I will keep this review short and straight to the point, folks. You know how Google likes to keep things in Beta for years and years? Well, Android is no different. Like many of you I was excited at the prospect of a new OS to muscle it’s way in and take down the iPhone, but I’m afraid Android is not it – at least not yet. The OS actually isn’t that bad, but it does have its issues and those cannot be overlooked. Unfortunately it’s the hardware that will be Android’s folly this go around until the other manufacturers can churn out some better goods.
Let’s start with the hardware.
The Good
The variety of input mechanisms is superb. The keyboard is quite responsive and laid out very well. It’s almost on par with the Sidekick keyboards and we all know those are the gold standard. The trackball has a nice tactile feel to it and I especially like that it’s dark grey, so it won’t show dirt and grime over time. But it remains to be seen whether dust, dirt and anything else that can get into it will affect its performance. The touch-screen is nice and bright and quite responsive. It’s not as big as the iPhone screen, but it gets the job done.
The camera works great and takes decent photos when there’s enough light, but in low light situations it stinks and that’s to be expected. It fires up rather quickly when you tap the hard key firmly, but a quick tap won’t do anything for you, so make sure you give it a good push.
I wasn’t keen on the placement of the speaker when I first saw the G1, but it’s a heck of a lot better than being placed along the bottom of the phone like the iPhone. Being super loud isn’t always a good thing but audio quality on the G1 doesn’t deteriorate when it’s at full volume. It’s still just a speaker on a phone, but it’s loud and crisp. Even when it’s placed speaker side down on a table the audio doesn’t get muffled. I’m actually listening to Bob Marley’s Legend while writing this review and it sounds great (speaker side down).
Call quality is relatively clear on both ends and does pretty well out on the streets. It’s par for the course. Nothing great but not terribly bad.
The screen’s hinge is rather strange, but it works. Greg and I are both heavy users of the Helio Ocean, so we know a good hinge when we see one and HTC did very well with this. It slides open and out and does not “fold” like most smartphones. It’s much more similar to the TK than anything else.
The Bad
My biggest gripe with the G1 is that the GPS does not work. I thought maybe it was because I lived in Manhattan, but my iPhone never has a problem finding me within seconds and neither does my T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve (no GPS but at least I’m within a few hundred yards based on cell tower triangulation). Regardless of whether or not I enable the GPS satellites, I’m never where I’m supposed to be. And if it does manage to find me, it immediately drops me off two or three blocks away. Even on my way to JFK earlier in the week, I thought there would be enough exposed sky for it to accurately locate me. No dice. It stinks and turning on the GPS satellites drain the battery like nobody’s business, which brings me to my next point.
If you thought the battery life on the iPhone 3G was bad then you haven’t had to deal with a G1. The first day I had it I managed to kill it within six hours and I was just cruising the Web (medium heavy), sending/receiving e-mails and getting used to the device. I figured it needed a drain and a full charge overnight to cure itself, but I woke up the next day and did some light Web browsing, checked a few e-mails and attempted to locate myself via GPS for 10-15 minutes and the battery drained down to 7x percent within an hour. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I used it as much as I do my BlackBerry or iP3G. The battery life is atrocious. It drops 5-10 percent after 30 minutes of unplugging it and not even doing anything.
While the keyboard rocks that hip with the hard buttons makes it extremely awkward on your right hand and I still haven’t found a comfortable way to hold the device and type on it. I’m sure with time it’s something I could get used to, but I shouldn’t have to. Seriously, who gave this design the green light? It reminds of the Wing and Tilt, but a fugly mishmash of the two. It’s huge and that section with the hard keys is angled up making it uncomfortable to put in the front pocket of my jeans. And I’m no hipster wearing skinny jeans. I see the Touch series and wonder why something like that wasn’t used for the G1.
And last but not least, no 3.5mm jack. That’s right, you’re forced to use the headphones that come with the G1 and connect via USB. Weak sauce.
Now on to Android.
