2008-12-14

google g1 android (first impressions, review)

I got my first android device about a week ago and I haven't yet got the time to fully explore it but here are my first impressions:

i love...

  • the display (very clear, bright, sharp, fantastic...)
  • the touchscreen (works nicely, althought multitouch for zooming would be appreciated)
  • mail, instant messaging, notifications
  • dialer (voice/numeric/log/contacts/favs)
  • contacts manager (synced with google contacts)
  • some great apps (shazam, wiki, book reader)
  • android ui (scrolling, status bar, stability, simplicity)
  • youtube video player
  • marketplace

i hate...

  • short battery life (counts in hours when on wifi/edge)
  • absence of profiles (street,home,browsing,powersaving,gps,silent...)
  • web bookmarks not synchronized with google notebook's bookmarks?
  • absence of native clients for google notebook, reader...
  • keyboard ergonomy (the keyboard is somewhat hard to use, typing is obstructed by phones cable and lower part of the phone, keys hard to locate in dark...maybe adding a usable virtual keyboard would be an option)
  • no gps tracking/user maps?

my overall impressions are very positive as i believe most of the issues will be solved by software updates soon.

links: t-Mobile g1 - a guide to the world’s first android powered mobile phone