Just Ordered a new G-Phone

[Steve James]

Anybody esle have one, or have any tips?
Yeah, I know it's new; but that's the point...and I wasn't going to get an iPhone.
I'm psyched to see what people will eventually do with the Android platform.
http://www.google-phone.com/

It'll be really cool to have youtube and google in my hands while I'm in front of the class. If they could make (or I could afford) a projector that would work wirelessly from the handset ... that'd be cookin'.

[GrahamB]

Sadly I think the G-Phone has been hyped by the open source community and iPhone-haters. I think you'll find the user experience is pretty crappy right now. Sure, you'll be able to do lots of things with it in theory once the development community gets going on it, but right now? Nah....

Take a look at the positives and negatives from Goatberg's review comparing it to the iPhone:

Mossberg's GPhone positives:

Keyboard. Keys too flat and weird bulge in body, but at least there's a keyboard.
Removable battery.
Expandable memory.
Cheaper. Phone $179 vs. Apple $199, Data plan $25 vs $30.
Equally slick software.
Better "desktop."
Higher-res camera.
Much easier to make telephone calls. Imagine that.
Key features that Apple bizarrely still omits: cut-and-paste, MMS,
Ability to legally unlock and go to another carrier (with fat fee)
Longer-lasting battery. A whole day. Imagine that.
Slightly longer talk time. (5 hours, 19 minutes more)
Wicked cool compass that orients you on map.


Mossberg's G1 downsides:

Chunky brick. 20% heavier, 30% thicker.
Puny memory. 1 gig, one eighth of iPhone.
Only 128 mg memory for third-party apps.
Too much lock-in with Google services (contacts, calendar)
No Microsoft Exchange support
Can't sync with PC or Mac
Overall, interface inferior (no two-finger zoom magic)
No onscreen keyboard, so have to use bulky external keyboard.
Weak music player, no video player
T-Mobile network coverage sucks.

[Steve James]

Hmm, I don't have the phone yet, so I can't speak for the advantages over the iPhone. Well, except that even Mossberg (?) says that the gPhone is better for making phone calls. But, addressing the cons:

Chunky brick. 20% heavier, 30% thicker.

Thicker than the iPhone? Hardly a brick, though. It is actually smaller than the iPhone --not that that makes it better.

Puny memory. 1 gig, one eighth of iPhone.

Er, it comes with 1gig. It can take a 16gig card.

Only 128 mg memory for third-party apps.

I dunno the specifics about this. I have read that the bigger problem is the inability to turn off the installed apps and services, and that affects battery time.

Too much lock-in with Google services (contacts, calendar)

Wel, this is not a relevant complaint when compared to Apple.

No Microsoft Exchange support

I don't need it, but I didn't know that the iPhone had it.

Can't sync with PC or Mac

Not sure what he means. When attached to the pc by a usb, it appears as a hard-drive.

Overall, interface inferior (no two-finger zoom magic)

See, I don't even know what that is

No onscreen keyboard, so have to use bulky external keyboard.

The full qwerty keyboard is something I wanted precisely because of the way I would use the ability to google. There's even an @ key (that you can use instead of a function key).

Weak music player, no video player

Ok, but it's primarily a phone. I'm not sure what he means by "weak", whether he means functionality or performance. The video player is software that is not previously installed before purchase. You have to download it, which is probably a hassle. Though, I didn't intend to watch videos.

T-Mobile network coverage sucks.

Actually, T-Mobile is way better than the service iPhone uses. Nationwide (US) it's almost as good as Verizon. In New York, it's supposed to be just as good as Verizon --which was my previous carrier. Also, the complete 3G network is only fully available in New York and a few other cities --and I'm in NYC

[GrahamB]

Can't sync with PC or Mac

Not sure what he means. When attached to the pc by a usb, it appears as a hard-drive.

Overall, interface inferior (no two-finger zoom magic)

See, I don't even know what that is

No onscreen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_synchronization

It's the kind of thing you don't think is important, until you realise what a pain in the ass it is not to have (normally about 2 weeks in...)

[GrahamB]

Full review - answers your questions I think

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122411880249138993.html

[Steve James]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_synchronization
It's the kind of thing you don't think is important, until you realise what a pain in the ass it is not to have (normally about 2 weeks in...)

Well, I'll look at it, but I've never used it; so, I won't be missing it. I don't need the superior camera, either. But, I'll use the youtube, google search and google maps functions. I also prefer that it is open source. Whatever doesn't exist will be provided eventually by the users. There may surely be some hardware issues and bugs, but that's ok. If it's just a good phone and gets me on the net easily, that'll be fine.

[qiphlow]

the iphone is totally bitchin'.
just sayin'.

[I-mon]

the "G" is for "Gangster", right?

[Steve James]

I just got it today. It's about 2mm thicker and 10mm longer than my motorola raz'r. It does weigh about 2x as much, but that's just how it feels to my hand. It's well balanced, so when the keyboard is out, it doesn't become unstable.

The controls do take a bit of getting used to, which is normal.

[qiphlow]

the "G" is for "Gangster", right?

fo' shizzle.

[bailewen]

Can't sync with your computer but it syncs with gmail or what looks like the gmail calender which means you can sync with both PC and Mac. Anyone who travels as much as I do tends to keep their computer(s) synced with an online server. Because of the inevitable computer replacements, virus invasions or complete meltdowns (I have a G5 at work that just "pissed" it's self. Sometimes the cooling system melts down and the liquid leaks onto the motherboard), I have learned to keep my contacts online. So as long as your laptop/desktop is synced to something like gmail, then your phone and laptop are effectively synced as they are both synced to the online server. Gmail's calender is in iCalender format so it syncs easily with iCalender (Mac) or Sunbird/Lightning (PC).