Here we go then.
Having purchased the G1, I headed off to One Alfred Place to get a bit of piece and quiet to take some photos of the device, set it up and have a play.
And I’m very, very impressed.
Unboxing was straight forward — although I found the device battery inside the protective case. For a moment I had a bit of a panic until I located it. Stuck in the battery, peered at the accessories (the usual headset, USB cable, power cable) and switched on the device.
And now it’s time for some pictorial assistance:
So I took off the back case, put in the sim card and the battery:
The accessories:
Now, let’s switch it on:
Nice. I’m liking it already…
Ah yes, the Android logo:
After maybe 30 seconds from switch-on, the device was ready for some attention:
This is probably the easiest setup of a mobile I’ve ever experienced. First, it want’s to know your Google account details. For a moment, I had another panic. Will it let me use my Google Apps account? Will it insist I use a gmail/googlemail consumer account?
I hit next and crossed my fingers:
Having selected that I already have a Google account, I get a prompt to slide the keyboard open. This is smart. Educating the user about the device ergonomics during setup.
My heart dropped as I saw the googlemail text…
But don’t panic. I mistakenly hit ‘create account’ … 😉
Phew.
Brilliant — Google Apps accounts are fine:
The next task? Set up the device …
Which was a piece of piss. I opted to let T-Mobile keep the time for me.
And then..
Fook me that’s good.
I couldn’t time this setup process accurately as I was taking pictures at each stage but I reckon you could do it in about 15 seconds.
And it’s downloading my contacts, calendar, email, setting up my IM… this is the way ahead. THIS, dear reader, is the next generation. 15 second setup.
I finished setup:
And that’s me ready to rock:
My email’s downloaded. My calendar is exactly as I expect it, already populated. My god it’s good.
The next generation has arrived. Go and get one!
yep – from out of box to WOW is very quick
Impressive… but the need to use a Google Account is a bit of a massive hurdle in my book.
its not for me – my details flew in in seconds. and the benefits outweigh the negatives.
i did have to install a mac ical/addressbook <-> google calendars/contacts syncing tool yesterday.
but an iphone needs an apple account (ideally a mobile me paid one)
nokia's need about 20 different accounts for the various nokia add ons – but agreed they dont NEED one.
Wow – I want…but…can't….justify… Bah.
I'll hold on for whatever Android kit is available when my iPhone 3G contract is up in…. 14 months!
Oh yeah, can you have multiple Gmail accounts on there? I've got three. I don't like the idea of having to forward it all to one account unless Gmail's 'reply from' ability is in there too….
It’s ugly as hell…
Agreed if you have an account you use as your primary email / calendar its absolutely fantastic and hard to beat.
Thinking about it the uptake of GMail in tech circles is quite high I imagine (compared to the overall market where hotmail / yahoo mail still reign supreme) so perhaps its quite a good for for the devices target market.
and don't get me started on Nokia and multiple accounts 🙂 Multiple accounts are only OK if services come from different providers (e.g. if I use Flickr instead of Share on Ovi).
can it moonlight as work phone? with Exchange or OWA?
Looks good so far. I'll be interested in seeing results from the camera (can it do video?), and general interaction with the web – blogging etc.
Want.
Waiting to hear if I passed credit check.
not yet I believe. Give it a while. Im sure its being worked on by <someone>
actually, maybe OWA?
file camera under – ok, slightly better than iPhone as it has at least got auto focus…
here is a sample
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmmorrison/2985836…
Outlook Web Access — so the ordinary workers can get email from a locked down server without blackberry
Seven supports it pretty well now I think emoze does too (if you don;t mind the battery drain).
Yeh, I use seven, but the workgroup edition and it rocks. I forgot they did a J2ME version. Worth looking at.
I did notice when I tried the OWA version that it was slower to show new mail, but thats probably the price you pay for using OWA…
Cheers Mac – that looks more than OK for general web use, I'd say. But then I'm no expert 🙂
i prefer the term… “different”
Well, after a few weeks with my iPhone 3G, words can't describe how much I despise its flaky performance. And one thing that drives me crazy is the lack of proper calendar integration with my Google Apps calendar. I'm seriously considering switching to the G1.
i installed spanning sync yesteday so my address book/ical and google are all playing together
it all just whizzed into the G1 seemlessly
Good to know. The iPhone is really starting to feel like a cool toy rather than a viable business device, so I think I'll give the G1 a try.
