Google's Android! (T-Mobile G1)

Member Name: wob1001

Product:	T-Mobile G1
Date:	15/02/09 (248 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great range of features!

Disadvantages: No Tv on it as of yet!Apart from youtube

Mobile phones seem to get better and better every year. Not long after you buy one do you find that the next model is already on the shelves. The new G1 is the first phone released by google (in association wih T-mobile) and is seemingly there attempt to rival the I-phone.

== The Look ==

For a while it seemed phones would continue to get smaller and smaller, thats no the case anymore. Now it is all about how big the screen is and so it should be! The screen on the G1 is a decent 3.2 inches. It comes in black or white and in general it is a nice looking phone. It has smooth corners, a nice erganomic feel and has very discreet features (e.g the buttons and camera in the back). I personally have never liked the metal back of I-pods and I-phones as it can scratch easy and looks dirty after moderate use. Here however with one solid unit fingerprints are your only problem and these can be wiped away! The buttons on the front are back lit wih soft lighting and there is a rollerball in the middle that looks a bit delicate but I assure you its quite sterdy! The biggest feature of the phone is the hidden keyboard behind the screen. The sliding mechanism feels strong and in my opinion will stand the test of time. I admit this was my biggest worry but after trying it in the shop I was convinced the design was sound. I'm not the most gentle of people either! The keyboard is easyto use. It makes texting much more simple. These keys are back lit too but I find them difficult to see in some lights. This may well be die to the fact I opted for the white version of the phone. I can't see this problem occuring on the black version! Personally howver I will put up with this problem as I felt the phone in black looked a bit booring!

== The touch screen ==

With touch screens being a more recnt addition to the world of mobile phones it is logical to have a few concerns about them! On the G1 the touch screen is really good! It seems to respond only to the human touch! I have tried it with gloves on, with my nails and with a stylus ... none of them worked. This is good in a way because you are never going to accidentally turn it on in your pocket! It also responds to a few different movements. Sweeping your finger across the screen moves the view on the screen. For example if you are surfing the net and you want to scroll down the page this is what you need to do! Obviously it responds to you pushing it with your finger. This is used to select option etc.. but you can also hold your finger down on it and it will give you another option. For example if you wanted to select an application you would simply press on it, however if you wanted to delete it you could hold your finger on it for a few seconds and you can then drag the shortcut icon to the recycle bin! One drawback to the screen is that it doesn't seem to have a multi-touch function. If you have your finger on the screen you cannot do something else with another finger! This isn't really important nor does it effect the ease of use!

== Interface ==

The phone works in a similar way to your computer. When you start it up you are on a desktop screen. Here you have the shortcuts to you application. You are not limited however to the size of the screen. The desktop spans three sections which you acces with a swish of the finger. Also on the desktop is a google search bar for quick access to surfing! I love the desktop idea and it works really well. You can bring up other menu's by pressing certain bars on the screen. One of these is the notification bar. This is hidden at the top of the screen and shows you the time, your signal strength and battery life. However if you get an e-mail or a text you can use the touch screen to drag the notification screen down to read the message. This is such a simple idea but it works really well! One thing I should let you know is that you have to create a google e-mail (gmail) account before you can start the phone unless you already have one. It acts as your phones e-mail adress. This is free and everything and it maybe a good idea to link this adress with things like your eBay account for example. If you were to recieve an e-mail from eBay it would immediately notify you on your phone, you can then take the appropriate action on your phone (say if you have been outbid on something).

== Android ==

The big feature of the G! is the Android market. This is a free feature that lets you personalisey ou phone and it is expanding all the time. From your phone you can acess the market where a number of applications are shown. You can download the applications you think you would benefit from onto your phone! Some of these are silly applications but some are really useful and add new levels of use to your phone. Here are some examples :

=== Telegraph === - You can get this great application that constantly brings you all the latest news from the Daily telegraph website. It brings you news, sport , some videos and loads of the content! You never have to buy the paper again!

=== Footmob === - This is one of my favourite apps. You can tell it which football team you support and if they are playing it will send you free notifications of the score! It can also bring up to date info on any other matches from most of the leagues inthe world! Brilliant!

=== Pacman === - This s anexample of one ofthe game apps that there is. This is the official namco version of Pacman and it is addictive and fun. If it isn't your thing though there are loads of games to choose from. There are some RPG like games, shooting games, card games and also games like chess and sudoku! Someone has even created an app that resembles the popular Braintraining games from nintendo!

=== Books === - There is a limited amount available at the minute but books can be downloaded and read for free. At present you can nly get classics like Alice in wonderland and Dracular. However there has recently been a comic book app created. This is amazing as I have a full colourcomic book on my phone with the promise of more to come.

