T-Mobile G1 review
Sure, we hit up the press event and got some early hands on action, but there’s nothing like a really solid review, right? We’ve been using the T-Mobile G1 for around a week and we’ve literally combed through the entire device. So much so that we split up the sections piece by piece and separated it into hardware and software. If you’ve got a G1 on the way or are passionately considering scoopin’ one up, you are out of luck they are all sold out might want to take a gander at what we’ve put together.
Hardware:
The hardware part is a little tricky. The phone has supposedly been in development for years, yet we can’t get beyond the feeling that this device is a little bit too prematurely at the prime-time stage. The black model especially just looks like a prototype in a couple areas. One being the four physical buttons on the banana end of the handset. Those are send, home, back and end/power. While the tactile feedback of those buttons is fine, you often times try and select one, and it doesn’t register anything. That’s because of the small size and physical surroundings if you will. They are basically flush with the case, thus making it difficult sometimes to accurately push one of them.
The screen is very crisp and actually offers the second best touch-screen experience ever, yes, compared to the iPhone at number one. For all you Storm lovers, we haven’t officially reviewed the Storm yet so that is why it’s not in this list if it did in fact make it on. It’s a capacitive screen which means that force isn’t necessary. Essentially the touch panel registers the minute electrical pulses in your fingers instead of looking for an actual physical touch input. That works great and we’re happy to say the screen has a high-quality feel all around. It’s not glass, rather a very hard plastic which we love using.
Now onto the probably one of the G1’s biggest features — keyboard time! There are two parts to this; the keyboard is better than most, but not quite perfect. The reason is that the keys are about 1-2mm too flush with the case. There is a bunch of room under the flip, and we really would have loved to see HTC jump up the ‘board a little bit. If they could, they probably would, so it’s most likely not their fault, but that would have made for one of the nicest QWERTY typing experiences to come along in a pretty long time. The layout is completely fine and you won’t have any trouble navigating at all. That includes a very clean white backlighting on the keys and the actual hard/soft plastic feel the physical keys have.
When you take the battery cover off the G1, the first thing you might see is the vibrate mechanism. It’s actually the first time we’ve ever seen one exposed on a mobile device and it gives off a weird vibrate feeling. It’s sort of a rough ass vibrate that makes you feel like the phone is going to explode. Ok, well maybe not that bad, but we guess a stronger vibrate is better than a weak one? That’s what she said.
The speakers are another big important feature of the G1 as this is pretty much a consumer-targeted phone. The placement is again, (noticing a trend here?) flush with the casing. There’s a tiny raised dot which theoretically would help divert sound off a flat surface when resting your phone on, but it honestly does little to remedy the muffled sound you’ll get. The actual speakers are pretty decent when not on a flat surface, but we had trouble hearing alert sounds when the phone wasn’t right next to us or when it was in a pocket.
The camera isn’t all too bad, but for some reason we were expecting more out of a 3 megapixel + camera. Performance even in daylight didn’t work out too well for us, and pictures never got that sharp and crisp look we were looking forward to. Forgot about low-light performance. Without a flash, that’s a non-starter.
Now, onto the actual flip mechanism… it works very well. HTC has made this thing really durable and it slides out with ease, and the same goes for closing it. It’s pretty violent (read: not smooth) but we don’t have any qualms about it. Put it like this… if people are experiencing hardware problems with the G1, we highly doubt it will be with the flip assembly.
Summing up the hardware bit, we’ve just got to get this out of the way; WHY IN THE HELL IS THE DAMN THING ANGLED AT THE BOTTOM LIKE A BANANA? Can someone please enlighten us? This does absolutely nothing for the handset, it just makes its more difficult to hold and carry in a pocket or something else. It really annoys the crap out of us that it isn’t just flat. Heck, everything on the device is flat — buttons, camera, speakers — why not keep in the tradition of flatness?
Software:
There’s no real task manager. Sure, you hold the home button and get a recent list of open apps, and you can install a 3rd party program that makes it easier to switch applications with shortcut keys, but still, sometimes you just want to completely close something. In all fairness, the G1 and specifically Android does a pretty decent job at managing memory, but we have run into a couple “wait for application to respond or close” errors while putting the phone through it’s paces.
We realize this is just the beginning and we’ve got more hope in the platform itself than we ever had before, but for something that was being cooked up for so long, and something practically started by the Sidekick king himself, we can’t understand why there are so many general inconsistencies and non-existent functions.
