[ This is an official Smartphone Round Robin post! Every day you reply to an official Round Robin blog post or forum thread on CrackBerry.com, you automatically gain an entry ballot for a chance to win a BlackBerry Bold, Spare Bold Battery, and Case Mate Second Skin! ]
With my BlackBerry Bold now in Jennifer's hands and the Palm Treo Pro I was using last week with Rene (you NEED to watch his video preview), I'm now rock'n the Android-powered T-Mobile G1. The G1 is a slider, and if you rewind to last year's Round Robin you'll remember I've got a thing against sliders (me and the AT&T Tilt did not get along so well). But having been a Google fan boy longer than I've been a CrackBerry Addict (seriously - Google has been my homepage since for over a decade now), I kept an open mind as I picked up the G1 for the first time.
Watch the video above. It's actually pretty positive (minus the sick frog voice I got going on)!! The G1's form factor is a bit wonky and the hardware is a little underwhelming, but moving from the Bold into the G1 was a fairly easy transition to make, with the trackball, back key and menu key providing some of the comforts of 'BlackBerry Home.' What had me most excited was the Android homescreen experience - I'm a big fan of the ease of customization and how fluid it is. Not all is rosy for the G1 though - I'll pick on a lot of things in the longer, follow-up review (which will be coming soon since I'm behind schedule in getting this posted), so stay tuned!
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190 comments
I WANT A BOLD!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very impressed with this phone. Sadly, I'm with Verizon. If I had T-mobile I would ditch my blackberry and buy it in a heart beat. Very cool phone! :-)
I tried it out for a few days and thought it was pretty cool. It will be even cooler when it gets more usable apps developed for it. The technology is neat and will be ultra usable when they get 3g in my area (earlier next year). Would not mind getting one for free!!!
Matthew
Kind of an ugly device, you would think they would have put a little more R&D into the form factor. It doesn't necessarily need to be sleek and leather wrapped like the bold, but it shouldn't look like my TV remote either.
Without any meaningful enterprise support, this is more of a toy than a smartphone. It's a glorified Centro, and not much more. I wonder if the convergence of devices will split again. The iPhone has won over some business users, but it doesn't compare to BB, WinMo or even Symbian S60 phones for enterprise use. Meanwhile, those phones have added multimedia capabilities and social networking (stuff I will probably never use). It wasn't long ago that Blackberries didn't have cameras...on purpose. I think the G1 is a semi-smart phone at best, running beta software. Google is the only company that's almost as arrogant as Apple.
It does have full exchange syncing support(calendar,mail,contacts) due to 3rd party open source support however it doesn't fully support exchange's capabilities. Like remote wiping and enterprise control.
While Android is nice I really did not like the G1 hardware. I just sold my G1 and ordered a Blackberry Storm, I had an iPhone before the G1 and still may go back but I'll give the Storm a good go first.
android OS is nice
the G1 so far, is a failure
This phone G1 was in the running for my next phone (after the Storm) and I'm still considering. I agree, this phone is not sexy but it does appear to be pretty functional and the Android software has lots of promise. I'm looking forward to the evolution of this phone and application.
could turn out to be great once it gets more developed, but the G1 will never make me want it...the device it's self is hideous looking and HTC should be ashamed of it :P
I want to win!
Hey Kevin, how do you like Vimeo compared to YouTube? The quality of the video looks a lot better I think. I also want to compliment you on the great job you do in these videos. I've watched a few of the other SPE editors and your videos always seem professional and polished compared to some of theirs.
lol, who was that first email from in your Gmail app?? lol. :p
lol...totally saw that!
Okay, not to be a traitor, but I really liked the G1. I loved the interface and the flexibility, and the combo touchscreen/trackball. its ugly though, and the keyboard SUCKED, and that alone might keep me away from it. that and Tmobile. BB should get some google peeps to design for it!
I'm very impressed with the Google OS. Great looking phone
Nice review. I like this segment of the site. Phones that I otherwise would never be interested in I can see here.
