My girlfriend is on T-Mobile and was looking for a new phone, so we headed on down to the T-Mobile store to have a look at HTC’s new G1, the first phone built to run on Google’s Android mobile operating system.

Thus far, I absolutely love this phone. The best part is the way it feels when the screen is slid out and the keyboard is revealed. The BlackBerry-esqe trackball is ideally placed and allows you to basically have access to a keyboard and mouse while the entire screen is available for viewing (and touching, should you choose). But it’s not necessary to take your thumbs out of typing position to click on something as the trackball is quick, accurate, and clickable.

The Android platform is not a game-changer at this time, especially compared with the iPhone, but there’s hardly anything wrong with it. It really feels a lot like the iPhone, and has a few features (MMS and cut and paste) that the iPhone doesn’t have yet. One great feature is how customizable the main screen is. You can put just about anything on there and arrange it just how you like. Openness and customization in all areas is a big plus for the G1.

The Android Market is already populated with some pretty good looking apps and games–and there’s more coming. Perhaps the best part of Android app store will be lack of a “big brother” figure like Apple has with the iPhone, booting out apps that don’t pass the test. Everything is on the table.

A comparison with the iPhone can be tough, especially when it comes to media and build. There is only 1GB of storage space on board (though it is expandable with a micro sd card). Video isn’t quite as easy to deal with and requires a third-party download, but there is a very good YouTube app that works a lot like Apple’s.

The phone is also less sleek and a bit bulkier than Apple’s phone, and in spite of having a full keyboard, doesn’t support Microsoft Exchange and only allows one Google account at a time to be used on the phone. With the keyboard, you’d expect it to be somewhat of a better email phone than it is.

But the experience of web browsing on the G1 is better than any phone I’ve used. Having a full keyboard and, thus, the full screen available at all times, along with the trackball, makes for an almost mini-netbook feel. The only difference is that you type with your thumbs.

A great phone and a solid competitor with the iPhone, especially considering it’s the first phone on the Android platform.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 8:24 pmand is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.