The overall UI is clean and easy to figure out. I hate making comparisons to the iPhone, but Android does a good job in this area. The layout is similar, but with smaller icons, which could look a lot better. I can’t really say that Android is good or bad, but my initial reaction was that it seemed to be slapped together last second and held together by duct tape. It’s not as buggy as the iPhone first was but it looks and feels archaic.
Before I go on a rampage I will point out the few little gems that Android has to offer. The notifications bar is a nice touch and keeps me up to date on what’s going on and it’s easy enough to access by swiping from the top of the screen down. The variety of inputs can be confusing at times and I barely remembered that the menu hard key was there, but it’s something you just have to get used to. It gets much easier and you can whip through the device rather quickly once that happens.
The ability to add things to the home screen was also a nice touch like shortcuts. Having folders that I can dump certain apps like games into is convenient and takes up less real estate.
A minute detail that many might overlook that I found quite useful was the status menu for the device to see vitals like battery level and signal strength. I just wish I could make a shortcut for it to put on my home screen.
Now here’s the bad (and good)
Gmail
-Inability to have more than one Gmail account linked to the device. I know it would throw off everything else linked to it like the calendar and contacts, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have the option of switching back and forth.
-Surprisingly not as polished as the BlackBerry Gmail app, but everything is more streamlined. Depends on the user, I suppose.
-Digging through menus isn’t fun when you just want to spam an email. Not being able to trash your entire spam folder is also a negative.
-Despite the aforementioned quibbles Gmail on Android works and it works well.
Google Maps
-If the GPS would actually work I might shower Maps with flowers, puppies and praise, but it doesn’t so I won’t.
-Street View is phenomenal, but it shows me locations that are nowhere near where I am or where I want to go. Maybe it’s because the GPS doesn’t work, I don’t know.
-The compass (you have to download the app Spare Parts to even get it) in Maps that I thought would kick ass was underwhelming and it’s hard to tell which direction it’s pointing you.
-The entire app is underwhelming due to the non-working GPS and when it is able to locate me it’s slow to update.
Google Calendar
-It works, but it takes a while for things to sync.
-The home screen icon should reflect the actual day.
-I’d like to see the calendar on the notification bar but when the keyboard is closed that wouldn’t leave too much for notification icons. It does show up when you pull the notification bar down though.
Google Search
-It works. No problems here.
Browser
-After using the iPhone’s Safari browser I’m spoiled, but the Android browser can firmly rest in second place among mobile browsers.
-Zooming in and out is a smidge painful when you’re having to tap the + and – icons, but like I said, it’s way better than every other browser on the market except for the iPhone.
-Eight separate browsers should be enough for anyone.
YouTube
-It’s not as polished as the iPhone’s YouTube app, which is appalling, but it works.
-You can also comment on each video’s direct page, but do we really care about that?
-No dedicated video player other than this. That’s rough.
MP3 Player
-No equalizer.
-Longpressing on an album, song title or artist will bring up links to search the Amazon MP3 store, Google and YouTube.
The Market
-I cannot give this a fair review because the apps that are currently available are not very good. But Namco’s Pac Man is FREE! Rejoice!
-The whole barcode scanner app is lame. Comparing the price of items doesn’t locate local pricing for me and I don’t care how much a bottle of Jack costs online. Maybe it’s because my GPS wasn’t working. Who knows?
-Deleting applications is far more difficult than it needs to be. When you hold down on an icon from the home screen the tab at the bottom displays a trash can which you would think is actually a trash can, but it’s not. It’s a receptacle where all your apps are stored. You must delete apps from inside the Market. Fail.
-I’m sure with time the Market will get better, but right now it’s nothing to swoon over.
The Network
T-Mobile’s 3G network is strong in the markets that it is currently deployed in. I’ve had great coverage in NYC, SF and Chicago thus far and have had less switching between EDGE and 3G than on the iPhone 3G. Download speeds are comparable to that of AT&T’s network and I didn’t drop any calls. Oh, and the actual phone works great.
Other gripes
Did they choose black as a background just because the iPhone uses white (grey/blue)? From the home page everything looks vibrant but once you jump into settings or IM or anything then it turns dark and dreary. At least let us change the themes or something. Beyond the home page it’s an ugly and unpleasant experience.
