The T-Mobile G1 : First look

It's finally out! Google's G1, the first Android based phone was officially unveiled at about 8:20 pm IST on 23rd September at New York.

Here's our first look on the device which sure does have the oomph to take on the likes of the iPhone.Those who are still unaware about what the G1 and the fuss surrounding it is all about, here's a refresher course. The G1 is the first phone to be based on the brand new Android platform. The Android platfom is nothing but an open source Operating System based on the webkit rendering engine. HTC, T-Mobile and Google have been working on the G1 for close to three years. The culmination is what we now know as the G1.



Finally, an iPhone Killer?
Well.. not yet. The iPhone was a revolutionary device - no doubt. But a few really basic ommisions on the feature front ensures that the iPhone does not take the crown for that elusive "ultimate smartphone" title. True, there are revolutionary features crammed in to that slim frame but its the UI that really stands out in the iPhone -- to the extent that users tend to forgive some of its basic flaws. There have been quite a few contenders for the iPhone killer title, all the while. These include the likes of the HTC Touch Diamond, Samsung Omnia and more recently, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. None of them however have been able to knock the iPhone off its perch -- so far.

Will the G1 be any different? Considering the significant contribution of Google with this phone,and previous history of Google being capable of turning anything it touches into gold, will the G1 turn out to be the iPhones nemesis?


Design

This is where the iPhone towers over the rest. The minimalistic, underwhelmining looks of the iPhone simply grows on you. The G1 however seem to come from a different school of thought. Not only is the G1 physically bigger and heavier, it sports a slightly smaller screen as well. The saving grace is a full QWERTY keyboard that is certainly welcome. For navigation, there is also a
blackberryesqe trackball which supplements the excellent touch screen navigation. Overall, this is no beauty contest winner. But heck, looks ain't everything!


User Interface
The UI is great, atleast the by the initial impression of what we have seen. However final impressions can only be had once we get a real hands on. For now, this youtube video should keep you happy!Note how slide-up menu works. I like it!



Features

Amost everything you need is in. And if you happen to be Google freak by any chance, the integrated Google services will keep you engrossed for the better part of the remaining quarter. But the fun ends once you decide to migrate to other services. Thats correct, no Microsoft Exchange server support nor can be the phone synched to outlook or any PC based contacts program. That may put you off for now. But future upgrades might add whats missing now.

The web browser is excellent and compares well with that of the iPhones except for the zoom function where you might miss the "pinching" to zoom option. Nevertheless, the G1 does a good job of presenting webpages as they are intended to be seen. Gmail, as expected is integrated along with the option to add another service.

Footnotes

Unlike the iPhone this one CAN copy-paste stuff, supports MMS and has a higher megapixel camera. But then the similarity starts. No video recording here! And all you get is 1GB of memory as standard. This is expandable "only" upto 8 GB. And yes, no sign of a 3.5 mm jack.

The device will be available starting 22nd October in the US and subsequently in the UK by November. The rest of Europe will see the phone only by early 2009. No official word for an India specific launch as of now.

Techtree link