For instance, the device has an LED in the earpiece to designate charging status (orange for charging, green for full), yet that can’t be used as a notification light for missed events. There’s no keyboard options like key repeat rate, delay, no trackball sensitivity options, and worst of all, when you set a lock for the device, there’s no timeout option! Let’s repeat this. When you set a lock password for the phone, which isn’t a password at all, it’s a specific drawing on the screen which is pretty cool yet highly insecure, the phone will lock and require a password each and every time the screen goes off. For people who the screen set to a 15 second or 30 second timeout, that means you’ll have to unlock the phone by pressing the power button, the menu button, and then drawing your pass-phrase on the screen every single time. Absolutely ridiculous we say.
We’ll explain the inconsistencies for you so you know what to expect and get an idea for how we say the phone is definitely v1. In maps, you can press menu + z to bring up the zoom keys, but you can’t do that in any other application like the web browser, for instance. Just plain stupid. Android could be at least 40% better if all these inconsistencies were addressed and actually let you do more with less, instead of making you work harder to get to the same place.
What about an on-screen keyboard? You’re out of luck. It’s way stupid in our opinion that you can’t pull up a T9 layout and fire off some quick 4 or 5 letter word to a friend in an SMS. You are forced to slide the phone open, and bang out your sentences using the physical keyboard. This can get extremely tiring seeing as there’s practically no way to send off a quick message when it’s closed. Heck, we would have ever appreciated some canned pre-loaded responses. That would have probably held us over for a bit, but nope, there’s no way to basically enter any information other than dialing a number when the phone is closed.
Let’s look at Wi-Fi on the G1… it works pretty well most of the time, but we have run into a couple occasions of the phone staying connected to a much weaker saved network rather than switching to a stronger saved one. The biggest issue you’ll run into using Wi-Fi on here is that it absolutely murders the battery. Even when the phone is locked your battery is dying rather quickly. You’d be lucky to get around three hours of semi-rough usage with Wi-Fi. On the other hand, if Wi-Fi is off, the battery life should really impress you. It’s got a 1150mAh battery which is definitely decent and should power you though the day. We were just a little depressed about the Wi-Fi situation as our Bold and iPhone are both on Wi-Fi and have no issues whatsoever, especially when they are just in standby mode.
Phone calling is pretty straightforward here, and the speakerphone sounds great when it’s not obstructed. The interface is clean and is one of the areas where the G1 looks really, really polished. It’s semi-iPhone like with a swap call button, merge call button, speakerphone button, and keypad button. Call quality was also very good with the G1 in our limited calling tests.
One of favorite applications on the G1 is the SMS app. It’s just very natural to use and makes texting seem fun again. You could think of it as a unified MMS/SMS inbox since everything that is sent to you will show up in message threads in that application. It’s very natural and logical to have such a clean interface where text messages along with photo messages, audio, voice notes, and slides all are seen in one conversation. Big ups to Google for that one, we likes. But what about email? We’re sad to report that emailing is probably one of the worst things the G1 does. It’s clunky, slow, and unresponsive if you are on EDGE. Plus shortcuts are pretty much non-existent.
But, if we go back to the whole unity thing for a second, we’re just not sure why Sidekick king failed to address the issues of inconsistencies and a general lack of usability in some areas, while adding great features in others. Unless we’re seriously missing something, and we doubt we are, there’s no way to instantly flip in between messages, or anything like that. On a Sidekick you have the left and right shoulder buttons to flip through conversations in an application and that applied to every application; IM, SMS, email, even the web browser. But there’s nothing like it here. What’s the point of having 4 dedicated hardware buttons and a full keyboard when there’s basically no shortcuts? It really hinders the overall user experience and will cause people a lot of unnecessary headaches.
Speaking of instant messaging, how is it? As far as smartphones go, it’s one of the worst experiences we’ve had. Google Talk is the best out of AIM, Yahoo, Live Messenger and Gtalk (no surprises there, right?) but it’s still not that good. Reconnects rarely worked for us, we would get signed in and out for no reason, you can’t hide offline buddies, and while you can press menu + space to flip between conversations, the whole thing is clunky at best. So, how are the rest? They work over SMS, people. Utter. Fail. One of the stupidest things we’ve seen in a long, long time. Now, there’s been some debate over AIM and the other clients using data or SMS, but even if they don’t use SMS they are still horrible. Messages take forever to come in, you have very limited options in terms of communicating (read: text only, no media), and again, reconnects aren’t smooth. This should be the “killer app” on the G1 out of the box. Yes, there will be 3rd party solutions, but that doesn’t negate the fact that so many things are just unpolished and rushed here.
