that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a
traditional phone — there has so far been only one serious option. But
that will all change on Oct. 22, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.
I have been testing the G1 extensively, in multiple cities and in
multiple scenarios. In general, I like it and consider it a worthy
competitor to the iPhone. Both devices run on fast 3G phone networks
and include Wi-Fi. Both have smart-touch interfaces and robust Web
browsers. Both have the ability to easily download third-party apps, or
programs.
But the two devices have different strengths and weaknesses, and are likely to attract different types of users.
If you’ve been lusting after the iPhone’s functionality, but didn’t
like its virtual keyboard or its user interface or its U.S. carrier, AT&T, the G1 may be just the ticket for you. But it does have some significant downsides.
By far, the G1’s biggest differentiator is that it has a physical
keyboard, which is revealed by sliding open the screen. The keyboard
proved only fair in my tests, with keys that are too flat and that can
be hard to see in bright light, and with a bulge in the body on the
right side that you have to reach over to type. But, for the many
people who can’t stomach typing on glass, the G1 keyboard will be a
welcome sight. It’s complemented by a BlackBerry-like trackball for
navigation.
The G1 has a removable battery and uses removable, expandable memory
cards. And it’s even a bit cheaper than its Apple rival: $179 versus
$199. Its data plan also costs less — $25 a month versus $30 — and
includes 400 free text messages, which cost extra on the iPhone.
There’s also a $35 plan that includes unlimited text messages. And both
plans include free use of T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi hotspots.
The G1 has a slick, clever touch interface to go along with its
keyboard, and it includes a powerful new operating system. The
operating system, called Android, was built by Google. It is slated to
appear on other phones over time, though it likely will look different
on other devices because it is fully open to modification by other
companies.
On the G1, the touch interface is fast and smooth. Programs appear
when you drag up a tab at the bottom of the screen, and notifications
of new messages can be read by simply dragging down the top bar of the
screen.
You get much more flexibility in organizing your desktop than on the
iPhone. In addition to placing icons for programs there, you can add
individual contacts, music playlists, folders, Web pages and more. You
just press on the screen for a longer-than-usual time, and a list of
items you can add appears. It also has a higher-resolution camera than
the iPhone, but like the Apple phone, it can’t shoot video.
It’s also much easier to place a phone call on the G1 than on the
iPhone. You can just start typing a contact name or phone number while
on the home screen, sparing you the need to enter the phone or contacts
program. And there’s a virtual phone keypad that allows you to avoid
opening the physical keyboard just to dial a number. It’s also much
easier to jump to the top and bottom of long lists.
The G1’s Web browser, built on the same technology as the iPhone’s,
worked well at rendering scores of common sites in my tests. You can
either pan around pages with your finger, or choose to view the whole
page at once and zero-in on a section by moving a small rectangle
around.
This first Android phone, which was largely designed by Google and
built by Taiwan-based HTC, also includes some key features Apple
omitted. These include a limited ability to copy and paste text, and
the ability to send photos directly to other phones without relying on
email, a common phone feature called MMS, or Multimedia Messaging
Service. And, unlike AT&T, T-Mobile will even allow users to
legally unlock the phone after 90 days and start using it on another
carrier, provided you pay a hefty early-termination fee.
In my battery tests, the G1 lasted through the day, but I had to
charge it every night. That’s better than the initial battery life on
the current iPhone, though in fairness, Apple has improved the iPhone’s
battery life through software updates, and I found them to be about the
same for mixed use.
In my talk-time test, the G1 got just under its claimed five hours, about 19 minutes better than the iPhone.
There are two email programs: one for Google’s Gmail, another for
all other email services. There’s an instant-messaging program that
works with multiple services. There’s one program for accessing
Google’s YouTube service and another for Google Maps. The G1’s Google
Maps program even has a feature, coming soon as well to the iPhone,
that offers photographic street views of certain locations. But the G1,
unlike the iPhone, includes a compass that orients the street views as
you walk.
The built-in download store for third-party programs, called Market,
worked well in my tests. I was able to quickly download games,
productivity programs, and other apps and, unlike Apple, Google says it
isn’t blocking any programs.
