T-Mobile G1 review

It's hard to believe, but rumors of a "Googlephone" have been floating around since 2006. To put it in perspective, the first Gphone post on Engadget was written by Peter Rojas. Needless to say, it's been a long, slow ride to get to Android, the Open Handset Alliance, and ultimately the T-Mobile G1. If we said expectations were high for the introduction of this device, it would be an understatement. It's not every day that a company with the stature of Google announces it's getting into the phone game, and it's certainly not every day that an honest-to-goodness innovator comes along. That last time the team at Engadget got this stoked for a device, it was a little something called the iPhone -- and you know how that turned out. Will Android and the G1 live up to the hype? Is this the first coming of a serious new contender in the mobile space, or has the triple threat of Google, HTC, and T-Mobile not delivered on their promises? We've put both the device and the software through its paces to bring you the definitive review of the T-Mobile G1 and Android, so read on to get your answers.

As we've really gone to great lengths to dissect the phone and OS, we're splitting the review into two, easy to digest parts. Enjoy!

Part 1: Hardware
Part 2: Software and wrap-up

[Andrew @ Oct 16th 2008 12:49AM]

Meh, I really enjoyed the review! It seemed to cover all the bases fairly well.

[Aviv @ Oct 16th 2008 12:14AM]

It's no iPhone...period.

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:17AM]

I don't believe it was ever meant to be. Unless you know something I don't. The real serious competitor wont come until maybe 4th quarter next year once they have all the bugs worked out and it might tout Wimax and 3G radios.

[EmoChicksAreHot.....Seriously @ Oct 16th 2008 12:22AM]

Because it actually let's you copy and paste,right?

I'm sure that's why you brought up your comment.

[fh @ Oct 16th 2008 12:29AM]

@Emo
Well I know Aviv couldn't copy and paste his useless comment over at Gizmodo, despite wanting to say the same thing.

[LordFarkward @ Oct 16th 2008 12:54AM]

It's also not a BLT sandwich.

What's your point?

[Quix @ Oct 16th 2008 1:12AM]

Any pro-iPhone comments here will be voted down to the inky depths (it's the Engadget troll way), but early G1 reviews seem overly apologetic. Period.

"One of Android's most endearing qualities -- and perhaps the first thing new users will notice -- is the home screen. It's really attractive,"

"Really attractive?" Seriously??? If the iPhone had looked like this the day it was announced, Apple would have been laughed out of the auditorium. Girl, you know it's true. The Android desktop looks like a bad Vista knockoff.

The G1 is definitely being treated with kid gloves so far. I'm not sure why there are so many "not bad for version 1," "we're sure it will get better," "we can't wait to see what the future holds" comments in these reviews. Would Apple, or even Microsoft, have been shown this kind of tender mercy with a release of device of this magnitude? No way. Google certainly commands an amazing amount of goodwill.

I'm excited about Android, but it's definitely a letdown for me so far.

[Quix @ Oct 16th 2008 1:12AM]

"Because it actually let's you copy and paste,right?" - EmoChicksAreHot.....Seriously

Apparently no grammar check though. :P

[HamToast @ Oct 16th 2008 3:14AM]

@ Quix

The whole point of Android is to provide a platform that comes closer to a truly open-source phone OS that will (hopefully) usher in a new way look at (smart)phones. I, personally, think its exciting as hell! I think Google left out core functions/applications with a purpose in mind: the encouragement of third party developers to really take application development to the next level.

I think there's a lot Google should have done differently, as well as HTC, but I feel that the development community will really come through on this one with such encouragement from the Android developers. I don't see how they couldn't.

Maybe I have too much faith in Google, but this is obviously a large investment for them and I doubt they'll let it flop. This all being why I think its reasonable for reviews to be lenient when referring to Android and not-so-lenient when it comes to Windows Mobile or iPhone OS.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Oct 16th 2008 3:47AM]

Quix, are you joking? The first reviews of the iPhone were nothing but apologetic crap.

MMS, who needs it?
Cut and paste, who needs it?
No Exchange integration? Big deal, that isn't their market anyway, so who needs it?
No way to install apps on the device without voiding your warranty? Who cares, it is perfect like it is, who needs apps?
No removable battery? Who needs it?