Conclusion
If you’ve been waiting for Android then I suggest you keep waiting. The overall OS seems to be held together by duct tape and needs a lot of work. Apple focuses on the minute details to enrich the overall experience for iPhone users and Android could learn a lesson or ten from it. The hardware design is dated and while the touch-screen and keyboard are great you can’t just forget about the wretched battery life, horrible GPS and the overall ergonomics of it. I wish the G1 were better in every respect because I don’t think the iPhone is that great, but I find myself wishing it were more like it. It’s the best alternative to the iPhone, but it’s just not there yet.
Great review, you should join the new startup http://www.tmobileg1fans.com
~Joe~
Yet another deal-breaker review for me. I am at my wit’s end with the iP3G. Worthless contraption, as far as I’m concerned. Way too many dropped calls, and neither AT&T or Apple will do anything about it.
In regards to these issues, I’ve been looking forward to the release of the Android. Seems like I may be making my way to the new BB Bold. Appreciate the time put into this review. Can always count on CrunchGear.
Very nice and balanced review. Thanks.
I hope Android be the mobile OS of my dream.
Quick and easy access to the indispensible applications like
phone, SMS, address book, calendar, music & video, dictionaries, etc.
And no ‘duck taped’ like UI ;)
iPhone UI may be ideal but a little bit less than iPhon UI is ok.
Why do you dislike the iPhone so much?
Thanks for the review. I agree that the iPhone is the clear leader in UI and overall eye-pleasing design, but it lacks essential features including the ability to run applications in the background and push support. Also, I’m not sure I’d call the G1’s battery life “retched [sic]” relative to the iPhone’s. My iPhone got about 6-7 hours the first time I used it. They seem to be in the same ballpark of badness.
Hopefully the GPS issues will be cleared up. It seems unlikely that HTC would use an antenna and chip that simply do not work at all.
Again, thanks for the review. It is much appreciated.
The iphone doesn’t lack the ability. Apple just doesn’t let developers use it, to save the user battery life. However Jailbreaking helps so many issues like that. I run siruis satilite player and can check my mail, surf the web, play scrabble all while still listening to Howard Stern over edge. So it works great if apple would just let it work. By the way there is an app I installed that allows you to do this with any app by just holding the home button for an extra couple of seconds.
I did jailbreak my iPhone. My problem is that the more I had to hack things to get them to work the way I wanted them to, the less I could appreciate the beautiful design. That’s just me. The no horizontal keyboard in the Mail or SMS also irked me, and yes, I know there is an app to make the keyboard horizontal, but again, it’s kind of a hack (not that the G1 even has a virtual keyboard, which I think it would be loverly to have).
Yeah, your GPS must have been wonked out, I tested it out today and it was working fine (locating products locally etc…)
sunrise testers for the android twitter app this way: http://twitroid.com
Aww man. I’ve been waiting for Android to replace my POS RAZR. This battery has had me at wit’s end for at least half my contract, which finally expires in December. I thought Samsung and Nokia solved the cell battery problem when I was in high school. What the hell is with all these less-than-a-day battery lives?
Maybe I’ll have to break down and buy an iPhone. Or maybe something will come out that actually supports Flash 9+ and is otherwise a decent phone. Here’s hoping.
Thanks for the realistic review. I’ve pre-ordered a G1, still am looking forward to getting it. Good thing there is a 2 week grace period to return it… so if the flaws are not flushed out by the time it is release to the masses, back it goes. Btw… have to check with T-Mo or Google to see if your phone may be always stuck in triangluation mode in terms of GPS?
Thanks for the realistic review. I’ve pre-ordered a G1, still am looking forward to getting it. Good thing there is a 2 week grace period to return it… so if the flaws are not flushed out by the time it is release to the masses, back it goes. Btw… have to check with T-Mo or Google to see if your phone may be always stuck in triangluation mode in terms of GPS?
There’s an option to locate yourself based on wi-fi/cell towers or switching on the GPS satellites, but neither really worked for me.
