While resisting the ever growing temptation to get an IPhone, I finally went and got a G1 Phone (Otherwise known as Google Android). Mainly I got it because I’m already on T-Mobile and didn’t need to extend my contract to use it (bought off of eBay). Here are my initial impressions
Pro’s
- Hardware based keyboard is nicer than software keyboard
- Open source means folks can code apps that can add all sorts of features (including interfacing with the telephone itself)
- Android Market (their version of the App Store) is free right now and has a lot of nice apps on it
- UI feels very nice, much like an IPhone, better thought out than Windows Mobile (which really could use a UI refresh after all these years)
- Plugging it into my PC and adding and removing files (like MP3’s) is a piece of cake
- Was able to create a hello world app and add it to my phone without jumping through any app store hoops
- Applications can run in the background and bubble up events to the phone as they occur
Con’s
- Not as slick as the IPhone
- Not multi-touch
- Camera is very slow and not very good quality (despite being 3mp)
- Android Market is difficult to sort on various criteria
- Hardware based keyboard is a blessing and a curse, in order to type anything I have to go to landscape mode and flip open the keyboard. Would be nice if someone could create a software keyboard to use from time to time.
- Slightly bulkier than the IPhone
- Headphone jack is USB not stereo mini
- Video player seems to be lacking in formats that it can play