After reading many reviews and comparisons of the G1 online, I decided to go out and see if I could find one at a store today. I found a T-Mobile store near where I live and I got my 5-10 minutes with one of these phones.
First Impression: It's bigger then my current phone, but not nearly as big as the large amount of reviews I've read seem to imply it is. Yes, it's a smart phone with a fold-out keyboard, but it works quite nicely. It's responsive and fun to use. One thing I found quite fun was the little control stick. That's one thing that isn't really explored in-depth in most reviews I've seen about the G1.
The little control stick is the alternate control scheme for the G1, for those of you who don't really wanna smudge up the screen. I think it's great, maybe could have been a bit bigger, and maybe a little more durable. The weird thing about it though, is that it feels as though it's vibrating under your finger, which gives it a strange sensation when using it.
Moving around in the phone is pretty easy once you figure out where all the little buttons are, not quite as intuitive as I would like button wise, but it's still very usable with the touch interface. I think the idea of having multiple means to do things isn't a bad thing.
The camera and picture button are placed in such a way that you might forget where it is if you happen to have the phone in landscape mode with the keyboard out. The pictures taken are good, and the photo responsiveness wasn't that bad either. If taking video isn't that important to you, then the media functionality of the phone is actually quite good. Using Youtube on the phone was cool, but I would rather have embedded flash support that works with whatever video happens to be embedded on the site, however I know that is too much to ask for.
Overall, the only thing that did surprise me a bit was the flimsy feel of the foldout keyboard. As most reviewers have stated, it has a certain cheap-plastic feel to it, like it's one step away from busting off, which isn't something I like in a phone that typically needs to go through some wear and tear.
First Impression: It's bigger then my current phone, but not nearly as big as the large amount of reviews I've read seem to imply it is. Yes, it's a smart phone with a fold-out keyboard, but it works quite nicely. It's responsive and fun to use. One thing I found quite fun was the little control stick. That's one thing that isn't really explored in-depth in most reviews I've seen about the G1.
The little control stick is the alternate control scheme for the G1, for those of you who don't really wanna smudge up the screen. I think it's great, maybe could have been a bit bigger, and maybe a little more durable. The weird thing about it though, is that it feels as though it's vibrating under your finger, which gives it a strange sensation when using it.
Moving around in the phone is pretty easy once you figure out where all the little buttons are, not quite as intuitive as I would like button wise, but it's still very usable with the touch interface. I think the idea of having multiple means to do things isn't a bad thing.
The camera and picture button are placed in such a way that you might forget where it is if you happen to have the phone in landscape mode with the keyboard out. The pictures taken are good, and the photo responsiveness wasn't that bad either. If taking video isn't that important to you, then the media functionality of the phone is actually quite good. Using Youtube on the phone was cool, but I would rather have embedded flash support that works with whatever video happens to be embedded on the site, however I know that is too much to ask for.
Overall, the only thing that did surprise me a bit was the flimsy feel of the foldout keyboard. As most reviewers have stated, it has a certain cheap-plastic feel to it, like it's one step away from busting off, which isn't something I like in a phone that typically needs to go through some wear and tear.
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