I've just got my hands on Ewan's very own G1. I have to say the software's brilliant! AND I love the response the handset gives to the touch with smooth scrolling and responsive 'touch-thru' to the next screen. Even more impressive is the speed it loads Google's applications. For instance, opening Gmail (which being Ewans has thousands of messages in it) occured instantly, then, setting up the 'Compose' screen took milliseconds too…. beautiful – Something Microsoft Windows would do well to heed. So far the software reacts at the speed of thought 😉
However, the hardware is different, it's nice and all that, but very 'plasticky' (spelling?). I'm also not that fussed about the resolution of the screen, it doesn't take much to see the pixels and many of the icons can look blocky. The screen rotation mechanism is good, giving a satisfying 'snap' when opened or closed, however, it feels a touch insecure when open. The biggest let down about the whole experience is the QWERTY keyboard. The tiny keys are more or less flush and take a concerted effort to locate visually rather than semi watching the screen. They don't give particularly good feedback and i felt i was typing slower than i would normally with more nispakes.
Finally,the phone feels unbalanced when using the keyboard, the base of the phone which sits on the right hand side when in landscape, forces your hand away from the keyboard and makes it more difficult to use fast – while on the left hand side there is a lot of space between the edge of the phone and that fat part of your palm below your thumb (what's that called? anyone?). As a result, you can find yourself pushing the handset across from the right to left when trying to type fast or reach keys/the screen with your right hand.
So, software is bloody impressive, as we've all established and swapping between applications and screens is super fast – brilliant! The handset…. meh, next! With HTC bringing out such beauties as the Touch Pro and HD, I don't know why the G1 was put in that brick.
Still, won't stop me from buying one 😉
How do you find battery with Seven?
I've given up and am using Mail for Exchange again… it's simple and functional, and good enough for me.
yes i agree its not as nice as the diamond pro/ touch HD etc.
and i also agree it feels odd when open – i wish there was a way to enter text without opening it
for quick texts etc. but i find the speed ok
when i was first using it – the usb charger was plugged in and it was really awkward
its less so when thats out as you can find a good position – but it would of been better as a full slider.
How about if used non-T-Mobile SIM? i.e. Foreign SIM? or it has to be a T-Mobile SIM card? Can this phone used non-T-Mobile SIM? I assumed it should be okay but how can I finish the setup walkthrough process?
is that white g1 you have going to be exactly like the white g1 that's going to be in the US? because i thought the back part was supposed to be like chrome silver and this looks white and glossy
It's already in the US!
Yes – it's white and glossy. I believe the US and the HTC (non T-Mobile branded) versions are also like this.
only the black and brown is in the US, something went wrong with the white one, i heard the white paint was chipping off or something so they delayed it, but even tmobile doesn't have the exact release date for it, or maybe they do but wont tell the public, i dont know… do you know where i can get the white one but not the tmobile branded one?
Interesting! I didn't know that.
http://www.play.com were listing the HTC branded version as ore-order.
On 13 Nov 2008, at 00:21, “Disqus” <notifications-
When I put my account information in the phone and click sign on… it says there is a temporary problem… DOES MY PHONE HAVE TO BE SYNCED UP TO THE COMPUTER, or why is the problem occurring for me?
When I put my account information in the phone and click sign on… it says there is a temporary problem… DOES MY PHONE HAVE TO BE SYNCED UP TO THE COMPUTER, or why is the problem occurring for me?
Ok im getting stuck at the point where i have to sign in my google account
and i dont see the 3G u seeing i see an E? am i doing something wrong
E is ok — that shows you've got Edge data connectivity
I have reset my phone to the factory setting, but I could not then open my phone because it needs the gmail account and after adding the login name and password it does not accept my email account and gave me a message “THIS COULD BE A TEMPORARY PROBLEM OR YOUR SIM CARD MAY NOT BE PROVISIONED FOR DATA SERVICES. IF IT CONTINUES, CALL CUSTOMER CARE.
I have reset my phone to the factory setting, but I could not then open my phone because it needs the gmail account and after adding the login name and password it does not accept my email account and gave me a message “THIS COULD BE A TEMPORARY PROBLEM OR YOUR SIM CARD MAY NOT BE PROVISIONED FOR DATA SERVICES. IF IT CONTINUES, CALL CUSTOMER CARE.
What gmail and password will I use? Im using mine but its not working. Please help.