A day with the T-Mobile G1
Okay, I’m way late in getting my hands on a T-Mobile G1 (the crew in NY got to check it out eons ago), but I did get to spend a day with one all to myself, and by popular Twitter demand, here are some (very) brief impressions.
Hardware
- A lot smaller than I thought it’d be. Looks great in person.
- Solid feeling, smooth, springy hinge; the device’s matte soft-touch finish is quite nice; entire back panel lifts off to replace the battery/SIM.
- No 3.5mm headphone jack is freaking annoying, and possibly the likeliest dealbreaker. It’s just unacceptable at this point. T-Mobile only makes this worse by not bundling an ExtUSB -> 3.5mm adapter, and HTC adds insult to injury by placing one of those annoying attached rubber covers on the USB port, too.
- Keyboard lacks definition (read: the keys are a little too flush), but it’s still very tactile, and (obviously) way easier to type on than an iPhone. The Leno chin doesn’t get in my way, although some who’ve used it certainly feel otherwise.
- Screen looks great, extremely responsive capacitive touch. It doesn’t feel plasticy or cheap at all.
- 3G reception is great in SF. Was getting 550Kbps+ speeds. (By comparison, my iPhone 3G usually does 650Kbps here.)
- MicroSDHC is hot. Worked great with an 8GB card. You should be able to buy a G1 + a 16GB card for less than a 16GB iPhone.
Software
- Everything is a lot snappier than I expected. Animations and transitions weren’t as fleshed out as I might have liked, but nothing lagged. After Android and iPhone, it’s impossible not to see Windows Mobile and even S60 as doggish.
- Setup is a freaking breeze, the default apps are solid. I did notice one oddity, though: even though the phone knows your Google ID, if you visit a Google app through the browser (like Reader) it doesn’t automatically log you in. Huh?
- Browser is pretty unexciting. It’s definitely second only to mobile Safari, but isn’t really anywhere near. The view modes, re-flowing, and general usability is weak all around. Look for alternatives once the Marketplace launches, because I’m just not feeling this browser.
- Maps app is great; compass mode (where street view moves with your real world motion) is out of this world. There’s nothing out there like it right now.
- Didn’t download too much from Marketplace, but what I did get was pretty impressive. It should be, though, considering that right now the only apps available are the ones that won Google’s dev challenge.
- Lack of multi-touch is annoying, but it doesn’t really ruin any experiences. I’ll miss it, but I’ll live. (Hey, you have to make sacrifices on the iPhone, too!)
If you want more, I highly suggest my man Paul’s writeup on E, he really digs in. As for me, I’m definitely, definitely excited about the G1. With a few key apps (which I’ll soon write about / unofficially request the dev community build), this could be the device that lures me from the iPhone 3G. Don’t expect everyone to be swayed, though, the G1 is certainly skewed towards the nerds right now, and doesn’t have much to compete with the iPhone’s copious sex appeal.
Oh, and big ups to my pal who hooked me up with the handset — you know who you are!
Thanks Ryan. Looking forward to picking one up and developing for it. Is the browser choppy like they say?
Comment by Trevor Smith — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
I’m so happy you posted a day 1 blog on your first impressions. Can’t wait for a full review. I really miss your reviews over at Engadget.
Comment by Adam Jackson — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
Don’t know if I’d say choppy. It’s not bad. It’s just nowhere near as good as mobile Safari. It was the single thing that I found most disappointing. It’s still very serviceable though — I’d take it over every other mobile browser out there. Like I said, it’s def #2, just by a wide margin.
Comment by Ryan Block — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
Thanks for posting your first impressions Ryan! If I’m considering an iPhone (don’t have one yet as I have Sprint), would you suggest waiting until I can compare to a G1?
Comment by Jennifer Abe — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
Can’t hurt, you’ve only got a couple weeks before it’s out!
Comment by Ryan Block — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Good stuff Ryan, thanks for the impressions.
You are one lucky guy.
Comment by Arno — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
yes, but can you cut and paste? :-)
Comment by Jason Huebel — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
Is it really hard to stick a 3.5mm jack in a phone today?? What is the deal with that?
Comment by Brian — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
Yes, but it’s limited in functionality. You can only copy fields where there is data (like if you’re entering something online), and paste that field, in its entirety, in another (or the same) field. Kind of weak, but better than nothing.
Comment by Ryan Block — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
[...] Read Ryan Block’s short take review HERE! [...]