You love the cock, just admit it. You sit alone at night, jerking off, you suck at life….
It sounds like maybe you weren’t using the GPS option to locate yourself. By default it uses the cell tower location which isn’t that great in a big city. To get street-level accuracy, you have to turn on the gps satellites option in the settings menu, then wait a little while before it kicks in. When you’re in the maps screen you should see a little satellite dish icon in the top that indicates it’s using gps. It should get you street-level accuracy.
thank you and can you send me a free G1.
The GPS My Location put me 8 blocks away from where I actually was in 3 different locations, 3 different cities.
Don’t like the GPS.
Camera SUCKS ASS
Can’t save texts
Can’t forward texts….
I think this phone is going back today. I am getting a blackberry
Your comment about zooming on mobile browsers betrays that you’ve never used Opera. You can check it out for instance on numerous HTC mobiles. I’ve tried it and I liked it more than iPhone as with one double tab on screen it always zoomed to “correct” zoom level. No pinching required. Also on some mobiles, like touch pro, there is a touch sensitive wheel that allows for very quick and precise fluid zooming to what ever zoom level. Just because something is multitouch sensitive, doesn’t make it more useable user interface.
Currently I think that Opera Mobile is the king. It even has flash support – although the model I tried didn’t yet have flash 9.
I use Opera on my BlackBerry and Ocean, Mr. Mo. The Safari browser on the iPhone trumps all others. It’s just a matter of preference at this point.
You an asshole, this review is BS.
How so, Don?
I’m afraid he has a point. =P
“Beyond the home page it’s an ugly and unpleasant experience.” What was he commenting on? The standard apps? (most of which you can now replace with “shinier” ones anyway)
Also, i got my g1 a few days ago, and I’ve used it almost constantly, no crashes, only a few times has it not been 100% smooth. Also also, the theme/colours are on par with the iphones imo, and there will probable be an app to customize them further. “Held together with duct tape”? No. “Looks and feels archaic”? No.
When will folks begin to understand that when you make a consumer electronics device, you can’t cobble it together with a bunch of “partners”. Google is trying to do with smartphones what Microsoft tried to do with home computers: cobble things together and hope that consumers will put up with the headaches of the seams showing left and right. Windows PCs were made to be OFFICE EQUIPMENT with an IT guy there to support them when they (constantly) broke down and frustrated the end-user. Move those PCs into the home and you get a bunch of people who hate dealing with their Windows boxes. The Google heads (aren’t they all supposed to be geniuses?) have done the same stupid thing here and it appears the device is just as much a piece of crap as a Windows Mobile device. Is anyone surprised at this?
Apple and Sony get it: for a consumer device you HAVE to build the whole banana. That is the only way to ensure a consistent, rock solid user experience. People will screw with these lame devices for a few weeks, get fed up, then they’ll go back and buy an iPhone. Regular people (that’s 98% of the population) just want a device that works. They are not going to waste their time on a slap dash piece of techo-porn that services no one but the carrier and the OHA.
Heh double posting, kinda =/ anywho, IT DOES WORK. Nothing on mine hasn’t worked yet, okay, one of the games froze, but straight away i was given the option to close it. For me, the g1 is far more functional than an iphone (mostly because of keyboard/trackball/non-restrictive app market). Google and HTC have done a brilliant job getting it this good, especially considering the amount of co-operation needed with the various companies involved. Have fun with you iphone =]
I really dont get why they didnt take the design of the HTC Touch Diamond/Pro. Those look sexy and are also sold by T-Mobile..that things looks rubbish!
For me, nothing can beat my HTC Touch Pro with a tweaked ROM at the moment.
Hmm .. Every other review I read praised the UI as being rock solid, whether or not the reviewer liked the look and feel of it. You keep saying it’s held together with duct tape, tho. I don’t get it.
It’s not polished is what I meant, jj. It’s solid and mine has yet to crash, but it’s ugly.
oh. ’cause duct tape usually holds sht together, not covers up its paint job, i thought. ok.
Sometimes it does.
