By the way, it has a small feature that many here might not know about given the previous pictures. It has a real fricking KEYBOARD!
Therefore, this feature allows it to potentially be used by enterprise users (email), and not just playing old Ninetndo games. Face it, you aren’t going to pry away business users blackberry’s without a hard-key keypad.
It’s Google’s first co-branded phone. Give 'em a break. They just want something developers can work with. Remember Apple’s first attempt with Moto? Yeah, not so hot.
Breaking into the handset/cell business isn’t easy. It’s controlled by a few big companies, all of whom are very conservative and resistant to change, and hell-bent on nickle and dimeing their subscribers, IMO. Having GOOG get Android onto a T-Mobile phone to start with is a big deal.
no multitouch and no software keyboard yet (can be a lil annoying to flip it open for quick entry stuff).
but I can copy and paste
the back is just soft touch paint and some disappointing paint pooling around the button edges on the front. nothing exciting there. It is definitely sturdy though. the flip mech is solid.
and I can upgrade the storage (micro SD) and actually access the battery.
size wise, its bigger in thickness and height compared to the iphone, but a touch more narrow. The thickness is an obvious trade-off for the keyboard. Also the iPhone’s rounded profile really helps lessen the perceived size.
The Google cloud integration is really nice and fast. Also the Android marketplace is already filling full of nice stuff.
ultimately I would say the iPhone is a more refined execution, but Android will take over from a mobile OS standpoint.
Wow that’s annoying. I thought there had been some sort of global resolution to never ever use pop ups for image browsing on a portfolio site. Guess not.
I didn’t think the renders looked hot at all. A little mediocre sliding into banal… There is a difference between “Restrained ,Clean design” and “Simplistic, Unresolved design” and to see that just put an iPone next to the G1… sorry to my google friends.
The issue is probably not related to HTC… I have a Diamond and the ID on that thing is fantastic. They did a great job of producing an “iphone” like product without looking like an iPone… I would say it looks better in person! HTC has an interesting design center, in Taiwan I believe, called “Magic Labs” and I think they are poised to do some great stuff.
I’m not coming at you 914, they are hotter or glossier or whatever. But on first glance I imediately thought to myself “that thing is not going to look good in person”… to me it looks like an inexpensive toy. Look at the way the keys are resolved. There are just a few keys on the front surface… looks like a Palm Pilot circa 1998…
How about this turn into a one hour design challenge or something. Something specifically for Google.
You know, I think Google could have really hit it out of the park. They really had a chance to go above and beyond but the truth is they didn’t. To me it just seems like the design’s not even worth $180, i’m just saying.
DONT even get me started on the Nokia N-95/N-96. I am pretty sure I would do something really drastic like breaking a kid’s toy in front of the said crying kid while yelling “YOU ARENT SO TOUGH NOW ARE YOU! ARE YOU!?” juuuuust to have one. It/they are the only phones that come close to the IPhone. The price tag is sky high. 700 to 500 new. WTF. but its unlocked and it has a 5.5 mp cameria with a Carl Zeiss lense and 8 gigs on board with a potential to go up to 32g with a sd card. GRRRRRRR I want one!
I actually think the design is quite close to Google’s brand feeling. Think the Google start page or Gmail - it’s sort of undesign design, deliberately techy, but also quite clean and somewhat friendly. I imagine most of the key customers are home brew Linux types who probably see anything else as a waste of money or being too “Apple”. I would have been really surprised if they came out with a slick chrome steel and glass fashion device as their first hero product.
The lack of audio jack seems to be a something HTC always do - I don’t really understand it though. Maybe it’s a cost and space saving issue? Or maybe they are trying to drive accessory sales?
So, this has been bugging me, and I know a bunch of cooler google phones are on the way based on the blogs, but I wanted to throw down a concept. This is a strict styling exercise, taking every element from the G1 and leaving it where it is, in a different form. I think I’d like to do another one that steps out, this one is pretty conservative.
hmmmmmm… so my phone just broke, I have a year left with tmobile, and I’m thinking about the G1. I’m going to the tmobile store to suss this brick out.
Man, well after much haggling with the T-Mobile sales guy I was able to get my hand on a working model instead of the dummy phone they had out in the front.
My conclusions after playing with it for 15 minutes:
The Android platform is really nice, especially if you are a self loathing Windows user like me. It’s less intuitive then picking up an iPhone but it’s still a great platform and looks like it has a lot of room to grow. It felt very adaptable.
And… other than that this thing is a brick, a cheap plastic brick with shameful little buttons that feel cheap. Not to mention the screen arm seemed very flimsy, there was way too much wiggle on the left side of the screen. In fact the dummy phone I looked at was almost completely broken, the swing arm was just barely holding on. Apparently it only took a month of continual opening and shutting for it to get to this point, according to the sales dude.
I think I may just wait for my contract to expire and move on to the iPhone
Yeah this one totally fizzled and popped. It was not even a trendy item for a week. as the kids say, FAIL. On the other news I played with the Blackberry storm and that is also not too grand, but at least it looks ,um, better.
The upside to the g1 not getting a lot of attention, people will develop more for it and the new one will be better.
