The T-Mobile G1- An iPhone Junkie’s Perspective
Posted on 13 November 2008, at 10:39 pm, by Dan Cohen
A few weeks back I had the opportunity to use one of the new T-Mobile G1s. Since sending the review unit back, I have been struggling with how best to write about the experience. The highly anticipated, first Android-based device has been looked at and described from many perspectives. A tremendous amount of ink (or more accurately electrons) has been spent describing the unit, its features, and its many pros and cons. I won’t reiterate them here. Instead, I want to share a few random thoughts about the device.
By way of full disclosure, let me begin by noting that I am a “devout” iPhone user. I love the device, carry with me all the time, and I am continually amazed and astounded by all it can do. That either makes me the ideal person to look at a different device, or the absolute wrong person to do so.
When I had first looked at pictures of the device I described it as “ugly”. (Actually, there were a few additional words thrown in with “ugly”.) I didn’t like its design, and I could not imagine how the offset keyboard would be comfortable in the least. I mean, how comfortable could it be to have to reach over the device’s base with your right hand in order to get to the keyboard? Add to that my own personal restrictions (I permanently destroyed my right wrist a number of years ago), and I couldn’t imagine not coming away from any amount of time using the device pain free.
Well, truth be told, when I actually held the device I was rather impressed.
I found it to be well-built and rather solid. I loved the mechanism for opening and closing the keyboard. (HTC has come a long way since my iMate K-Jam!) I was particularly impressed by the way in which the slightly inward curved base made holding the phone to my face significantly more comfortable than other phones in recent memory.
Like the iPhone, I found the call quality to be a mixed bag. When it worked, it worked rather well. When it didn’t, I just got to curse T-Mobile instead of AT&T. I did find that holding and using the G1 as a phone was far more comfortable than with the iPhone. I suspect this was due to a combination of the G1 being slightly thinner and having that inward tapered bottom. Overall, as a phone, I found it both comfortable and easy to use.
At the same time, however, my feelings about the keyboard did not change in the least after actually using it. I hated having to reach over the bottom portion of the phone to use the keyboard as much as I had expected I would. Add to that the fact that I personally prefer the iPhone’s virtual keyboard over a physical one and… you get the picture. In addition, I absolutely, positively detest having to open a keyboard and rotate the device in order to type. Of course this is a matter of taste, but my taste made me thankful to get back to using my iPhone after the trial period with the G1.
In contrast, I was surprised by how much I liked the Android platform. I found it to be quite intuitive and easy use. While far different than the iPhone’s OS, it has plenty of “wow” built into it, it is more than a bit aesthetically pleasing and just plain fun to use. I also found it to be quite stable. Then again, the lack of available apps meant that, unlike my iPhone, I was never given the chance to really load it down. (EDIT)
As I’ve been thinking about the device, I’ve come to these following conclusions:
B.I. (Before iPhone) I would have absolutely adored this device. My smartphone trajectory began with the Motorola MP X. 220, moved through a series of HTC devices (including the Jam and the K-Jam), and ended in a brief flirtation with a number of Nokia’s offerings. Compared to any of those devices, this device is totally awesome, amazing, fantastic and a winner. I like the keyboard more than any of those devices’ keyboards (hate vs really, really, really hate), and I love the OS – especially compared with Symbian on the E61. But it’s not “B.I.” and when I compare the G1 to Apple’s device it is no competition. And here’s why…
As I’d been thinking about my experience with the G1, I’ve come to realize that at least for me, there is a fundamental difference between the two devices. Not just in their usage or operating system, but in their very essence as devices.
The G1, it seems to me, is an incredibly powerful, well-designed and well-built smartphone. The iPhone, on the other hand, is a powerful, well-designed and well-built (albeit somewhat Apple-crippled) handheld computer. Even in their design the difference is clear. The G1 screams “phone!” while the iPhone screams “mini-tablet!”. The iPhone is a handheld computer with a built-in phone, while the G1 is a smartphone with a lot of potential, and I cannot help but think of them as two different classes of device.
In all, I did not come away from my two weeks with the G1 hating it nearly as much as I had expected I would. At the same time, however, I have zero inclination to go out and get one for myself.
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November 13th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Dan, nice and honest evaluation. At the moment, the G1 Bluetooth is just as crippled as the iPhone with the only profile supported being that of a Bluetooth mono headset. There is no support for A2DP, keyboards, file sharing, etc. like what you can find on just about every other smartphone.
November 14th, 2008 at 6:47 am
‘Even in their design the difference is clear. The Q1 screams “phone!” while the iPhone screams “mini-tablet!”. The iPhone is a handheld computer with a built-in phone, while the G1 is a smartphone with a lot of potential, and I cannot help but think of them as two different classes of device.’
Interestingly, after having used both devices I come away with the opposite impression. If you are only looking at the superficial appearance of the devices, sure iPhone looks a lot more like a tablet computer than the G1 with its phone-like call buttons.
But the more sophisticated multitasking capability of the G1 made the user experience feel more expansive and desktop-like. From a hardware perspective the iPhone and G1 are pretty similar. The differentiation is all in the operating system, and I felt that the degree with which Apple has locked down the iPhone operating system felt a bit like a throwback to older mobile business models with its strange arbitary restrictions (copy and paste, anyone?)
November 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I’m an absolute believe that Android has the potential to be the next big thing (that’s assuming it doesn’t splinter into umpteen different flavors of phone OS).
The G1 is a nasty looking beast.. I’m not a big fan of sliders because they look cool until you use them day to day and have them start sliding open at the most inconvenient time.
One of the things I expect Android to spawn is a lot of custom branded phones — if the OS can be tweaked easily — why wouldn’t ESPN for example create an OS for a phone that featured a lot of tweaks to point people toward their site.
To me this seem very much a 1.0 product but I expect the OS to gather steam FAST.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Tmobile G1 video clip, kinda cool- check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoDWh5Eezp0