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Sure, it looks like an iPhone in a Sidekick body. But slightly awkward design aside, the T-Mobile G1 "Google Phone" establishes Android as a slick new entrant in the smartphone space. It promises to be a fun, powerful Web-centric handheld when it launches on Oct. 22.
The G1 starts out looking like a somewhat chunky (4.6" x 2.1" x .62") PDA-phone, topped by a big 320x480 touch screen. The touch screen is wonderfully quick and responsive. Below the screen are five buttons and a small, slightly slippery track ball. Slide the screen to the right and turn the device 90 degrees, though, and it reveals a full QWERTY keyboard of slightly rubbery, nicely separated keys. There's a miniUSB charging port on the bottom, and a MicroSD memory card slips into a difficult-to-open slot to the right of the keyboard. (The phone comes with a 1GB card.) On the back, there's a 3-megapixel still camera.
The real news here, of course, is Android, Google's all-singing, all-dancing, all-open-source new operating system. It ran quickly and efficiently on the G1's 400 Mhz Qualcomm processor. Unlike with the iPhone, there seem to be several ways to accomplish any task. You can scroll through Web pages with your finger or with the trackball. To search contacts, you can swipe with your finger or start typing on the keyboard. To dial the phone, you can tap the Dialer icon or the physical Phone button.
There's something ideological about all these options. Apple makes it clear that there's one way to do things, Apple's way, and it's the best way. But Google says they're about openness, open source and open choices. That makes for an interface that's a little bit more confusing than the iPhone's (but still far, far easier than Windows Mobile) and more customizable for different tastes.
The G1 starts out with a desktop that's a lot like your PC desktop, with four standard application icons and a clock widget you can move around. You can flick left or right to find two more black desktops, or pop out the phone's full application menu from a tab on the right. The application menu looks a lot like the iPhone's home screen: big, clear icons for various apps. To dial the phone, you can either use the physical keyboard or a Dialer app with a virtual keyboard. We didn't feel any haptic force feedback on the touch screen, though that becomes a lot less important when you have a physical keyboard.
In our hands-on time, we couldn't test the G1's reception or phone calling ability. The G1 works on T-Mobile's 3G network, on foreign 3G networks, and on GSM EDGE networks all over the world, including in the US. The G1 also has Wi-Fi, though you can't use it for phone calls. We got 600-700 kbps on a speed test Web site using T-Mobile's 3G connection, which is a decent speed. You won't be able to use the G1 as a 3G modem for your PC, T-Mobile execs said at the G1's launch.
The G1 works with mono (but not stereo) Bluetooth headsets and has voice dialing on board. We couldn't find a dedicated wired headset jack; presumably, it'll use the USB port for wired headsets. T-Mobile says the phone has 130 hours standby time and up to 5 hours talk time, which is good for a 3G phone.
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