Climbing off the fence: My new G1

Post date: 02-Jun-2009 08:35:06

There's always something new around the corner - you can wait forever for the perfect gadget to be released. But sometimes you just have to throw your economic support behind the best thing available now - take a risk on whoever is going in the direction that excites you.

For me the best compromise was HTC's G1. Sure (as previously noted) the chassis is a little dinky and plasticy, and the touch screen isn't all it could be - and the lack of a regular earphone jack is frustrating. But I think Android as a platform is pointed in the right direction, and I needed a phone sooner rather than later - the G1 was my only choice when it actually came time to choose.

The purchasing process was typically awful - the staff in my local T-Mobile store (Leiden) actually didn't know how to dial a number on one of their own display phones. My ignorance of European phone configurations also led to me locking myself out of my handset until the store staff explained the PUK system (something not used in Australia) to me. Between ignorance of the rules relating to internet connection tethering (something I'll write more about soon) overcrowded stores and trying to pressure me into upping my connection speed, I can't recommend T-Mobile's stores less.

On the plus side, though, the phone is actually quite nice to use. The pluggable 'intent' system makes getting stuff done really easy - snap a photo and send it via gmail with just a few easy commands, for instance. And while the initial set of applications is a little minimalist, the developer community has really stepped up with some great games and tools. For instance:

• InfiniMusic - slick music and podcatcher. short a few features and a little processor intensive, but clear and very usable.
• NewsRob - Full-featured Google Reader client. Undergoing continuous improvement, Mariano Kamp makes taking your feeds with you easy.
• Battle For Mars - Larva Labs' pixel-art-style turn-based strategy game wowed me with the free version - can't wait to grab the full one.

The battery life, unfortunately, sucks - mainly because I use it like a PDA instead of a phone. I download podcasts, fiddle with maps and do a heap of 'net traffic - all of which meaning that the radio, CPU, GPS and screen are active for long periods. As a result I have to charge it everywhere - home and work - everyday. There's bigger batteries available, apparently - something I'd look into if charging everywhere wasn't viable.

Ultimately, though, I bought this device to hack on it. So with the SDK plugged into Eclipse I'm ready to get started - stay tuned for news of my hacking experiences.