Then they would proclaim the iPhone the most flawless and perfect device ever made. It was only once some of these problems were fixed that anyone would admit they were problems to begin with. I distinctly remember multiple blogs around the planet brushing off every problem with the iPhone as being unworthy of serious mention, because the device was "an absolutely amazing piece of technology for Apple's first phone."

This sort of apologetic bias towards anything people like, is the very bane of any tech blog. It doesn't matter who makes the product. If it is "hip" in the eyes of the blogger, they will gloss over just about anything, and make excuses left and right for the shortcomings of the device. This style of "journalism" is practiced at this site almost daily as regards just about every Apple product. Don't cry foul just because there is a new popular kid in town. That just looks petty.

Personally, I have a G1 on order, because I think it looks like a promising platform, and I am excited to play with it, but I pretty much expect it to be less functional (at least for now) than my current HTC Windows Mobile device in many ways. I don't plan to stop carrying my WM in my camera bag for quite a while, but that doesn't mean it won't be fun to play with the G1. Of course everyone is handling the G1 with care, don't you remember, Google is the company bloggers think can "do no evil" and open source automatically earns you good press, because people have immediate visions of getting everything they want for free. I wish the net was filled with honest, unbiased reviews of every product, but it isn't. Don't raise a fuss just because someone other than Apple is reaping the benefits of that bias for a change. Honestly, I thought their review was a lot more even handed than any of the 10,000 iPhone articles I have seen on this site, and it still showed the bias you are complaining about.

[savocado @ Oct 16th 2008 4:53AM]

o rly?

[Look @ Oct 16th 2008 4:58AM]

Hasta la VISTA baby!

[avis @ Oct 16th 2008 5:53AM]

Yes, it's no iPhone, coz it does many things that iPhone cannot period.

[Backlin @ Oct 16th 2008 11:37AM]

I'm surprised a product not being from Apple got promoted to front-page banner status.

[o rly @ Oct 16th 2008 1:30PM]

Yes savocado?

[John Q Poster @ Oct 17th 2008 10:56PM]

@L. M. Lloyd

I have to take issue with your comment. When Apple launch the iPhone it started with a blank canvas. You saw the advent of a new platform. What HTC and Google have done is borrowed an Idea from a proven winner. When you imitate rather than innovate I think criticism should be a little harsher. After all someone has given you the mark to aim for. While the G1 may be promising it is at best a kluge. We all know what the experience should be. All they needed to do is just add what was missing. The G1 definitely adds some things that the iPhone lacks but it does it in a way that only the mother of a klutz could love.

[GB @ Oct 19th 2008 2:14PM]

Its no iPhone....Exclamation!

[The iPhone Boy @ Oct 21st 2008 8:04PM]

I know and accept that I will get voted down but android never was, isn't, and most certainly will never be close to the iPhone. There are dozens of reasons why the iPhone owns. The iPhone has a slick, consumer minded, and much more reliable operating system. This is without even mentioning the amazing hardware. The actual phone is thin, slick, eye-catching, and is made of superior stong materials (glass, metal, chrome). I realize that they will come out with better phones than the G1 but even still, do you really think that they're going to ever catch up? Every time Android phones improve, the iPhone will be one step ahead. The bottom line: android sucks, it may improve, but it won't ever be as good. For now, its not even as good as windows mobile 7.

[Mal F4cti0n @ Nov 4th 2008 11:40AM]

Your right, it's better.

With expandable memory for one. You can have 50 4GB micro SD cards if you want too. Your iPhone is limited to 8GB and 16GB forever? That right there means so much. Not only that, all the Apps and Games are free. No iStore in ur walletz, stealin' your monies.
Android is soooo fast on 3G, it loads webpages faster than my laptop.

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:14AM]

At this point I don't care much for the G1. It is kind of a disappointment but I understand why google went this route as it is a Beta device practically so they wanted to make it cheap unlike certain other handsets that made people pay a premium but got a beta device. I just hope I can install the Android rom on other handsets in the future. As in by next year.

[strang @ Oct 16th 2008 1:34AM]

I agree, until multi touch and universal frequencies get onto an Android based phone I'm not interested. Maybe Motorola will get it right and make a come back?

[d00b @ Oct 16th 2008 2:43AM]

I'd like to see Android on pocketable MIDs, like the Nokia N810, especially with an apps market.

