Android Invasion - part 2 of 3

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

G1 Hardware Impressions
The T-Mobile G1 is smaller than it looks in pictures. It feels nice in the hand and we absolutely love the matte black finish and the subtle rubber feel of the back cover. It is easy to hold, has a generally good grip and the weight feels even. This is one smartphone that we feel confident enough to carry without a case or even a screen protector. The only other device that made us feel this way was a BlackBerry Curve.

More after the jump.

We did use a makeshift InvisibleShield protector (from an iPhone) to cover the G1's screen but that was peeled off after a day since it really dampened the touchscreen's sensitivity and rendered it nearly useless (more on this later).

With the keyboard tucked in, the G1 feels really well put together, the only gripe we have is the annoying placement of the camera button on the lower right hand side. It would have been, you know, more intuitive to use the scroll ball. As a result, taking snapshots with this button placed so far below is difficult if you have large hands or long fingers.
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We're bummed that the G1 does not have a proper headphone jack but uses a USB port (the same one you charge the device with) as the sole way to listen to music on headphones. The included headphones are awful in size and shape we found them a pain to use. The cord length is way too long plus the volume control and microphone remote is freaking huge and heavy. We wouldn't use this in the gym for fear of taking someone's eye out if it swings the wrong way.

We just can't understand the reason why, with all the perfectly good headsets available out there, HTC and Google decided to cripple the G1 by limiting it to USB only audio. We hope to get some sort of adapter to circumvent this limitation.

The touchscreen is nowhere as accurate or sensitive as what we are used to on the iPhone. I am not sure if our particular G1 has issues but with a screen protector on, dialing on the keypad was next to impossible. God forbid you need to reach 911 and the damn thing doesn't accept your key presses. Again, we only have the iPhone to compare it to, but there seems to be a hit or miss thing with this touchscreen.



There's a shades feature which allows you to get more information from the status bar (which is on the top of the screen) by making a sweeping gesture. Well, we've only been able to get this to work once. Even after we removed the screen protector it was terribly difficult to click on icons, move them around or even manage the touch buttons.

If this were a touch-only device, it would be pretty crappy. Thank goodness for the buttons, they are truly necessary.

Keyboard Mode
The QWERTY keyboard on the G1 could be better but it works fine. We find the mechanism that flips it open and close to be a bit violent. I guess the springy action and the resounding snap that follows is unnerving.

When the keyboard is enabled, the screen automatically reverts to horizontal orientation. This happens quickly and is quite seamless. Now, the body of the G1 seems to feel a bit less solid, the screen tilts back a bit too much. A lot has been said about how tricky it is to type on specially since you need to compensate for the area where the buttons are but, like with most of the odd features of the G1, you learn to live with it.


Next: Part 3 - Functionality and Conclusion

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[Android Invasion - Part 1 of 3]

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