Ok, some more quick impressions!
Sorry if i dont give too much detail here, i still havent really had a chance to play with it other than the hour last night and some time this morning before work. Know, though, that when i say i played with it this morning i mean that i kept hitting the snooze button since i used it as my alarm. The alarm tone i have is a rooster, so that right there is a testament to how awesome this phone is
Oh and when you opt to hit snooze, it'll tell you when the alarm will go off again, so i was able to hit it multiple times without fear or being late. Lol this might sound stupid to you but its important to me.
I'll break this down into a few lil segments with pros and cons of each:
Browser: I've only check out the forums and a few google image searches so far, but loading is very fast (thanks to the 3g network i suppose) and navigating is a breeze. Similar to an iPhone you just scroll down by sliding your finger across the screen.
Unlike the iPhone, the G1 only has a single point touch screen (like the DS) so the "pinching" to zoom in/out won't work here, instead you have an on screen magnifiying glass you simply tap - or +, as well as an option to show like a zoomed in Mini-map while the full page is displayed, and scroll around the entire page to find what ou like, and zoom in on that particular part. Neat.
Navigation (browser/user interface menus/etc):
Navigation is a breeze up front, but sometimes you have to dig a lil to find what you need. I'll explain in a sec. Everyones copying the iPhones design of having icons scattered on the screen, and the G1 is no different, however upon first starting up you'll only see 4 icons on your main screen, with a tab you simply touch revealing all your other icons/options. This is completely customizable however, as you can cap any open space on the screen and create a shortcut icon. Theres also more screen space than at first meets the eye. You can pan to the left and see theres NOTHING there (so you can create as many shortcuts as you want for music, photos, or applications), or pan to the right and see something handy: A goole search toolbar, right there for easy searches without having to find your browser shortcut! Super neato.
Now when i mentioned you might have to find some things buried within the UI, i mean that you'll be hitting the MENU (physical) button on the phone for a lot of your options. So picture this: I start up my phone for the first time, have to touch the 'pull tab' to display all my applications (browser/email/maps/youtube/etc) and find "contacts" then i see at the top of the screen tabs for "contacts/favorites/call log/dialer". I hit 'Contacts and nothing comes up but the message "you have no stored contacts*" but nowhere do i find how to add a freakin contact. I had to pop open the manual that came with the phone to find out all i had to do was hit the 'Menu' button and all my options popped up. This gets a tad annoying to be honest.
*Note: all the numbers i had stored on my SIM card did not carry over to my new phone, as once turned on you're required to set up a Gmail account (if you dont already have one) and you're told that all your contacts and calenders will be transfered over. Guess since i didnt have one, i had to start from scratch. Super annoying. So theres your warning, if you plan on getting one, Set up a Gmail account and store some info on there beforehand.
I'll go briefly into a few other things here, first one of my major annoyances with the phone.
When browsing the internet; if you plan on doing alot of typing, be sure to keep that QWERTY keyboard out at all times! Why? Well..
Although you can navigate a website with just your touch screen in "portrait" mode (or whatever you want to call it when you hold the phone vertically), theres no on screen keyboard to type with. You'll have to turn your phone horizontal, pop that screen up and reveal your keyboard and type away. Note that when the keyboard is open,
and ONLY when its open, will the screen be in its wider format. Thats right, even though it has an accelerometer like the iPhone, it appearantly only works with the Google Maps Street View compass-like function i'm sure you all know about. I haven't tested that feature out mind you, but i'll get back to you on that. I hope theres some sort of firmware update or something that fixes this lil issue, since its easier to browse the internet with a wider view.
Also as part of the navigation, i think i forgot to mention this, the G1 has a trackball similar to that of the sidekick (but smaller) and it helps in navigating link-filled sites much easier. For isntance, take these forums; touching the screen to hit the page number might be hard unless you have the view zoomed in like a maniac, so having the track ball jump from clickable link to clickable link is useful. This is also good on the menus, just scroll and press the ball in to select things.
The qwerty keyboard. At first glace the buttons seem as if they'd be uncomfortable to press, they're not raised much and you get the feeling they'd be too soft and unresponsive, but its not the case at all. Theres a dedicated row for numbers and everything is laid out and spaced together pretty well. My only real gripe is that i'm not used to having a small keyboard like that since this is my first phone to feature one. I've used a sidekick a few times but i'm just not used to it yet. It also doesnt help that the right side of the phone (when held in that position) is longer than the left (thanks to the four face buttons) so your right thumb feels further from the keys than they should. Its pretty uncomfortable in that it feels so much harder to hit the keys than it should be, but i'm sure i'll get used to it eventually.
Quick note: It was a nice surprise to see that the phone came preloaded with a few music tracks, and although i had no idea who these artist were, it did let me test out its capabilities. I didnt try the headphones that came with the phone (usb-headphones mind you..) but you can play songs thru the phones speaker and it sounds surprisingly well. With that said though, i'll never make full use of this feature. I have an ipod as a portable music device so i won't be loading this up with tunes, maybe download a song or two for a custom ringtone but thats it. I'll also never be the type of person to play a song on speaker phone to show off/be annoying. That really pisses me off..
I'll end this here cuz i think i've gone on long enough for a "quick" review. If you guys have any specific questions you want me to answer, or a feature you want me to test, just lemme know and i'll give it my best shot. Remember though, i'm not a tech-head so i won't be able to answer stuff on specs or whatever.
Topic: G-Phone (Read 27485 times)