[PM1 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:22AM]

As an iPhone user, I'm actually pretty excited about the Android, simply because this level of competition (two companies out of no where all of a sudden charge into the Mobile market) will surely wake up some of the sleeping giants (or kill them in their sleep *cough*symbian*cough*). It's this kind of sudden entry that usually gives a particular market a shock wakeup. The only problem is, the sudden entry can either make them or break them....but the Android definitely has made its impact. It will be very interesting to see where this goes in the future. The G1 is just the beginning, the storm has still yet to come.


Competition FTW.

[Jake @ Oct 16th 2008 12:29AM]

I co-sign that statement, I'm stoked

[Amrit @ Oct 16th 2008 12:59AM]

I know symbian is not that big here in the US, but its really big in europe and asia, and as a platform, its pretty equal, as of now supported by a lot of handset makers. So it really isnt a sleeping giant.

But yes, the biggest advantage android has is it has google pushing it, which means a lot.

[SuperQ @ Oct 16th 2008 2:32AM]

As a current symbian (E62) user, and a former Treo (650 palmos), I've been looking forward to something that doesn't suck for ages.

One thing that seems to be missing from the software side of the review is multi-tasking. Having looked over the SDK, and some of the youtube videos about it, the Android OS is fully multi-tasking which allows things like the IM app to keep the communication lines open so you can do other things like.. "Hey, can you tell me Foo's phone number?" Just jump home, open contacts, copy number, jump back to IM (via the notification area) and paste.

It's something I can barely do via SMS on my E62, and multi-tasking in the Treo was a bad bad joke. (switching from 68k code to arm code? Yuck!)

[asg84 @ Oct 16th 2008 2:36AM]

always good to see competition , that will avoid selling crap products for a premium price


nokia is also about to announce it N series touch phone with in few weeks( probably in sybian smartphone show in London 22nd october )
and that will make things more interesting

[Ian @ Oct 16th 2008 2:38AM]

Strongly agree with PM1.


And as a long-time Mac user, I hope support of Android on the Mac is strong......strong enough for a long-time Mac to not turn to the iPhone. I want this to be a real alternative, offer not just a "here you go" product where you're completely on your own after you have paid for the hardware and installed the crappy included software. I want the entire ecosystem built around it. It's Apple's successful tactic.....one I'm actually a huge fan of. I hope Android has the same thing. It already appears to be on that path. Lets just hope they offer all the organizational features, good push email, some light web browsing, and GPS.

Oh, and if this thing allows for tethering, and offers me Mac support, then I'm sold. I've never had a Smartphone, and I seriously want an Android phone to be my first one.

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 17th 2008 12:22PM]

I think the world needs more sensible iPhone users like you!

[Iceman @ Oct 16th 2008 12:23AM]

I think I will wait for the second generation Android phone.

[LondonConsultant @ Oct 16th 2008 5:01AM]

I'd rather be an early adopter - it's more fun...

[Eddie @ Oct 16th 2008 11:10AM]

NORMALLY I agree with the OP, but I won't lie...I think being an early adopter for this is going to be a blast, especially as a developer :]

[TareX @ Oct 16th 2008 6:18PM]

You're right. The 2nd generation phone would rock... imagine having 3 hi-res VGA homescreens for widgets.

But you're running the risk of buying a phone so close to Tegra+WM7's release.

[Crispin @ Oct 16th 2008 12:24AM]

I'm inpressed. The first comment on Peter's post predicted the phone would come out in 2008. Give that man a beer.

[Connor @ Oct 16th 2008 12:26AM]

Google is slowly...
slowly....
becoming Microsoft of the future....
put the pieces together...
:O

[fh @ Oct 16th 2008 12:31AM]

Most people already put the pieces together a long time ago.

Now it's just a matter of how long loyalists-to-a-certain-fruit choose to ignore the signs.

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:59AM]

I would prefer them running things a 100 times over Steve Ballmer and Billy...

[Jason @ Oct 16th 2008 12:28AM]

I was all happy and excited to get a G1 phone next week, until i called my local T-Mobile stores here in Dayton Ohio. I was told, when asking if they would have the phone in stock come the 22nd, that the G1 was not going to be for sale in Dayton. At least not until December, maybe later. This is due to there being no 3G coverage in, ?any of/most? ohio.

