First reactions to the Google Android phone

There is lots and lots (and lots) of comment on the Googlephone T-Mobile G1 - the first phone to run on Android, Google's new operating system for mobile phones. So here's a round up of first impressions on yesterday's momentous occasion:

Techcrunch:

...There will be many Android phones, and they will all get better over time. It’s a platform, yada, yada, yada...

...But how does this one stack up against the one and only iPhone? It doesn’t have quite the finish of the iPhone (both in terms of hardware or user interface), but it comes pretty damn close. And more importantly, it matches the iPhone on many fronts. It’s got GPS, WiFi, a touchscreen, an accelerometer, a camera, Gmail, Google Maps, a Webkit-based browser (just like Safari on the iPhone), and an App market.

Richard Kray in The Guardian:

The technology is at least as good if not in some cases better [than the iPhone] - the G1 is certainly faster at downloading from the internet and its camera is better - but it lacks the wow factor of the Apple device.

Gizmodo:

In your hand the G1 feels good. Solid and all-plastic, but not nearly as clunky as the blurrycam photos showed. Getting used to the controls takes a little bit—babies can't pick up and instantly know their way around, like on the iPhone. Control wise, it suffers from a bit of schizophrenia—with a trackball, touchscreen, candybar mode and flip-out QWERTY, there's a lot going on at once. What's nice is that it seems to not lock you in to anyone type of control interface—scrolling with trackball and touching work at the same time in many apps

Time Magazine:

It may be more of a bargain, but the G1 is far from perfect. The keys on its keyboard are almost comically tiny. The touch-sensitive onscreen zoom feature isn't as intuitive as the iPhone's. And the rumored cut-and-paste functionality in e-mail is a bit dopey: It doesn't let you rearrange individual words or phrases; instead, you can only cut and paste the entire message. And while the built-in camera is a full megapixel higher than the iPhone's, you still can't record video.

Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal:

[A] feature, or limitation, of the G1 — depending on your point of view — is that it is tightly tied to Google’s web-based email, contacts and calendar programs. In fact, you must have a Google (GOOG) account to use the phone, and can only synchronize the phone’s calendar and address book with Google online services. Unlike the iPhone, it doesn’t work with Microsoft Exchange, and it can’t physically be synced with a PC-based calendar or contacts program, like Microsoft Outlook.

So, if your world already revolves around Google services, you may find that the G1 fits like a glove. If not, you may be disappointed

Comments

[Dennis]

Usually I never have a chance to comment first. This slow story is the exception. Doesn't anyone care about this consumer product? If not, the US congress should bail Google out. (that's a joke - please please Google don't ask us for money too!!)

[joshua james]

Please i want to buy.