There’s the whole theory that basically anything can be added by a 3rd party developer, and for the most part that’s true. We’ve seen applications wonderfully throw themselves in the mix on the phone, and that was incredibly refreshing to see. But, when you have a base package and are leaving a lot of what makes an OS great (intuitiveness, cohesion, user-interface, consistency, and polish) to 3rd party developers, that’s probably not the smartest idea. Why? Well, you might like green and your friend likes blue. Someone might like a putrid mix of green blue and yellow, too. Just because what one developer thinks is the right way to craft a UI for something doesn’t mean another one will feel the same way. That’s going to be the biggest uphill battle for Android in our opinion. Forget about the corporate market for a second, think about how fluid the iPhone is. Heck, think about how consistent a BlackBerry is? Since your first BlackBerry up until now, did you ever have to look at it twice, or did you instantly know what you were doing? Now take the fact that nothing is seamless across even Google’s own OS applications, and let’s now throw in about 5 different form-factors, and 15 different hardware configurations, and 3 different navigational configurations. See what we’re getting at?
How in the world could someone perfect the Android experience across that broad range of hardware when even the first unit doesn’t do that? In the meantime, we think the up-and-coming mobile consumer/prosumer will love the G1 as long as they know what it is. It’s not a BlackBerry, it’s not a Sidekick. You could think of it as the adult Sidekick though, and that, my friends, is what people have been waiting for, for a very long time.
Android is the future but this device leaves me wanting. More Android devices now!
Why bother even playing with your co-workers phone? Sounds like the review was enough for you.
Anyway some valid points – consistency is a good thing across apps. The problems with the IM client sound like network issues to me. Was that tested on wifi/edge/3g?
Personally I like the angle – I like the feel of it in my hand
Agree though some polish needed – I imagine Android v1.1 will be quick in coming and address some of these issues.
Was a little disappointed you didnt comment on the music store/apps store etc.
Also since the Android OS uses intents etc for background apps the necessity of closing them completely is greatly reduced.
@ j
Peace!
What’s the deal with copy/paste on the G1? How fast is T-Mobile’s 3G Network in NYC?
@ j
While it wasn’t the most well-written review, it gave a great run-down of the phone and OS and boiled it down to terms everyone could understand. Highfalutin language doesn’t add anything to reviews, and I’m glad BG didn’t try to put any in it.
If you want more, leave. Otherwise, let the rest of us ogle the pictures of the G1 in peace.
Sincerely,
iPhone owning tech-geek that really wouldn’t mind having a G1 to play with.
I’m biased because I am paying for this phone, but this review is lame. Here’s the negatives about the phone:
1. Banana shape – I actually like it and it’s unique
2. LED light not for alerts – Big Deal!
3. Menu + z to bring up the zoom keys only works in Maps – Whoa, really digging here
4. Screen goes off forcing you to unlock – easy fix
5. No onscreen keyboard – this does sound really stupid and I hope it gets fixed fast
6. Email slow on EDGE – Um, it has 3G (I understand it’s not widely available yet, but that is a Tmo issue and not a G1/Android issue)
7. IM – not a big deal
It’s funny that people are reading this review and deciding not to get one or being glad that one has not been ordered. This review really sounds like he’s just hating on it.
Pretty nice review. The UI looks pretty decent, but its too bad about the IM features. I’ll stick to my Bold though.
@j
Where’s your review?
All this talk about BG being bias is BS too, everyone is bias and everyone will have their opinions on different devices, sad thing is most of everyone here uses the “bias” excuse to shit on BG…he (or any other writer) says something about iPhone..they’re bias…say something about RIM.. they’re bias, you all just need to give that shit up and take it for what it is…an opinion..get your own hands on with these devices and develop your own if ya don’t like BG’s (or any other writers).
As for the device…from what I have seen Google pulled a RIM an unleashed a unbaked device and is going to be..
a)Scrambling to fix it.
b)Hoping 3rd party developers fix it for them.
And Oh ya, I love my BB, I love RIM products and YES I did just slam RIM for their slop job on the Bold launch, even though most issues have been corrected…call me bias if you wish
Seems to me this is a very biased review from the start. It sounds like a some kid likes his iphone and doesnt want any kind of compitition to it. Funny this is the only review i have read that bash’s the G1 so much and list more negitives then positives. In Order to review a phone properly you cant go into it knowing you’ll hate it. i’m sad to think any G1 wasted its time in your hands for any amount of time.
Its my first and last time to this site and i am sad any one even linked it to the much better android community that doesnt spend all their time bashing phones but giving honest reviews.
I’m not looking for a solid review really. I come to this site because I have grown to respect and relate to BGR’s opinion’s and feelings on products. you can go to Cnet and get joe fucking blow’s formal rundown or you can come here and get a guy who you can relate tols opinion with no bullshit. Big up to BG and keep doing your thing man. I come here for your input and opinion, not a technical rundown. you give me the real information I need to form my own opinion. This aint CNN bitches, stop raggin on the man.
terrible review. totally different from 15 other reviews i’ve read from people who have the phone and other sites including Engadget.
