forward.

You simply hit the "market button" and you navigate your way through it, pick a catagory and you will be presented with a list of choices. Pick one, download it and boom! It's like Ragu. It's in there.

Is this an Iphone Killer? Hard to say. It's not as sexy, but I think it is more functional and rugged and will be more popular with road warriors who are wishing to shed some of the electronic baggage they have to carry and it suits my personal needs just fine.

Happy Ed? :)

Edit: General stupidity and format change.

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houstonmacbro

houstonmacbro

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A colleague of mine has a Google phone and it is really cool. I LIKE the fact that it is a little bulkier and that you use it in the horizontal mode. However, it cannot hold a candle to the design and build of the iPhone ....

I think they are going to go after two different markets and differentiation strategies.

Apple iPhone - chic, image conscious folks

Google Phone - gadget-happy folks

Honestly, I think the Google phone has a LOT more potential until Apple opens up (really opens up) its developer platform. I think the Google phone might make them do it sooner than later.

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editor

editor

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i disagree about the G1 is for gizmo geeks, but rather something that business travelers can fully utilize.

I think in the future that will be true, but in its current state it suffers from some of the same fatal flaws the original iPhone software did -- specifically connectivity with third-party enterprise servers. It's great that it can get push e-mail from GMail, but until it can sync wirelessly with Exchange and other outside programs, it's not quite ready for large scale business adoption.

That's not to say it's not useful in a business. Just not in the sorts of businesses that already deploy Blackberries. I don't know if the Google Phone has these or not, but without remote wipe, ActiveSync, password and remote security policies, VPNs, profile signatures, and other IT security goodies, the Google Phone is going to remain an also-ran. Of course, all these things are software controlled, so they should arrive eventually.

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ricco67

ricco67

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BTW: I have YET to test out the camera taking ability of the G1 and since I always have a camera with me, I never thought of using it, but I will try it this week.

As a follow up, The Tmobile's G3 Network must be taking a massive hit because they have been have some problems. There hasn't been a constant as far as location or time of day goes, but I would suspect that the amounts of G1's that were sold are probably clogging up the system.

On a slightly different note and for funsies I found this:

Google Link 1. Listed #8.

Google Link 2 in which we're #5.

#5 on Yahoo.

and #6 on answers.com

The Power of the HAIF. :)

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