Opinion – Samantha Rose is the resident cellphone enthusiast here at TG Daily. Having bought more than 15 cellphone over the last two years, some might consider her a cellphone addict, but others, like us, believe that she can compare the value of a cellphone to the user much better than most of us and her opinion on a new cellphone certainly carries weight. So we asked her to line up her impressions on T-Mobile’s Google phone, the G1.

The G1 arrives in a market with significant competition and it may be difficult for many to figure out where the advantages and disadvantages over its rivals are. Granted, I haven’t had much time to play with the phone yet, but I have a pretty good idea what it will be and what not. Here we go.  


The Good

Price: The G1 cellphone is offered to users at an extremely completive price considering all that it has to offer. The phone comes with a $179 price tag, and a voice plan and data plan can run under $100, if you choose your options wisely. For all heavy data users: T-Mobile offers an unlimited data and messaging plan for $35.

Google applications: Having applications such as Gmail, Blogger, and Google Maps right at your fingertips, is great. And the fact that they quickly load and are simple to use with your phone, even better. Google Maps now allows you to stand in one spot and get a picture of your exact location providing arrows as to where you need to go. Everything you’ll see on your phone is what you’ll see on the street.

Touch and tap keyboarding: If you like texting, this will be a great solution for you. Whether you’re on the go and need to be able to use your touch keyboard without having the phone open, or you’re curled up on the couch and want access to your QWERTY keyboard, the phone delivers both - which is definitely what the iPhone lacks.

The Web: Rather than trying to change the web to make it functional on a mobile phone, the G1 works with the web. You are able to completely view every site from your G1, it makes sites readable and easy to use and navigate.


The Bad

Syncing and contacts: Unfortunately, the G1 currently offers no application for desktop syncing. It is based on cloud computing and your Google contacts and calendar are considered the masters. If all of your data is on your desktop, then you have to move it to your Google account. It does, however, offer remote syncing, which means if you change or download an application on your desktop, it will automatically sync to your phone.

No multi-touch, no headphone jack: The G1 does not support multi-touch. There is no jack for your headphones, which is also a huge negative since you are offered amazing music capabilities through Amazon music. Guess you’ll have to use a mini-USB adapter.

Video: Currently the phone offers no video playback aside from YouTube. More than likely, outside developers will begin to create applications for video playback. This is just one of the many holes that Google left open for third parties to begin capitalizing on.


The Ugly

In my opinion, the worst characteristic of the new G1 is the service provider that Google decided to work with. T-Mobile is not the greatest choice around, unless you live on the West Coast. I am from North Carolina, and you can’t get decent coverage from T-Mobile here. This is a phone I would absolutely LOVE to get my hands on, however I know that I will have to wait until an unlocking application comes along that allows me to utilize my own carrier.
Another drawback to T-Mobile is the fact that they significantly reduce your bandwidth as a sort of “punishment” for “unlimited” use of data.

TG daily’s own Wolfgang Gruener explains:  “It turns out that T-Mobile’s 3G feature should not really be called 3G, “temporary 3G” would be more appropriate. Why? Well, you will only get that 1 Mb/s bandwidth for the first 1 GB of data you are downloading/uploading within your billing cycle. That may seem a lot, but with a connection to Amazon’s music service, access to Google email that supports huge attachments, a 3 megapixel camera that creates 1 MB pictures and Google Maps service with satellite and Streetview support, we believe that some users may hit that 1 GB limit within a few days.”

So, the press conference for the G1 was ok, the phone itself has a lot to offer and there are many open  holes for third-party applications. However, with the choice of the service provider and current lacking features, I’m afraid the phone will not be all that it is cracked up to be.

But clearly, I am looking forward to taking this phone for a spin.

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