Fresh off the market on Wednesday was T-Mobile’s newest smartphone, the G1. A new phone, to say the least, the G1 features Google’s first attempt at a cell phone operating system, namely Android. Built by HTC and with design help from Google, the G1 boasts full 3G capabilities from scattered T-Mobiles, but with a growing 3G network.

The good:
First of all, it’s not a brick, but it’s not as fancy as the iPhone. Despite its size, it’s still quite compact and relatively light, especially considering the phone’s built-in full QWERTY keyboard. HTC and Google could have easily changed the design to touchscreen only and drastically reduced the size in turn, but where’s the fun in that? It would just be an iPhone clone.

Android system. By far one of the best phone operating systems I have come across. What’s really useful is the phone’s menu bar that can be pulled down from the top of the screen in any app (apart from certain games). It makes checking messages, checking missed calls, and all your general notifications incredibly easy and efficient.

Although not fully adopted yet, it may prove to be quite powerful in the future of G1 and that would be the Marketplace that runs on the Android OS where any publisher and will release their software for public sharing. Software like barcode scanner, music tracker and map maker are available now. The ability of any coder to create software could create a large number of applications for the phone and make its possible usage interests limitless.

By far one of the best and most attractive features would be the integrated keyboard. It works very well and very easy to use. The buttons are slightly beveled so you can feel each key, but not significantly so that they stick out.

YouTube integration is phenomenal. For a Google-designed operating system, you can expect the G1’s YouTube app to be top-notch. The videos are neatly organized into different categories and it is very easy to search for them.

For what it’s worth, the G1 won’t disappoint, but it won’t wow either. Solid overall and a huge leap for Google’s Android system – some tweaks can be set for the next version and a new gold standard.

The bad:
First of all, the G1 is not an iPhone killer. Although quite impressive, the G1 needs to fix some major drawbacks before it starts pinching Apple’s pockets. First, and probably most noticeable, is the swivel screen rattling. It’s a bit unstable and makes a little screeching noise when pressed down. Not a huge deal, but still something that should have been resolved. Next, the design is a bit iffy. It lacks the sleek styling of the iPhone and has a weird “chin” at the bottom. The G1 also lacks multi-touch, again though not the biggest problem, for its price and design these things should have been included in the package. Small things also plague the G1, like not having a standard software touchscreen keyboard and the inability to record video. Lastly, the media needs a makeover. The music and media player software needs a good kick as the stock ones are no good. There should also be a headphone jack, not a primitive USB port. It’s pretty ridiculous how HTC, the maker of so many other smartphones all of which have a standard headphone jack, decided to take it away in perhaps their biggest launch to date.

All that said, the G1 is similar to the iPhone when it was first released. It was pretty solid, however customers still had their complaints. But after some review and troubleshooting, it got even better, namely the well-refined iPhone 3G coming out today. If T-Mobile, Google, and HTC know anything about perpetuating their market, they’d also launch a second edition of the G1. The ironic name of the G1 provides the perfect designation for future models. I guess the next ones would be called “G2”, “G3” and so on.

Hopes are high for the G1. The Android operating system proves to be surprisingly user-friendly and user-friendly. It’s not the iPhone killer right now, but if T Mobile, Google and HTC release a refined version, Apple and AT&T should be watching their backs.

So if Google, HTC, or T Mobile ever read this, the following are the minimum changes you need to make to the G1.

1. Fix the creaky screen: The rattling makes it feel a bit cheap.
2. Headphone jack, please!
3. A little more stock memory would be nice. 1 gigabyte just isn’t enough these days.
4. Multi-touch. Complete the steps so far and you’ll be on par in terms of hardware compared to Apple.
5. More elegant and smooth design. Get rid of the “chin” sticking out of the bottom. Was it really necessary?
6. Add better music playback software not to mention better camera software too.
7. Expand 3G coverage. (T-Mobile, if it plans to sell more of these, it will need to build towers that support all 3G capabilities.)

caijun sun

lighthouse marketer

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