Remember the T-Mobile G1? The very first Android phone? Remember that it has no sense of style and nearly no battery? Well, if you don’t, let me refresh your mind. With talk of the “Official” Google Phone right now, aka the “Nexus One”, it is probably good policy to give a review of the phone that’s closet to being the official Google Phone. I’ll be dividing the review into a few important categories so it’s easy to read and understand. Check it out after the jump.
Hardware, Speed, & Design
Sporting a Qualcomm 528Mhz processor, the G1 isn’t exactly fast, but it’s not slow either. It’s somewhere in between that. Loading web pages over the T-Mobile 3G network is snappy. Even LaptopMemo loaded in less than 30 seconds, and other sites loaded in almost the same amount of time (if not less). I do have to say though that watching YouTube videos in high quality is a long, tedious task, which (in most cases) ends with you not watching the whole video, because, well, it’s slow.
As for the sliding QWERTY keyboard: it’s supreme. The touch is perfect, travel from key-to-key is perfect, and the sliding mechanism is strange but solid and smooth. The on-screen keyboard is also good to use, but why would you use an on-screen keyboard when you have a physical one?
I won’t forget about the 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 HVGA screen. It displays information properly and effectively. What I’m saying is that it’s a good low-res touchscreen, although low-res isn’t a good thing, there isn’t anything wrong that you would recognize when using the G1′s screen, no matter what the situation.
The time era that the G1 was created was mostly a tasteless one. There wasn’t any other Android phones around to take inspiration from, and the result is: a slightly bulky, slightly heavy (5.60 ounces, mind you), and slightly ugly smartphone. Do you really like how it looks? Putting that far aside though is that the features that Android (traditionally for lack of a better word) brings you…
Android 1.6, aka “Donut”, or as I like to call it, “Vanilla”
This is “vanilla” Android. Let me explain: an Android with no custom UI, just Android’s core workings. Gmail, Contact, and Calendar all work the same way as any other Android phone, it’s in the cloud, meaning if you migrate to another Android handset your contacts will be waiting for you with happy faces.
There really isn’t much to speak of Android 1.6; you have the redesigned market, new on-screen keyboard, better Google Search bar, and a couple of other tweaks. In pure essence, the G1 is a simple, well built (even if it’s not pretty), powerful phone (I mean Android is). But here’s what’s not so great about it, it’s the….
Battery
Truly, I don’t know what was going on when HTC and Google decided what size of battery to put in this handset. Make a couple phone calls, check your Gmail, maybe a Google search or two, and you recognize it goes down 30 percent. 30 percent! In fact, while using it as my primary phone for several days, I found that I kept being pushed to the limits of the battery not matter how hard I tried to conserve it. So much so that I disabled the 3G to save the battery, switching to dreadful, ordinary 2G wireless. At 1150 mAh it’s extremely disappointing.
Camera, Audio, and GPS
The G1 comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus. It can take decent videos and pictures, and should be able to pull through moderate usage without devouring the battery. Talk audio quality is clear, and the speaker will outperform any noisy crowd, making it ideal for busy people. on the go
Speaking of the GPS, it’s very accurate. Recently, Google Maps Navigation made it’s way to all Android 1.6 phones, and the G1 uses it very well. There’s nothing wrong about the Navigation, it’s simply perfect.
Final Thoughts
The T-Mobile G1 was a good start for Android when it made it’s debut in November 2008, but right now the stars of the show are the Moto Droid and the Nexus One. At the price of $129.99 with 2-year contract on T-Mobile, you can still get the original Android phone, but there are so many choices now, including it’s successor, the myTouch 3G, which is a more rounded out, better looking smartphone.