I mean really WTF t-mobile I was ready to put down the ~$200 bucks and sign a 2 year contract with you, and I know I am not the only person here in Dayton that would like this phone. I guess I will just have to wait until another carrier releases an android phone, and sign a contract with them instead.

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 16th 2008 12:47AM]

I'd definitely say that restricting sales of G1 to 3G areas was a a poor move for Tmobile to make.

However, if you looked at Engadget's earlier post of how 1.5million G1s have already been preordered, I'd say that it doesn't matter what Tmob did, and that they, as well as Google and HTC, will be rolling in their oodles of money regardless of where the phone was sold.

[michael @ Oct 16th 2008 11:27AM]

you can still order it online. you wont get it on the 22nd due to the HUGE pre-order numbers... but you'll get it soon enough. i live in a no 3G area, and i dont really care. i pre-ordered the phone right when they first were available for pre-sale and im glad i did.

[techsaint @ Oct 16th 2008 2:16PM]

I am located in Columbus Ohio. Tmobile will sell anyone a G1 as long as you buy it online. According to the sales folks, Tmobile will not be offering a G1 at any storefronts that are located in non-3G areas. I already ordered mine online last month and should be getting it around Oct 22nd.

[Matt @ Oct 18th 2008 8:44PM]

You can still get it. I have the G1 currently and live in KS so I only have EDGE and wifi for data access. I have used WM 6.0 for a long time and the G1s performance even on edge is impressive. So far I have downloaded every application that is currently in the market and none of them have taken more than 30 seconds to download, with most of them done in the 5-10 second range. It is true that the phone will only be available in retail stores that are in T-Mobile 3G markets on the 22nd, however you can purchase it with new activation or as an upgrade over the phone if you are not in said markets. My experience with it so far has been great, I haven't had a single crash and have been running everything I can on it since I got it. The only issue that I have encountered so far is one that I am confident will be fixed OTA in a short time, on occaision it does show me as having my sd card in. I can still access the card through some applications while this is happening though so it hasn't slowed me down much. The youtube app works great even on EDGE too, takes me about 5 seconds for an average youtube video on buffer time and it plays the whole way through with no stops.

Other than that the only things that I haven't been satisfied with would be the selection in the market, the apps that are there are great and all work fine for me, I just wish there more more of them, I'm sure that will be fixed shortly though!

[GB @ Oct 19th 2008 10:12AM]

Yo Dayton, You can still get the G1, just have to have it sent to you after you go to a store and check out the speed in your area on a demo device to see if it fast enough for you. Because people are generally stupid, Google does not want the thousands of idiots out there to get the G1 and complain about it as a slow phone because they are in a non 3G area. This is a product that is doing spin control from the get go.

[Nathan @ Feb 6th 2009 9:37AM]

I know this comment is (very) late. Look at the bright side you can get one now!!

[dimsum05 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:29AM]

I've been playing for the device at my T-Mobile store for about a week and I am excited that T-Mobile (I'm an RSR for T-Mobile) is finally getting a wave of exciting phones, with the G1 kicking it off. The only thing I don't really like is the browser. It's not bad (actually it's better than most), but, even without multitouch, zooming could have been handled better, like double-tapping! Everything else feels zippy and feels great.

It seriously looks and feels better in person. If you haven't seen it, at least go to a T-Mobile store and play with it. It really feels great, especially for a 1.0 product!

I hope Opera Mobile gets ported to Android!

[Stu L Tissimus @ Oct 16th 2008 4:16AM]

Hope no more.

http://labs.opera.com/news/2008/04/10/

[MBN @ Oct 16th 2008 5:46PM]

That's the problem. I live in a non-3G market, so I won't have an opportunity to see one in person before buying. I'm definitely a "fondle before you buy" type gadget shopper.

[crytoncrew @ Oct 17th 2008 9:03AM]

I saw this at the local TMO store that a friend works at. The phone felt kinda cheap and was not very impressive. Waiting for the next 'droid device is a better idea.

[Vin @ Oct 16th 2008 12:29AM]

I don't think that comparison you made between the iPhone and G1, about the 3G speed makes sense to me.. I think its just the area you are in or something because it cannot be that slow...

[GoodDoc @ Oct 16th 2008 12:32AM]

What about WiFi? WiFi Speed (Hardware), WiFi Connectability (Software)
I do not, will not have a cellphone. But this is a hella lot better than a PSP.