Android Smart Phones Guide & Reviews

HTC SMART PHONE

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not about the gear, its about the Android, December 16, 2008...[read more below]

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Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not about the gear, its about the Android, December 16, 2008

By	Daniel Robbins -

I've heard many refer to this phone as the iPhone killer; in turn, I've heard many iPhone die-hards harshly criticize this phone. In truth, neither is accurate. The G1 is not the iPhone killer; Android is. Android is the operating system that runs the G1, and others to come.

Truth be told, this may not be the phone for everyone. If you want everything an iPhone can do, then by all means, go spend the money and get an iPhone; if you want something that acts like a Blackberry, then buy a Blackberry; if you want a camera, go buy a frickin' camera. Especially if you want everything right out of the box. But if you like seeing the innovation behind developers coming up with stuff, then definitely, the G1 is for you.

In many ways, I like that right now it doesn't "have" certain things (actually, it "has" just about everything, it just hasn't "learned" how to use them); I like it because it is fascinating to see people come up with the stuff that the G1 is lacking right out of the box. And that is the beauty of open source. Keep in mind this has only been out barely two months. Give developers a few more and you'll be amazed at what they come up with.

The phone itself has a great, sturdy feel; the display is beautiful and well-designed; and the qwerty keyboard is tiny but you get used to it. And just about every day there something new on the Android Market that lets you do something new.

So, go in knowing what your expectations are. If you want a phone that does everything an iPhone does right now, buy an iPhone. If you want the first-gen hardware of an exciting, extremely flexible phone that will eventually far exceed everything else, then hurry and get the G1.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Android Software, Great Phone with infinite capabilities!, December 15, 2008

By	prospetiva "slopez1972" (Los Angeles, CA)

Like another reviewer, I too evolved from the Tmobile Dash and although I like the simplicity of having the Dash sync with my Outlook Adress Book, this to me seem too small a gripe to not praise such an absolutely well thought off idea that is a phone and so much more!

Wanting to avail of our upgrade option, I got the blackberry 8320 for my wife (as she tends to use her cell phone at home alot and wifi calling feature was perfect for her) and since I've been waiting for that all around internet phone, I got this one and it certainly did not dissapoint. To make my review a little more direct to the point, I've listed down the PROS with the corresponding CONS...

PROS:

INTERNET Phone at it's best! I can surf, read emails, chat do online banking as if I was on a tiny laptop! I love how I can actually see what movies are showing and where as well as see actual showtimes!

Google MAPS is awesome! You can pinpoint your location or it would show you a range of where you are and you can find whatever stuff you need around you like shops, restaurants, a place of business, etc. without having to call 411 ever again!

KEYBOARD is very helpful especially when a virtual keyboard may be too small for your fingers. I rarely hit the wrong letters and I didn't find the build to be flimsy, but one has to be a little careful when opening it up as it litterally springs into action and this sudden jerk may cause the phone to slip out of your hands! We need autorotate though (see cons)

DIALING: I find dialing easy enough especially since it logs in/out/missed calls. All I have to do is press the green button and I can scroll through my call log without having to have to go to my contacts, and when you do, your contacts is just a tab away! There is an Icon that you press to access voice command. I have since copied this onto the desktop for easy access... A long press on the bluetooth re-dials the last number dialed. but... see CONS

ADDRESS BOOK is great once set-up! and comes with a ton of information options for a single contact.. No one can hide from you once they're in you contact list!

CALL QUALITY: I find the call quality to be absolutely brilliant and loud and I have never experienced anyone mis understanding what I was saying from my end so I guess that's good. Quality is great on the speakerphone as well as my jabra jx10.

APPLICATION MARKET: A few great apps available for download FREE! I will have to agree that the apps out there are a little "out there". This shouldn't make you think that there are no great ones! I've downloaded almost 20 useful apps which I find very helpful for my taste. Be mindful that the community is very young and the potential for wonderful apps are endless given the open source nature of android!

MESSAGING: Is tied together which makes it so simple to see history on a conversation. Email application is great too. I am now able to get, reply and delete emails on both my gmail and my yahoo account which I've set-up on the G1!

