UK Google G1 Android Phone Review

Good bye! Good Riddance… Oh hello there you caught me unawares. Well really I’m writing this article on the G1 Android Phone, and the reason I’m saying good bye is because I sent off my really really sh*tty Nokia N96 off in the post to envirophone. I hated that phone so so much! Anyway, let me explain the story of how me and my dream phone were united…

In the beginning there was… a really crap phone…

As I mentioned I was have a tough time keeping my Nokia N96 from crashing constantly and generally being slower than a dog with no legs. So I went in search of a replacement phone, one which would remain loyal to me, and have legs. The trouble was I’m on a terrible contract phone with Three (I do not recommend, I barely get service in my house) – so after much deliberation and a couple of months of research, the candidates were wittled down to an apple iPhone or the Google G1 Android Phone. As I said, I was locked down to Three contract, with too long left just to pay off – my only option was to get an unlocked phone.

Bingo! Unlocked or Sim Free Phones

The answer seemed clear, at this point I was being sucked into the iPhone bubble – it seemed slick, had applications, a touch screen and fit in with my arty yet not gay persona. After doing some research into unlocked iPhones and sim-free ones (which I found on play.com), I discovered that people were having problems with their iPhones – basically whenever Apple would release a major phone update, the phone would become locked back to O2 again, rendering the phone a paper weight until a new unlock came out. This put me off – that and my hate of iTunes. So after thinking I found the answer, I went back to look at the Google G1 Android phone again. I looked for similar problems with updates and locking (after all the Google G1 android is T-Mobile Locked), and found that no one had had that problem yet – I can also confirm I diced with fate, and did the latest update for the phone and it did not lock! So anyway yeah, I bought one off eBay, brand new and unlocked. I paid a little more for it than I would have liked, as I had been let down by the first phone I won (the sender didnt send it), so I bought it for £324 off eBay.

The Google G1 Android Phone, The Overview

I have played with a few iPhones other people have had, so I kind had expectations of what the G1 should be able to do, and to be honest it didn’t disappoint. First of all, I like the design, it has a pretty big screen (touch screen), I’ve got the black one, which has a black matt finish to it – personally I prefer it to the white one, I don’t want a white phone. It has a small ball which is not unlike a trackball for a computer, and a few other buttons which are all you need. Its kinda funny shaped, little bit ugly I guess, because its angled at one end, which sapes it nicely for when you hold it to your head and make a call, strange but practical.

Features of the G1

Firstly, if you don’t use Googles free tools, then you probably should, or don’t bother getting the phone. Firstly you need a Google Account, which I have one for all my web stuff – it blends seamlessly with it. This means it checks your mail continuously (via wireless or 3g if you have roaming enabled), checks your calendar, and Google Talk IM, giving you updates via the task bar of whats going on. If you don’t use any of the Google tools you really are not going to like this phone to be honest. What I also like is that it syncs your contacts with your online contact book, meaning you can never loose your contacts even if you destroy your phone with a freak accident involving trying to do a text message and pee at the same time… which of course I have never done with a phone before.

Other stuff, oh yeah, it comes with a 2gb Micro SD card, which I believe at this time, goes up to 8gb in size, which means you can fit some music on there, a fair amount, but there are some reasons why you don’t need the space, I’ll get to that later.

The best benefit of all. Whilst all the iPhone users are getting counseling because of insanity. The Google G1 phone offers a full qwerty keyboard. Of course this does make the phone chunkier than the iPhone, but hell its worth it. If you like going insane, you can use the onscreen keyboard which isn’t that bad really, I do prefer it to the iPhone one.

Multiple Desktops – you can choose from 3 different desktops on the phone, left, middle (home), and right, which you can store your shortcuts, widgets and stuff.

Touch Screen, it’s pretty responsive, I do admit not a fluid as the iPhone, but it was also half the price of an sim-free iPhone, so I don’t think i’ll worry to much. It’s still pretty good and fluid to use.

Android Market, a place where people can go online, on the phone, and not buy applications, because there are so so many free ones. I haven’t bought one yet, because there is just as good free alternatives so far, and so many to try and use. Each one gives you feed back from the users, so I always read that first to see how they got on – especially useful when considering purchasing an application.

Applications I Use on the  G1 (extra downloaded ones)

Obviously there are a lot of gimmicy & stupid ones, but amongs the farting noises, gun sounds + light sabres, there are some really handy applications.

AndroidVNC – Remote desktop application, can remote my PC from my phone.

BeebPlayer – BBC iPlayer

Barcode Scanner – Scans them then links you to the web where you can buy it cheaper / nearby.

Car Mode – An app which makes all calls auotmaticlly go on to loud speaker when driving.

Compass – Think its cool, maybe come in handy one day!

Dizzler – Like spotify but for your phone, stream music to it.

Flashlight – Turns phone into a flashlight

Gmote – The best app i’ve found so far, can stream anything from your PC to your phone AND use your phone as a remote control for all media on your pc, brilliant.

Hi MSN – Msn messenger for Google G1

Power Manager – Free proggy that manages your battery better.

Skype – Yet to use this, but could be handy.

Snap Photo – Better camera program, does crash sometimes, but the pictures are better quality.

Speaking Pad – Talks to you like Microsofts Screen Reader

Telnet – For obvious reasons

Terminal Emulator – I love linux, having access to the terminal is a must.

Translate – Good to translate a whole bunch of languages, handy for when I go on holiday next

Twidroid – The best twitter App I have found yet, very very very good!

UK Traffic – Traffic reports in the UK

Voice Recorder – Meh handy to have im sure.

Weather Bug – Constantly updating to my phone, when I first used this, it said it was going to rain, 15 minutes later it started It finds your location and gets the info.

Where is my Android – I can text a secret message to the phone and it will give me GPS location.

OK Stuff I don’t like

Due to my unreasonably high expectations, there are a few things I dislike about this phone. Due to its smart application control or for me its ‘lazy programming’ it keeps 6 applications open at any one time. This means most apps don’t have an exit button, and the only way to close them is to turn off your phone, and then back on again. Now to be honest, a lot of the application developers are realising what people want and are adding a close feature in which is great. Also it doesn’t slow the phone down to much having them open really – depends on the application.

Next up, the camera doesn’t have a flash, so you cant take photos in the dark… This suprises me, the camera quality isn’t that great but with snap photo it is greatly improved. Something that will be improved in the next version. Don’t get me wrong, overall its a fine camera, just not as good as it could be.

Yet to find an app that can play different video media types, but one will be out soon.

Erm, to be honest thats all that annoys me – to have only 3 things annoy me, that has got to mean its a good phone! Its definatley a practical phone for me, with practical uses. Oh I remember now something else which is annoying. Its hard to turn the Wifi, GPS, 3G data and phone brightness on and off. But I got some widgets from the app store, I have those on the right hand side of my multiple desktop, and use it to turn off and on easily – problem solved.