Pingback by Android-G1 Short take Impressions | SolSie.com — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
This phone looks great. I am just wondering if I should get this one or wait for the second android phone?
I also dont see the no headphone jack as a big deal, I have my zune so I really don’t need my phone to listen to music.
The apps are going to be sick! I read that t-mo isnt going to stop anyone from making a tethering app. If that becomes an actual app I would buy this phone right away
Comment by SteveBIRK — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
on engadget, I forget who wrote the post, but it was stated that a 3.5mm adapter WILL be included but not in the initial batch. Which I think is crap for the initial purchasers.
Comment by andy — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
Thanks, Ryan! I love gdgt weekly… I’m excited to get the G1, but I have to ask… is there going to be another Android phone on TMo? When will it come out on other carriers? Thanks again!
Comment by Jeff Liwag — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
Solid review, as usual. Reminds me of the good old days…. Looking for more in the new diggs.
Comment by Brad — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
Lack of a proper headphone jack (or even adapter) will really hurt this device. I really think an “Engadget Cares” is in order to explain convergence to these people. The Touch HD gives me hope though…
Comment by Evan Jones — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:07 pm
Being a WinMo user, I will want to put a screen protector on my G1 - is this necessary and also possible on a capacitive screen?
Comment by Xaq — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
No 3.5mm headphone jack would slow me down on loving this one too … (hey there, ryan! : )
Comment by judith — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
It was bad enough that the first iPhone had the recessed headphone jack. But I have found that many aftermarket headphones will accommodate. Other than that, my iPhone Safari crashes so much it reminds me of Windows 98, except at least it doesn’t always take the entire system down. I love my iPhone, but it’s far from perfect, way far.
This device needs to out iPhone the iPhone. That will make it great. This might be a step in the right direction but it doesn’t seem to be quite there.
Comment by Dale — Saturday, October 4, 2008 @ 12:10 am
[...] came out and said they’ve used the phone for longer than a couple minutes. Well, no one until Ryan Block, Engadget’s Editor-at-large, told us he did. For an entire day. Spent with the T-Mobile [...]
Pingback by Ryan Block’s Day With the T-Mobile G1 | Android Central — Saturday, October 4, 2008 @ 7:36 am
I’d planned on getting this phone from the moment I saw it, but your review and the Engadget coverage swayed me permanently. I missed the first round of pre-orders, but they say I’ll have mine by November 10th at the latest. I can’t wait.
I did have one question: I have like 350 contacts in my Gmail, and most of them are email-only. I don’t want all of those to sync to the phone; will I need to delete them, or will it allow me to choose which ones I sync?
Comment by Jeremy Botter — Monday, October 6, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
I definitely wouldn’t call this a review — not enough time with the G1 at all.
By default it will sync all your Google contacts, regardless of content type. That’s one of the most annoying things about the device, actually.
Comment by Ryan Block — Monday, October 6, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
Excuse my ignorance, but can you put applications onto SD cards? I have owned Winmob and symbian phones and I have rapidly used up all he internal memory.
Comment by Declan Judge — Friday, October 10, 2008 @ 8:03 am
[...] Block: T-Mobile G1 Review Android Community: T-Mobile G1 Analysis with Q&A Trackback | Permalink [...]
Pingback by Multiple T-Mobile G1 Android Reviews Leak Onto the Web | PhoneNews.com — Friday, October 10, 2008 @ 11:29 am
[...] I’ve had a couple of weeks to play with the new T-Mobile G1 running Google’s Android, and I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m not going to write a full review here, because I think that’s been done quite thoroughly by others in the blogosphere (see Engadget’s full review, and Ryan’s impressions). [...]
Pingback by How about a T-Mobile G1 Q&A? - Veronica Belmont — Thursday, October 30, 2008 @ 10:11 am
I actually like some features of the G1 browser over the Apple browser. I do miss the “double tap” to zoom, but the iPhone/iPod Touch browser won’t memorize login info for me, and doesn’t have as nice an indication of where links and stuff are, and doesn’t auto-locate addresses and link them to the map app.
Comment by Kearns — Thursday, October 30, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Ryan, I’ve heard you mention the battery life several times on you own podcast, and just now as I listen to the newest TWIT (ep170). My battery life was abysmal at first, but after several full drain to overnight charges, my battery life improved quite a bit. I’d put it at 12hrs normal use. It’s better than my friends’ iPhones. Maybe that’s considered poor, but that’s my two cents.
Comment by Adam — Monday, November 24, 2008 @ 11:43 am