However, the G1 also has downsides. It’s a chunky brick of a device.
While it’s a bit narrower than the iPhone and feels OK in the hand,
it’s almost 20% heavier and nearly 30% thicker. It also has a smaller
screen and doesn’t accept standard stereo headphones.
The G1 also skimps on memory. It comes with only 1 gigabyte of
storage, just one-eighth of what the base iPhone offers. To increase
the G1’s memory, you have to lay out more money to buy a larger memory
card.
The G1 also limits third-party applications to a paltry 128
megabytes of memory. At one point in my tests, after downloading a
bunch of third-party programs, and adding songs and videos, the G1
warned me it was running out of room, a warning I have never seen on my
heavily used iPhone.
Another downside for some users: The G1 is tightly tied to Google’s
online services. While you can use non-Google email and IM services,
the only way you can get contacts and calendar items into the phone is
to synchronize with Google’s online calendar and contacts services. In
fact, you can’t even use the G1 without a Google user ID and password.
The G1 doesn’t allow the use of Microsoft’s Exchange service for
email, contacts or calendar items, or any other company’s over-the-air
synchronization for contacts and appointments.
In my tests, synchronizing with Gmail, and with Google’s contacts
and calendar applications, was smooth and fast. So, the G1 may be great
for dedicated Google users, but not so good for folks who rely on
competing calendar and contacts services from, say, Yahoo or Microsoft.
Future Android phones may not be so tightly tied to Google services,
but the G1 is.
It also can’t synchronize any data at all directly with a PC or Mac.
For instance, it can’t sync with Microsoft Outlook or Windows Media
Player on a PC, with Apple’s iCal or Address Book programs on a Mac, or
with iTunes on either Windows or the Mac. It has no PC-based
synchronization software of its own, and it offers no way to
automatically back up your settings, music, applications, videos or
photos, either to a computer or to an online repository, though Google
says it plans to add a backup feature.
To get Outlook or iCal data onto the G1, you must install add-on
software. To get your songs, videos and photos onto the G1, you must
plug the phone, or its memory card, into your computer and manually
move the files over.
Overall, I found the G1’s user interface inferior to the iPhone’s.
It lacks the iPhone’s ability to flick between multiple pictures and
Web pages, or to zoom in and zoom out of a photo or Web page by simply
using two fingers to “pinch” or expand the image. It also doesn’t
automatically change the orientation of the screen from portrait to
landscape simply by turning the phone.
Further, many common controls that are easily visible on the iPhone
can be accessed on the G1 only by pressing a menu button or by using
keyboard shortcuts you have to memorize. Examples are stopping the
loading of a Web page or moving forward to the next Web page.
There’s also no on-screen keyboard even for quick tasks, such as
typing Web addresses, so you’re constantly having to turn the phone and
open the physical keyboard, which quickly becomes a pain.
The G1 also is a greatly inferior multimedia device when compared
with the iPhone. Its music player, while adequate, isn’t as nice as the
built-in iPod on the iPhone. And it lacks a video player altogether,
though a rudimentary one can be downloaded from the Market. The G1 does
come with a program for buying songs from Amazon, which worked well in
my tests.
And then there’s the network. Despite all the troubles AT&T has
experienced with its fast 3G network, which is still being built out,
that company has 3G service for the iPhone and other devices in 320
U.S. metro areas. By contrast, T-Mobile offers 3G in just 20 U.S. metro
areas. Eight more cities are due to come online by year end, which will
still leave T-Mobile’s 3G coverage far behind that of AT&T and Verizon, which will soon introduce its own iPhone competitor, the BlackBerry Storm.
I did 40 speed tests comparing the G1 and the iPhone to see how fast
they could download a Web page over 3G. The tests, conducted in
Scottsdale, Ariz., and Washington, D.C., showed the iPhone to be
consistently faster, by an average of between 50 and 100 kilobytes per
second, even though T-Mobile’s network was carrying much less traffic
than AT&T’s.
Overall, the G1 is a very good first effort, and a godsend for
people who prefer physical keyboards or T-Mobile but want to be part of
the new world of powerful pocket computers.