It seems like a cool enough phone, but I think my storm is better. The form factor is indeed a bit wonky. I do like the "Openness" of the platform, or rather the idea of the open platform. All in all if i did love my phone i woudld consider the G1
The software on the phone looks pretty good but they should definitely have worked on the design of the actual phone a little more, looks like a phone that would have came out about 5 years ago
Didn't like it..... Didn't Hate it! The trackball was nice to see, looked familular. I have been thinking of getting a touchscreen but didn't like touching the screen to text. For me a touch screen would be more style than function. HTC is getting there, but has a way to go. I will stick with my 8310 curve. Until the prices of the Bold or even the new Curve go down.
great review!
The G1 is a neat little gadget.
pretty neat phone that google thingie, still not a blackberry though. but I agree that they could have done a bit more with the physical appearance of the handset. it's not THAT exciting. the storm besides it is all shiny good looking and drew my attention away form the g1 at times...
guess I won't be leaving my trusty curve for a quite a while yet, even though I ever so much would love to have the bold or storm.
frog voice you said? naah, wasn't that bad was it?;)
the g1 isn't a pretty looking thing, but it sure has got some great features. I wouldn't mind getting one if they made it look better...
G1 has a long way to go to catch up with Blackberry. But it looks like they are on the right track.
cool phone, like my bold better
Good review
I had to file an online waiver at a college intramural game using my buddy's G1(officials wouldn't let me play otherwise). I was actually surprised to see how flawlessly the university web page loaded. It was as if I was viewing it on my PC. The screen wasn't as responsive as I thought it would be, but that could've been a matter of personal settings that my buddy had used. The keyboard felt a little awkward, but overall, I was surprised at how nice the phone operated and felt in hand. For those of you into programming, I think this phone could be an awesome choice.
Like a lot of people, I get a lot of services from Google, and I do like Android. I believe that Exchange support is just a matter of time.
However, the hardware is crude. It's certainly not on par with more mature platforms like the BlackBerry and can't hold a candle next to the Bold.
Meh. The software looks clean, but I'm not crazy about the build of the device.
I've been waiting for this review, this phone looked pretty sweet, not as much as a Berry of course but still awesome. If berry's didn't exist this would be in the list of possible phones I would have, I would also consider this as a second phone/backup. I can't wait to see the final impressions.
Great review Kevin.. I think I'll still hold out for a Bold or Storm.. : )
Great review Kevin.. I think I'll still hold out for a Bold or Storm.. : )
I would hope for a physical keyboard to have raised keys. I have heard that keys on this are sometimes are hard to type on.
No doubt about it - this OS will dominate the smartphone market in a year or two. From that video (I'm going to go play with one soon), it's clear that the OS is very intuitive to use and frankly, the overall design is something Blackberry should pay attention to. I agree that the hardware leaves little to be desired, but that's the way of it - you can never seem to get EVERYTHING in one phone.
Wifi and 3G are included, which is a huge bonus, and a decent camera... I'm paying close attention to this operating system from now on!
The Android software is definitely nice, but the next phone that runs it really needs to be better looking. That stupid chin makes it not fit in any universal cases either...what was HTC thinking?
intresting. I don't think I could give up my pearl, but nifty.
ID rather have a bold
This has been a great round of Round robin. I have really injoy this thanks for all the great reviews
Not as bad as I had thought. Thanks.
not the biggest fan of that phone ..
Great concept, but not a very good looking phone, imo.
widgets! i like that you can just drag the app to the homescreen! very nice!
If Blackberry weren't around I would own this phone. Thankfully my Bold to me at least still is leaps and bounds better than this phone. A friend at work has the G1 and definitely better than the iPhone but nowhere near my Bold. But of course I'm partial to my BlackBerry's.
I do like the functionality of the OS. Good review, Kevin!
I think my concern would be typing on that keyboard. It seemed like the keys were a little more flat than I am used to. As a speed typer (even on my 8830), I would want to make sur ethe flatness of the keys wouldn't slow me down.
Good job as always, Kevin!! I like the way things can get pulled onto the screen like the apps and such.
I played with a G1 last night and it wasn't half bad but I would still take a BB or even an evil iphone over it!
I like the idea of a google-powered phone, but I'm still too excited for my Storm to get here.
Good job Kevin. I can't wait to hear your final review. But like a lot of others, the BOld is the 'ONE'. Best hands down. Would love to win one or something..... ;o)
Honestly, the G1 is looking a heck of a lot sweeter than I thought. Wouldn't trade my storm for it... but a dang nice piece of equiptment to play with