=== Silly === - Now some apps may be silly but they are great fun. One works like those little "in your pocket" gadgets that play catch phrases from movie stars. At the minute I have an Arnold Schwarzanegger app that just doesn't get old! Others include an app that turns your phone into a lightsabre! (you heard me ! ). This uses the phones motion sensors. If you wave your phone around it makes the appropriate noises. Another very simple app is called the flashlight and it simply maximises the backlight on a white screen giving you a handy light!

=== Radio === - There is an app for the popular website last.fm . Whilst there is no radio tuner on the phone there is no need. This app lets you name a few tracks or band that you like and it will come up with a playlist of songs that are similar which are then directly streamed! All for free!!!!!

The great thing about the application market is that it will continue to update! The more people buy this phone the more apps there will be! It also lets you gain features which are not on the phone when you get it. This includes things like a video player!

== Other features ==

One thing that is definately worth a mention is the youtube app that is standard with the phone. This links you directly to the youtube website which you can watch any video on. Unfortunately there are not many other sites that you can watch videos on. There ismention of a BBC app on its way that will allow you to watch BBc programmes directly on your phone. The quality ofthe videos is decent but nowhere near as good as your computer. You can't be too picky however when your stuck at work bored out of your mind!!
The camera is pretty good also. Whilst it may not be the most megapixels in the world at 3.2 it is stillr ather good. It has an auto focus that actually works and you then have the ability to upload those pictures to the web (to your facebook) rather easily!
A problem I have had with phones in the past is that I hate putting music on them! Here however I was amazed. The USB attachment connects the phone to the Pc. The phone then essentially acts as a USB storage device. You can then dragand drop music files into the USB folder and then eject it. Once thisis done and you have disconnected the phone it sences that the files stored on it are music and it puts them in a handy application to play it from. The process took me around 2 minutes to put 100 songs on my phone.... I could have cried in happiness!
The battery life isn't too bad. It does charge when connected to the Pc but comes with a seperate charger. I fully charged mine yesturday and its on around 60% at the minute after moderate use! Some of the apps can drain the battery but if you are carefull there is no need to worry!

== Sound ==

This far into the review and I am only now mentioning phone calls! There isn't a whole lot to say to be honest! The ringer can be as load as you like and you can have a song from your music playlist if you like! To answer you can just press the screen and away you go. Unlike some phones on the market this actually feels nice to talk with! The slight curve at the bottom of the phone allows it to hug to your face, nice and snug like! The voice on the other side comes through nice and clear as does your voice to them! It has a speaker on it if you are being lazy also! The speaker also lets you play music through your phone. This obviously isn't amazing quality but it does the job!

== Price ==

You can't buy this phone on pay as you go, only on contract. This is justified in the fact that it is always connected to the internet and any credit you put on would be gone in a second! The phone however is free on contract from around £30 a month. It is also exclusive to T-mboile. My contract is called the flext 30. On this is get free unlimited internet which is a must! If you don't want a phone for the internet thensimply do not get thisone. Also on the contract I get £140 worth of credit to use how I wish on a mix of texts and calls! I do struggle to use this and believe me I do try to! The only problem is that the contract does not cover voicemail. To get around this I simply phone my phone from my phone! That may sound confusing but it lets me listen to my voicemail without having to pay any rates! Another little feature is that I get 5 international texts a month. For me this is useful as my brother is in Australia! I do suggest you go for this contract. The other one with T-mobile that they are advertising is the combi 30. Thiscosts £30 a month and you get 700 mins and unlimited texts. Don't forget however that you don't get internet with that! You have to pay £5 a month for that also!
If your due for an upgrade then by all means try and get a good deal but at the minute T-mobile are not offering much in my opinion! I asked for the flext 30 deal for £25 a month but they were having none of it and I have been with them for 3 years. Your best bet is togotothe T-mobile shop and try and get some freebies thrown in! Igot an 8GB memory card for free worth around £35 (which is around£10 on Amazon!). I could have also had a bluetooth headset!

== Internet ==

Just a quick workd about the internet... The 3g internet that the G1 uses is really fast. It is covered around most of the country with good signal. If you are worried there is a coverage map on the t-mobile site that lets you see how good the coverage is where you live! I'm notthe most computer savvy person but I'm etty sure you can connect via wi-fi to free hotspots or to a wireless router if you have one at home!

The G1 is a great phone! With an 8GB memory card you should have all the space you need! The price isn't bad at £30 a month. If you wanted the I-phone on a similar tarrif you would have to pay extra for the internet and then around £100 extra for the phone! If music is important to you then the Nokia 5800 may be the phone for you. That also has BBC iplayer built in (but lets not start a review on that phone!)

Summary: I have fallen in love withthe G1

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