Commentary

After a Week of Owning the G1

Paige Finkelman

... I've been pleasantly surprised and equally disappointed. Here's a list of some of the things I love, and some of things I really don't love about the first phone to utilize the Android OS .Yays- threaded SMS messaging, similar to the iPhone- QWERTY keyboard makes for a much better input device than the iPhone.- HTML attachments download in seconds are super easy to read.- Toggle is very receptive and very little effort is required to navigate- GPS is built into the phone, and the Google Maps 'My Location' function means you can get an area map from wherever you are. It also features a 'Compass View' which knows which direction you are facing.- Developers can have a field day distributing their apps on the Android Market- The browser can open multiple windows at once- POP mail client means that you're able to access other, non-Gmail accounts- To make applications easier to access, Android allows you to assign application shortcuts to every key on the keyboard (hardest part is remembering the key you assigned to each app).- 3G connection has been strong in San Francsico thus far, although I've yet to leave the city limits and test the connectivity.Nays- I use Gmail for personal email, and I immediately signed in using my personal user name and password. Unfortunately you can only have one Gmail account per phone.- the QWERTY's keys are not pronounced enough to type without looking at the keyboard - the keys lie too flat within the phone, making the keyboard less functional. This was a huge disappointment in my book Maybe my thumbs are fat, but I wish the space bar was bigger.- The 3-megapixel camera is great, but there's a huge delay between when the shutter button is pressed and the photo is taken.- The YouTube client struggled to play video, and the quality was poor.- The battery life of the phone is really killing me. I can't go a full day without charging it up.Despite some of the G1 's disappointments, I'm looking forward to seeing which new apps are made available on the Android Market, as well as the new Android devices scheduled for distribution early next year. It's rumored that LG, Motorola and Samsung all have phones in the works to release in February 2009.It's natural to compare the G1 to the iPhone, and all in all, I have a good feeling the Android platform will pose a significant threat to the iPhone.

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