Have Google and T-Mobile delivered the goods? XBIZ takes a look at the good and the bad of the new G1.
PRO
The analysts agree: The T-Mobile Google phone is almost as good as Apple's iPhone. Almost.
Initial reviews of T-Mobile's G1, the first mobile phone to run on Google's Android operating system, have praised the device's reasonable price, solid design and numerous advantages over the iPhone. A few of the G1's best features include:
- A reasonable price. For existing T-Mobile customers, the G1 costs only $180, making it $20 cheaper than the iPhone. In addition, customers can subscribe to two different data plans: $25 per month for unlimited Web access and limited texting, or $35 per month for unlimited Web access and texting.
- A physical keyboard and a built-in compass. One of the main complaints levied against the iPhone regards the finicky nature of its touch-screen keyboard. The G1 avoids that problem with an actual QWERTY keyboard stationed underneath a flip-screen. The G1 also has a built-in compass that works in tandem with applications like Google Maps, automatically rotating the screen based on what direction the user is facing.
- Most of the same bells and whistles that the iPhone has. Like the iPhone, the G1 comes bundled with a camera and a touchscreen, as well as a full web browser and access to signature Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps and a full applications market, just like Apple's App Store, which offers mini applications for the iPhone.
- Some bells and whistles that the iPhone doesn't have. The G1 offers users instant access to a full search function from virtually every area of the interface. Users activate this search function with an extended press on the touch screen. Also, unlike the iPhone, the Google's Android operating system can run more than one application at the same time. Onscreen alerts pop up to tell the user about activity in other applications, such as a new text message.
- Instant hackability. Consumers who want to hack into their iPhones do so at their own risk. Google's commitment to open-source collaboration has led the team to include a special debugging mode that will let enterprising programmers tinker and experiment with applications by hooking their G1 up to a PC.
But more than being exciting new mobile phones, the G1 and the iPhone mark a paradigm shift in how consumers use mobile devices. Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch said that simply being a phone isn't enough anymore.
"But remember, in the end this is not really about Android versus the iPhone," he said. "It’s about Web phones versus the brick in your pocket. Simply matching the iPhone on many of these features — especially Web browsing and email — is going to be enough to help redefine the mobile market. The table stakes have just been raised. From now on, phones need to be nearly as capable as computers. All others need not apply."
For a more detailed comparison between the devices, check out this chart at Gizmodo.com.
CON
Several technophiles have sharpened their pencils to dismantle the corporate hype surrounding the G1. The faults cited so far by bloggers and tech magazine writers include:
- Lack of innovation. For a company that has turned search, office applications and commerce on its head, Google has delivered an operating system for cellular phones that has consistently underwhelmed. Dan Frommer, writer for Silicon Valley Insider writes "Google is supposed to be an innovative disruptor -- a company that creates businesses where none previously existed, and a company that has the power to destroy well-established competitors. Surely it has more to offer than this."
- Not so open-source. The premise is simple. Unchain cell phones from their carriers' closed networks and watch them thrive, unfettered from wireless exec's marketing wishes. Why then, has Google hooked up with T-Mobile and only T-Mobile? Nothing is preventing Google from making its OS available to all comers – and perhaps that is currently in the works – but currently, Android has been branded with a T-Mobile logo.
- Cost. Google's success is founded on offering an alternative to Microsoft's practice of selling its software to the consumer. Google provides its services for free. The new G1 cost is $20 below Apple's iPhone at $180. A two-year contract is mandatory which brings the yearly cost to approximately $300 for a minimal usage plan. Revenue derived from location- and context-specific advertisement, Google's main strength, has yet to be defined.
- The Android OS. The ramp-up to the actual delivery of the G1 was rife with rumors, hearsay and perhaps, some unrealistic expectations. Android, however, does have some limitations as discovered by bloggers and technology testers. Among the most glaring shortcomings is what some call an "over-reliance" on third party developers. Basic functions, such as a robust multimedia platform and content have been left to others to develop. Some rudimentary apps that have been left to the developers to fix include a way to play video other than YouTube content, media storage on something other than a SIM card and a way to unlock the phone to work on other carriers' networks.
A developer-centric OS may actually appeal to adult industry content providers since innovative and as-yet unimagined applications have been given a new entry point to the mobile market – this time without obstacles from mobile network execs.
- Coverage. T-Mobile's G3 coverage is limited to major markets in the U.S. Although the G1 does have Wi-Fi capability, third generation cell networks allow the G1 to strut its stuff. Further, T-Mobile has disclosed that even if you can access its G3 network, your access is not unfettered. After you've used 1GB of data, T-Mobile will throttle your connection to 50Kbps for the rest of the month.
- Design. The G1 is not unstylish. It's available in three colors, white, brown and matte black and looks suspiciously like a tricked-out Sidekick. Aesthetics, of course, are not a defining characteristic of cell phones, but it is a noticeably uninspired aesthetic. The only real design feature that has raised some eyebrows in the press is the lack of a standard headphone jack. Presumably, the phone does not need one due to its Bluetooth connectivity. The loss of a standard headphone jack does mean, however that music on the phone must be heard through a decidedly non-hi-fi Bluetooth earpiece.