02 May 2009

The T-Mobile (HTC) G1
Through the Eyes of a Symbian Freak!

"Why did we make it so hard, this life is so complicated, until we see it through the eyes of a Android" *Reamonn - Through the Eyes of a Andro.. i mean Child!

The Idea of me wanting to trial a T-Mobile G1 Device came when I got my Hands on one in a local T-Mobile Shop here in Austria. It amazed me pretty much, and since Nokia didn't have much new to offer, I wanted it more than ever!

The Nokia 5800 XM, which I got recently was a huge Step for me, as it was my first real Touchscreen Device, and I felt that I could get along with that new Kind of Phones I had, so it was interesting to see the Comparisons between Nokia, Apple and HTC with their G1 Device.

Apart from that, I heard a lot of good Things about the Android OS, some good Friends went away from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, remaining on Android only, not ever wanting to get back. So I knew there must be something interesting, innovative about it, so I thought I give it a Try..

This Review would not be possible without the kind Help of T-Mobile Austria, who gave me the G1 for an extensive Testing Procedure, bundled with a Test SIM Card, for the full Joy of the Device! Thanks so much once again!

Part I - The Hardware

The T-Mobile G1 .. wow, where should I really start. I never had so many Problems to write a proper Review about a Phone. Why? I think the last Time I was so impressed about a Phone has been back when I got my first ever Nokia Phone, a 3210 if I remember right, which at this Time has been the first Phone to ever feature T9 .. Yes, that was a long Time ago, newer and better Phones came and went by, with more or less Excitement from my Side. The N95 and N82 have been some big Ones as well, but this G1 managed to completely blow me away. Why that? You will learn that in the next few Days, when I will publish some Reviews about that Device, step by step ..

First off, let's have a Look at the Hardware! I requested the G1 in black Colour, because I really love that Version. I just can’t stand white Devices, and unboxing gave me a bit of a WOW Effect. You get the Phone in your Hands first Time, you notice immediately that the Back of it has a nice rubber-like Surface, making it hard to slip out of your Hands. Most of the latest Nokias have this glossy Surface, which has 2 Major Problems, a) it is easy to scratch it and b) Fingerprints are collected with Ease! None of that happens with the G1, I also have to admit that it's hard to collect Fingerprints on the Front! The Display itself could gather some Marks from the Fingers, but I found them not as much as on a 5800 or N96 for Example. Let's stay on the Front and have a closer Look .. The Eye Catcher on the G1's Front side is the huge 3,2" Touchscreen. It's "only" a 480x320 Pixel Resolution Screen, but that didn't happen to bother me at all, everything was clearly to read.

To answer all upcoming Questions, YES that Screen is a LOT more sensitive than the Nokia 5800, you couldn't even compare the Experience I have with that. My little Brother once asked which Screen is better, so let me explain it to you, like I did to him: The Nokia 5800XM needs a stronger Push, I would even recommend a slight Use of the Fingernails. The G1 on the other Hand, is a lot more sensitive, reacts totally on the Tip of your Finger, does exactly what you want. I caught myself a few Times using the Fingernails at the Beginning, but after 2 days I completely gave it up, cause it was just too easy to use that Screen. In bright Sunshine the Screen could be hard to read on lower Light Settings, but it was good when the Display Light was turned up brighter!

*click to enlarge

Under the Display is the D-Pad with only 5 Buttons and a Trackball. The Menu Key on Top removes the Key-/Display-Lock and lets you Access Sub-Menus in different Places and Happenings. However, this Button does NOT open the G1's Main Menu with all the Applications, this is all done via dragging the Menu up from the Bottom of the Screen. This could be a bit irritating at first, but it's a Thing I got used to quite easily.

The left Call-Button basically fires up the Call Log and answers Calls, quite the same like on the Nokia Phones I have, with the only difference, that the Call Log on the G1 features all Calls in one Menu, no matter if they were missed, taken or made - decide yourself which Way you like the most! The "Home" Key is a smart little Helper, bringing you back to the Home Screen, wherever you are at the Moment. A long Press brings up the 6 most used Applications, let you access them quickly, without having to browse through the Menus.

The Middle of the D-Pad holds the Blackberry-like Trackball, which was meant to be a little Helper while browsing through Menus, accessing Links in WebPages etc. Well, it works good and certainly does it's Job, but for some Reason I hardly ever use it. Since the G1 is completely finger friendly (there's not even a Stylus included, I doubt there's one available anyways), I didn't need that really. However, Friends of me, who tried the G1 as well, found it useful and had their Hands on the Trackball a lot more than me.

*click to enlarge

Next up, we have the Return-Button, which does what it's meant to do: returning from everywhere! You can go back to the last Page in the Web-Browser or Android Market, jump back to the last Menu Option you been etc.. Last but not least, the right Call Key, which normally is the red one on Nokia's, is just there to end or reject Calls, puts the Phone in Standby Mode and locking the Keys and turn the Phone on/off. Some simple Buttons, not too much, they don't overload the Phone, basic and simple, I like it. None of the Buttons are crappy by the Way, the all have a nice Feedback, making them a Joy to use!

Placed above the Display, sitting right next to the Speaker is something I would pay Money for, to have it on my Nokia Phones: a customizable, multi-colour LED, which flashes up in different Colours for different Events. This can be easily modified through different Applications from the Android Market. Blue, Red, Green, Rose, Orange, Violet, Light Blue, White, Light Red and Yellow can be set up, and one of the must have Apps, called Missed Call, can even define the Interval of the LED. This is nothing but awesome, something I don't wanna miss any longer! The Missed Call App can also define the Vibration Speeds and Intervals etc, that's what I call Customization! The Speaker itself gives a good Feedback of the Caller, nothing to complain about right here.