That is cool ,I like it
Peter how do you feel about safari crashing on the iphone? i have an i phone 3g and it keeps crashing (mostly while on CG) how did the android browser hold up while surfing the web?
I stated that the Safari browser on the iPhone is the best when it comes to usability, but mine hasn’t really crashed lately. The Android browser never crashed for me, Leo. The OS as a whole is solid, but not very polished.
Oh, great! Now you don’t have to use Google’s web browser to send them all your personal identifying information, shopping and browsing habits, those web sites you surf when the wife’s not around, etc. You can just send it to them with your Googlephone! Yippee! I can’t wait!!
It’s called white balance, bitch! use it!
The huge plus to me is that Andriod will be open sourced and continually developed.
Don’t care what the phone is like now, I just want a phone that I can hack about with and install/reinstall operating systems on it as I choose.
You missed mentioning two of the most important features that are missing from the hardware:
1) No 3.5mm Headphone Jack
2) No TV-Out
On the software side you totally missed reviewing its capabilities as a Music/Video player:
1) Music – no where near iPod/Zune functionality
2) Video – YouTube only. What is up with that?
Updated.
Great thorough review. Too bad to hear the GPS sucks.
It looks to be a great phone, but definitely lot larger than iphone. atleast this one has a good keyboard..the one in iphone is a joke.
http://www.livbit.com
But open source is ultimately good news.
Sunita
Some videos, too:
Dan Grigsby looks at the Android G1 in 5 minutes from an iPhone developer’s perspective.
And our industry’s lovable Loren Feldman (1938media) throws in his own snarky-but-entertaining 2 cents.
@Peter, how many times do you bang out a heated reply to some of these a$$clowns, only to delete it before posting?
I mean, you must have the patience of a saint.
And, I’ll still be buying a G1 next week…assuming they’re in stock.
I read another review that stated that the phone comes with the GPS antenna turned off and that you have to manually turn it on. That almost certainly why you were defaulting to the cell phone tower triangulation. You’re not the only review to have missed that though!
From the review: “Regardless of whether or not I enable the GPS satellites, I’m never where I’m supposed to be.”
I was well aware of this in advance and nothing fixed the problem, NA.
Interesting, I’ve read reviews that take both sides; GPS sucks, GPS is good…it’ll be interesting to see how it works for me next week.
wow, excellent review …
ofcourse Android is not as good as Iphone is but it would be… Hope for the best …
Peter-
Could you review the instant messaging usability on the G1? I have a Sidekick because I need to be “available” for work related im’s. Could you see if you are listed as available on your buddy’s buddy list?
Thanks (and great review besides!)
The Sidekick has the best IM client, T. The IM client on Android is stable, but it’s not as clean and polished. It will prompt users that you’ve signed on from a mobile device. Does that help?
Indeed it does. Thanks!
The GPS (for some reason) is set to be off a little bit. In settings you can adjust it to show your actual location. I don’t know why this is. But after the change is made your map experience will increase A LOT!
Not for me.
Scene: Two guys standing in front of a T-mobile background.
First Guy: Look at this awesome HTC Touch Pro phone we can pull over from Europe. It was well received over there, looks kick ass, and we can tweak it to be even better when we release it here!
Second Guy: F*ck that, I found this pile of crappy looking phones that we can get for next to nothing. We can load android on them for free, and make a killing!
First Guy: (Hoppping slightly into the air) BRILLIANT!
Scene: Two guys standing in front of a T-mobile background.
First Guy: Look at this awesome HTC Touch Pro phone we can pull over from Europe. It was well received over there, looks kick ass, and we can tweak it to be even better when we release it here!
Second Guy: F*ck that, I found this pile of crappy looking phones that we can get for next to nothing. We can load android on them for free, and make a killing!
First Guy: (Hoppping slightly into the air) BRILLIANT!
I’m hoping to see a good quality video review soon.
Great review. Thanks for pointing out the pros and cons.
