21 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
Hard to live without once you're used to it -- but still could be better
Date of Review: Mar 13, 2009
The Bottom Line: An all-in-one device, combining phone, web browsing, contacts organization, calender synching, GPS, and useful software. Overall the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and are hard to do without.
*** Update Oct 2009
I continue to enjoy and depend on this phone, having used it regularly for about a year now. I realize that it gets better reception than other phones, since unlike my wife's phone (a Samsung Behold) it does not drop calls in the same places on the same plan. On the other hand, it's reception is about the same as the Blackberry Curve we also have. My only added complaint about the phone is the regular extra cost for the web-related features. Unlike the Blackberry, we cannot have this phone without web features. It would be nice if T-Mobile allowed this phone be used without the data plan and allowed access to wireless connectivity when near hot spots.
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I got this phone right when it came out, and have grown to depend on it for nearly 5 months now. When I dropped mine in water recently (not recommended), I came to realize how much it has to offer.
You should understand that there are 3 separate aspects to this phone: the hardware, the software, and the service provider. The software is the main advantage to having this phone, but the service T-Mobile provides is also quite good, and so is the phone hardware.
If you like Google products, you'll love this phone. And if you get this phone, you'll start to see how smart Google software products really are. They've set up the Android operating system on this phone in such a way that programmers everywhere want to write software for it. This, combined with the seamless connection with Google services like Gmail, Contacts, Calender, Google Maps, etc... make this phone part of a whole system that allows you to keep important things organized in a busy life.
While there are disadvantages to this phone (see below) many of them have already been improved through new software, and this will no doubt continue. For example, although this phone has bluetooth capability, there is currently no software allowing you to synch files wirelessly with your laptop. There are however, numerous useful free programs which I use all the time. For example, one program locates the taxi companies nearby (using GPS), and looks up their phone numbers for you. Another allows you to mark your parking spot, and then find it later with a radar-like screen. Still another allows you to take photos of business receipts and then email them to yourself. There are too many to useful ones to list, and the list of simply funny and/or entertaining programs is even longer.
The most useful software, however, are the well-integrated google mail, contacts, calender, internet browser, and maps programs. Unlike some hand held devices, these give virtually the same experience you get online with the same programs. The main limitation is the need to zoom-in and zoom-out all the time in order to see things on the much smaller screen. Of course, the much smaller keyboard is another limitation, but much better and easier to use than the electronic version on the iPhone.
While the Android operating system allows you to run multiple programs at once, it lacks a process manager which would allow you to see what programs are running or might need to be closed. This is significant because it's usually not obvious how to close a program. Further, there is a desperate need for a file manager so you can see where your files are stored and access them. Free file managers have been made, but one of them causes a conflict which undoes email program settings, forcing you to reset the phone to use email again (I learned this through experience!).
Because so much information associated with the phone is stored online, losing the phone is much less of a worry. All the contacts and calender information will be preserved. And because the phone can access the internet anywhere there is phone service, it's often an adequate substitute for using my laptop where wireless is unavailable. I keep track of 3 gmail accounts and one corporate account on this phone, and can control which one notifies me of incoming mail, and which ones I send from.
As an existing T-Mobile customer I was able to upgrade to this phone for $180, so I nearly choked when I stared at the $380 price tag which I would have to pay if I wanted to replace it. On the other hand, when you consider the advantages of having one single small device which is both a phone, a GPS, and has many features of a laptop computer, it's hard to argue that it isn't worth it. Plus, the data plan offered by T-Mobile (as little as $25/month) is much less than ATT's iPhone plans. Furthermore, dealing with T-Mobile over pricing plan issues in general is so much better than ATT that I would never go back...
The phone itself gets fine reception, although like any of these smartphones, it's a little awkward to hold up to your ear. Of course, a lot depends on how effectively T-Mobile covers your area. I travel quite a bit, and rarely have problems with phone reception. When I travel between areas with and without the fast 3G service, I immediately notice the change in data transfer speeds.
Now for some specific disadvantages to this phone. The battery life is terrible. Yes, you can dim the screen, disable wireless, GPS, etc... and that does help some. But the bottom line is that if I truly use the phone's many features, I start to worry about running out of battery before the end of a single day. Because of this, either be prepared to carry around a second battery ($50), or stay near a plug-in or computer USB connection. On the other hand, if you just want to use it as a phone, the battery will last several days if you disable all wireless, GPS, etc... and don't use any programs.
*** Update: Oct 2009
Here are some problems that have been fixed on this phone since my original review: It used to take too many presses to get from a dimmed screen to dialing the phone, no problem now. Also, it used to easily beep the person at the other end everytime the screen touches your ear -- but they've fixed that too). These things got fixed by the automatic updates that occur from time to time.
****
The web browser is good, but needs work to better mimic the experience you get on a laptop. It lacks an ability to view web pages "offline" -- An offline html reader would allows users to rapidly view desired web pages regardless of location. It lacks a decent text editor, much less something nice like Microsoft Word. Yes, there are online versions (like Docs), but there are many times when the time it takes to use online related programs is just too long compared to a program in memory.
While you can copy & paste text between applications, it doesn't work all the time, and there's relatively little control over the process. Because of this, there are times when you have to re-enter important information by hand. Forget about copy & pasting images.
Note that most of the problems mentioned above can be solved with new software. This is the genius of Google, and this is the reason future phones are bound to follow a similar path. Software is the heart of anything related to computers.
Physically, the phone is nice, but nothing as slick as an iPhone. To a large extent, this comparative clunkiness is made up for by the nice keyboard. On the other hand, accessing the battery and storage card card is more painful than it needs to be.
And, yes, by the way, my G1 phone DID survive the full water immersion that I mentioned at the beginning. It turns out this is not the first phone I've done this to (the other 3 were not G1's), although it is certainly the most expensive. I've learned to immediately rip the battery out of the phone and shake it like crazy after pulling it out of the water. I then thoroughly dry everything and place into a zip lock bag with dry rice -- including the battery -- and place in the sun to let it dry a day). Worked for me 3 out of 4 times.