The Sides of the T-Mobile G1 gives us a whole Bunch of Simplicity and Emptiness. Volume Keys and a nearly hidden MicroSD Slot on the left Side, mini-USB Connector with a solid Plastic Protector on the Bottom (the Protector looked like an Infrared Eye first lol) and a Camera Key on the right Side. Done, that's it, nothing more or less. Do I find the Sides of the Nokia N82 f.e. overloaded with too much Buttons? Certainly not on a Photographic Talent like the N82, which the G1 is clearly not. Things missing on the G1 Sides!? Definitely a 3,5mm Audio Jack (Headset can be connected via USB Port) and a Hot-Swap SIM Card Slot. Since the G1 Back is a bit hard to open, I’d definitely recommend a Hot Swap Slot on that Device. And no, there are no Stereo Speakers on the G1 unfortunately, all you get for Music Joy is a tiny Speaker on the Backside, with an Output not really suited for Music Maniacs. It can't really be compared to the N82 Speakers, not to mention the 5800XM Speakers, which are the best I’ve experienced.

Furthermore on the Back of the G1, the Camera is also positioned. I am not so sure, if this .. Thing really deserves the Name Camera. The Paper says 3 Megapixel with Autofocus. No Flash, no further Settings for Night Mode etc, not even Video Recording is supported (at least not until the FW Version 1.5 is available, which will have some very nice Improvements!)While Pictures in Daylight can at least be compared with other Phones, Picture Comparisons to follow soon, the G1 totally sucks in Night or Low Light Situations! Not even FW Updates can fix that and that's a very sad Point on a Phone that impresses me so much.

Right underneath the Camera is the second worst Downside of the G1, the Battery! Featuring 1150mAh, this Phone is definitely in Need for a LOT more Power to keep up with Bangers like the E71 etc. The sad Truth is, that with 3G, Bluetooth and GPS turned off, Display in a mid-range Brightness, I need to charge twice a Day. Good Thing, on the other Hand is that the G1 is charged via mini-USB, no Matter if it's via Charger or straight on the Laptop/PC! That’s definitely a good Thing, and even if I don't have the Data Cable around, I can still use Cables like from a Card Reader or my External HDD. I have read Reports already that the G2 has improved a Lot in Terms of Battery Life having more Power and some Software Improvements as well. I'm afraid to say that, but the Battery is THE biggest Downside on the whole Device.

*click to enlarge

Last but not least (for this Evening), I wanna talk about the Keyboard of the T-Mobile G1! This can be revealed, once if you slide up the Screen sidekick-like, giving you Access to the full texting Experience! The Screen Part has a slight Give in closed Mode, I thought I mention it, but it's really nothing compared to some of Nokia's Sliders I have withnessed. The upper Part is mounted on the right Side (D-Pad Part), as well as in the upper half on the Phone, with a simple Mechanism. Opened up with a loud SNAP, it's solid and doesn’t give any Space.

I have read different Reports about the Usability of the G1's full QWERTY Keyboard, some good, some bad, some complaining about the high D-Pad Part, being a Pain in the *ss and such, but my Experience, after using the G1 for more than 2 Weeks now is: WOW, that Keyboard is the best I have EVER used on a Mobile Phone! I had the E61, E71, a Blackberry and a Nokia E90 for testing Purposes, but NONE of them gave such an awesome Feeling while typing!! I am not as fast as on my lovely N82, but I can easily say that I beat some devices with numerical Keypads in Terms of Speed, like N96 or N85, which were not really blessed with usable Keypads.

The D-Pad never bothered me, I even catched myself using the Trackball when I quickly needed to scroll, instead of flicking the Screen! The Keypad itself is a full QWERTY Keypad, featuring Special Characters and Symbols in the upper Row. Those can be activated via the ALT-Buttons on both Sides next to the Space Key. There's a Magnifier Icon as well, giving you a quick Access to Google Search, as well as a Menu Button, having the same Features as the big Menu Button on the D-Pad. So while the Battery ruins your Day, the Keypad always gives some Joy back and making the G1 worth the Time spent with it ..

Pro/Contra:

+ big, very sensitive, easy to use Screen
+ great Material Choice
+ fantastic Keyboard
+ Multi-Colour LED
+ Android OS
- horrible Battery Life
- only one Speaker
- equally horrible 3,2 MP Camera

Going through all Positives and Negatives, I must say, that the Hardware is definitely mid Range. Since the G1 has no specific Standpoint, one can easily say that this Device is just a solid, but not ground breaking Mid Range Device, having a very very basic 3 MP Camera, only one Speaker on the Backside of the Device and Plastic Materials, which might give the Phone a bit of a cheap Feeling.

However, I never had the Feeling of the G1 being a cheap one, I had no squeaking or lose Parts so far, and I doubt there ever will be. The Battery really disappoints, there's nothing to hide about it, but on the other Hand, the Device itself sports a great, totally easy to use Screen, this priceless Multi-Colour LED, which notifies you about every Event, and of course that Keypad which is, and I don't hesitate to repeat that, the best I have ever used on a Mobile Phone!

Stay tuned for more Guys, cause the Thing, that makes this Device REALLY special, will be reported in Pieces really soon, when I give you some further Insides on the Android OS!