The only problem I see is: I have to wait 3 months more cause I’m living in Europe :-)
http://www.androidianer.de
I think that the new G1 phones sucks, it’s bulky and the screen(3.2)is too small and what’s wired screen opening? Don’t get me started on the price. I’m happy to see there’s a new OS for the cellphone. T-Mobile has the weakest lines of cellphones(let alone the most expensive and outdated). Cellphone service providers should give a lower(much)price when signing a two-year (lets go back to one-year)contract(the phone cost them nothing). Cellphone companies should focus on longer battery life(how about a solar-panel card on the cellphone’s exterior, so you can use your phone more frequently without running out and losing future calls.
You think $180 is too much?
I just want to point out, with reviews about software and apps, that the android os is new. It will be a short time before the things you want on your phone are created (by yourself or others). example: even though there is not a video player on the phone out of the box…you can immediately go to the android marketplace and download one…2) though there may not be the capability of video recording, the hardware is there and only needs a progam written to utilize the hardware on the phone to do that. Thats the beaty of an opensource OS. I may be getting off point since this is a review of the handset in general…I believe this is a leap in the right direction to have a handheld device that is fairly compact that can do anything you may need as a user.
I agree, Panthro. I did point out that the OS is almost there and basically needs a push from the developer community, but the hardware manufacturers also need to do their part and make some decent goods.
It’s now possible to Unlock all T-Mobile G1 for $22.9 using : http://www.unlock-tmobileg1.com, we just need the IMEI (Serial Number) your phone to provide your the Unlocking Code in less than 48H
you hit everything right on the head!!! great review!! and the battery life is sooooooo horrible!! i think they do it on purpose so you HAVE to buy the car charger and back up charger for it!
soooo theres no flash?
You said you’ll keep it short and did hell of a good and big review. This has the same view as most of the G1 reviews on the net. There are pros and cons. The phone has a right to exist, but this is nothing close exciting as the release of iPhone was. Maybe because all post-iPhones will be only on the second place. Anyway, now we see the first device and let’s see what’s coming next. Hopefully it won’t be all that branded and locked.
Wow i just baught a G1 and im extremely impressed in the OS and eye pleasing design. This phone is also open source that means with time it will get better and better just like Linux : ) but if a bunch of newbs to open source want to bash the G1 maybe you shouldn own a smart phone cus well your not smart lol !! i think this phone is great not perfect but great. My gps works very well with street view and a panoramic motion sensor. I also enjoy the sleek nedia player with all the free google apps and such. So in a nut shell the G1 is a great phone!!!
Pretty decent review. I ended up returning mine. I had similar issues with the GPS here in NYC, which was disappointing. I really wanted this phone to work. My biggest gripe was that the vibrate was extremely weak and at the end of the day I needed it to be a phone. I kept missing calls and text messages. Also it really needs a virtual keyboard (which I read is coming out early next year), having to flip to the keyboard every time to send a text was a pain. When walking around the city or on the go you just want to be able to do it on the fly as fast as possible.
However you can see where the Android software is going and I think good things will be coming down the road. The fact you can toggle back and forth between apps seamlessly is great.
Well take a touch phone then. Then you are sure you will call people when you put the phone back in your pocket!!! Believe me I have the HTC Diamond with a virtual keyboard and it sucks big time!! Always have to get the pen out. Even my girlfriend who has tiny fingers has problems with writing. No thank you HTC for the G1!!!! This is WAY better.
the g1 is a great phone and most of things u named that were wrong with the os are being fixed by firmware i mean theres already a video recorder app an a video player app and i hear a new apps are coming
I Think you did a good job on the review and you made me decide whether I want this phone or not, and I think I’m going to get it.
Thank You
Android rules!!!Can’t wait to get HTC Magic
Google Android software
nice phone
I have a BlackBerry Curve with T-Mobile. Wondering if I should swith to the G1, or wait til next generation of G1 comes out? I mostly use my blackberry for scheduling, email, websurfing and some (not much) texting. Any advice for me on comparing my BB with the G1? Thanks
Thanks! This was a great and thorough review! Now I feel like if I do choose to get the G1, I know all of the pros and cons!
Cheers.
I love this phone, but sometimes it just starts buzzing, and doesnt stop, so i have to yank out the battery. Which gets annoying
How much is it for the phone?