BGR just lost me as a reader until they show some more respect to all devices.
BG is obviously comparing the G1 to Blackberries, because blackberry users have been using Google services since long before the G1 was even announced. Gmail, Gtalk, and Gmaps work extremely well on the Blackberry. If they don’t work as well or better on a Google’s own phone, that is a very legitimate point.
Okay Okay biased or not, this review did not satisfy me at all. Agree? I feel like this is no different than an early hands-on review. Feed me more…please? I’ll love you but not really.
I guess am patiently waiting for blackberry javelin tmobile get on it please
Well… I just ordered it. I have a Blackberry and a Sidekick, in time I’ll see how it compares.
for everyone who said this review helped convince them to not care about the G1, i just have to ask:
what’s it like to live a life where someone else makes your decisions for you?
some people jumped on the pre-order train early, while yet others will at least check it out at their local store. but at least these people will get first-hand experience with it and make a judgment from that point instead of letting a Best Buy employee like TBG make the decision for them.
i’m guessing most of you either rock an iPhone because Steve Jobs told you it’s what you want, or a Blackberry because you think important people use them and want to be likened as such.
I love how mad people get when a review goes against how they feel personally about a device. It’s a review. If you don’t like what is said, oh well. Everybody has an opinion.
I smell an apple fanboy doing the review. I guess u went in expecting Apple perfection, but oh wait they arent either. U went in hating this phone and made yourself find faults, good job.
Oh Ya forgot to mention,Where the hell is my BGR launcher icon on my Bold BG?
I’m not ready for this phone, may be in 20 years time i’ll thinking of getting one, when things have change.
The review didn’t really seem very objective; not representative of the other reviews now surfacing.
Overall, reviews seem to be generally quite positive; but not nearly as stellar as the iPhone ones were when it came out. Performance of the G1 is reviewed well, appearance of the device not-so-much.
I think they’re both great devices — but I don’t think the review that appears here is an accurate representation of the G1.
do you think that adding these things on top of your keys could cause a sliding out problem. but i do respect your out of the box thinking mcgyver
@ John
I work tmo retail on the North Side, and I’d be glad to put you on my G1 reservation list, which gets you first dibs over walk-ins on Wednesday. Shoot me an email; danagram at yahoo dot com. Anyone else in the windy city is welcome to do the same.
I thought the review was tough but mostly fair, btw. I’ve been rockin the vendor demo all week. I agree the keys are a leeetle too flush. I lament the lack of standard headset jack. (Apple also dropped the ball on that with the first iphone; Curve FTW!)
But make no mistake folks, the G1 is a quality handset. Excellent audio quality, great map/GPS capabilities, multimedia almost smooth enough to match wits with Apple (tho not quite). And the 3G has been a pleasant surprise. In Chicago, at least, it’s fast, uncapped (unlike VZW) and shows up everywhere I get EDGE.
And we can’t judge it until we get some apps. I can’t imagine my IPhone without the functionality installer, cydia and the app store provide. I expect a touchscreen keyboard and improved IM clients will be among the first apps offered.
So far, its my favorite tmo release of the year….but the Behold and Javelin/Curve 2 are coming soon. Behold, anybody? Thoughts?
very good review, cannot imagine these idiots who are talking about it being biased. looking forward to seeing future android devices, perhaps #2 being the sprint device during the holidays?
i come to BGR everyday out of boredom and the fact they get news pretty fast and have leaked info, which i will totally respect them for, and i wont stop visiting the site just based on a review i dont agree with.
i just feel BGR didnt come into the review with an open mind and just went looking for a good story on why it sucks, which is totally fine with me (though last night i was a little more pist, but i’ve come to my senses. opinions are opinions) they can bash the device all they want, but ultimatly its gonna be the user who is gonna decide whats right for them. i mean if your the tool who doesnt buy the device based off BGR’s bad review, when MobileBurn and Engadget gave pretty good reviews and see androids potential, then really thats just on you. your loss, for letting someone deter your potential perfect user experience, and wait for your 2 thumbs up from a blog site, whatever, lame .
honestly its not so much BGR’s biased wide open approach, that makes me think the review sucked but more so, why stuff like the browser wasn’t reviewed, Was it too good that you couldnt complain about it? or was it mildly OK? i mean i know it couldnt have been GOOD, i mean the g1 being the most primitive horrible phone to make its way into BGR’s hands, but still there is alot i would like to know about the device and its so called long list of short comings, that only BGR’s very trained eye can see, while the rest of the mobile world blindly accepts this piece of junk from google, htc and tmobile.