CAMERA: 3mp quality is a great feature and shoots fine but (see cons)

MULTIMEDIA: Music player is ok.. speakers are good enough to listen on. Stereo earphones does the job but a good set of earphones will rock your world! I use the lenntek sonix (see my other review on that one) I heard complaints on the earphone dongle and lack of direct output earphone jack but I actually find the dongle very helpful as I am able to use my good earphones when making or recieving calls as the mic itself is installed on the dongle!

CONS:

INTERNET needs Flash Player which is currently underway. I've read that the Flash player should be available early next year.

Google MAPS somehow can't accurately pintpoint where I was even with the GPS on. I Have yet to try it when I'm actually out on the streets it maybe because I was indoors when I was trying to use the GPS option.

KEYBOARD bad: because of having to slide up the keyboard, you can never fit the G1 into a sleeve type jacket permanently. Tmobile stores do offer those hard plastic clip-ons that does the job of scratchproofing your phone though. A lot of people also find "having to open to type" an annoyance, but I read somewhere that a virtual keyboard is actually on it's way as well as an autorotate; automatic screen rotate when you rotate your phone from landscape to portrait onrientation.

DIALING: Bluetooth one press doesn't automatically go to Voice Dialer. You have to access the phone's voice dialer option to say a command like "CALL HOME"... the Voice dialer has a hard time understanding what you're saying especially when dealing with non-american sounding names, just immagine how confused your phone will be after you say "call Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD"...

ADDRESS BOOK: You'll have to export and copy your outlook adress book and import it in your google site and like one of the reviewers had mentioned, you will lose the mailing address information! what I do is cut and paste any outlook address info I have on my PC onto my online adress book while I'm on the Computer and let the phone sync from my google address book that way.

CALL QUALITY: No cons just yet... Great everything device that actually functions as a phone!

APPLICATION MARKET: A few odd-balls out there but who cares? They're not forcing you to download anything you don't like? So I really can't judge the phone for that.

MESSAGING and EMAIL: Like I said is great but the emails will need to be upgraded to link with microsoft servers to make corporate users happy. I think this is in the works too.

CAMERA: 3mp quality is fine but lack of a built-in flash makes the camera feature useless in low light conditions as focusing suffers in low light too! A video recorder would have been a nice added feature (video capture is great on my wife's blackberry 8320)

MULTIMEDIA: Music player is plain and simple and I think the Iphone wins on that one! Lacks a Video Player but there's a bunch of players out there on the market waiting to be downloaded for free... But this should have been something that came with the phone! Earphone dongle can be troublesome for some! My main concern though is I can never listen to music while charging the phone! Why does HTC push on having the charger share the same port with the headset/usb cable!

BOTTOMLINE:
I am quite happy with this purchase and even though this is the 1st generation, I like the GUI and the simpllicity of navigating around the menus and functions. I have never read the manual nor did the need for me to look something up ever arised! I am almost certain that others will follow suit! and if a better phone with the android ever comes out, which I'm sure it will, I will simply have to upgrade to that after a year or so! but right now I'm enjoying the G1 and this phone right here is the FUTURE!

WISHLIST:
Camera Flash, Tmobile wifi/hotspot Calling, A good Video Pre Installed Player, Video Recorder, Virtual Keyboard, Dedicated Headphone Jack.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a Professional Phone Reviewer - this Phone Rocks!,

By	Anne P. Mitchell "Crunchy Movie Reviews" (Boulder, Colorado)

This phone absolutely rocks, and I can't imagine what the other reviewer was using, or expecting - in more than 5 years this is the first phone to make me actually switch - something that *none* of the iPhone, Verizon Glyde or Verizon Voyager (the leading touch screen competitors) could do.

The Google G1 phone completes what the iPhone lacks - it's what the iPhone *should* be, but isn't. The G1 has a qwerty keyboard in addition to the touch screen, has voice dialing, and copy and paste - none of which the iPhone has (shockingly, when, for example, copy and paste are such fundamental functions).

And, unlike the Verizon contenders, the email function is awesome, *and* - and very important for me - applications actually continue to run in the background if you need them to - and you can effortlessly switch between applications (the Verizon phones exit you out of email, instant messengers, and other applications when you try to switch).

In fact, for a version 1 device, I'm incredibly impressed with just how good it is. As I said, it's the only phone in 5 years which has been able to get me to permanently switch devices.