Some forty days and one firmware update on from my first, (somewhat zealous), initial review of the G1, it seems like a suitable time for a follow-up review. The most logical point to start would seem to be to re-address the failings I ended with last time …
- Battery – it is a lot better. The reports about needing to condition the battery are definitly spot on – it needs half a dozen power cycles (from full charge through to ‘turn itself off’ empty), but now it’s a lot better. With a medium selection of features turned on (wifi & 3G on, GPS and BlueTooth off), it easily lasts 24 hours with half an hour of talk time and an hour or so of internet usage.
- Instant Messaging – is still missing everything but GoogleTalk in the UK – despite the recent firmware release, which plain sucks. There are a couple of alternatives available in the Market – and whilst on face value they work well, they still don’t integrate with the built in address book.
- Camera – I still don’t think the lack of a flash is a serious issue – unfortunatly the lack of manual controls – exposure and the like, actually are. Assuming the hardware supports it, it really needs something here (hmm, maybe time for (another) pet project …)
As I touched on in my first post on the G1, I use Google Apps for Domains to power my email for geekcubed.org – and the G1 now makes this is just totally totally awesome. One contact list, one mailbox – available everywhere – nothing lost, overlooked or forgotten. Many might say “well duh – where have you been for the last X years” – evidently under a rock, so humour me. Now, in fairness, if you were willing to surrender some choice and a lot of cash, you could get similar results by plumping for a Microsoft stack – Exchange, Outlook and a Windows Mobile device, but I wasn’t – Google all the way.
The handset itself is seemingly standard fair for HTC – probably not their best offering, but far from their worst, especially in light of some of the bricks churned out in the past. As my first “proper” smartphone, the keyboard took a while for my less than nimble fingers to adjust to, but it’s perfectly usable after some practice (though I ocasionally nudge the nipple which steals focus, which is annoying) – and it’s very comfortable in the hand. The screen is excellent, as is wifi: GPS is mediocre – slightly more useful than “novelty” but falling short of “navigaton device” – it does take a while locate those satellites. Bluetooth is crap, but then I rarely have a need for it.
The true gemstone is, of course, the Market – apps for anything and everythingn- most are useless, a few are nothing short of excellent. Some nice Twitter clients, a super little ssh client and a few more neat apps besides. Plus plenty of games to pass the time of those boring commutes.
It should be fairly obvious as to where I stand – the G1, at least for me, is nothing short of revolutionary. It’s become a key portion of my business – I don’t need to worry about missing a critical email because I’ve popped to the shops, nor being at a loss for a someones contact details because they are locked away in my desktop email client. Yes, there are some shortcomings that mean it does fall short; specifically I’m thinking about handling documents / PDFs (or the total lack of support thereof), but then the world is far from a perfect place …
