continued from Part 1
Hardware side
The feel of the G1 is solid and I like the design. I remember how harsh the usual internet gadfly’s criticism on how it looks even before it was released, but most of the snarky comments fell silent when the phone came out. Texting using the full keyboard can be tiring at times because the phone feels a bit small to my hands compared to the T-Mobile MDA. The reason for this is that only about three-fourths of the face of the phone slides out, unlike the MDA, so that gives you a smaller keyboard real estate. But it is a lot better than a virtual keyboard.
I got the bronze color which to me looks more elegant and unique compared to the black one. I would have gotten the white, since it does look cool too, but I don’t want to have a phone that looks off-white due to stains after a few months.
What I don’t like and which I feel is the biggest negative mark against the G1 is its batter and the battery door compartment. The included battery for this phone is ridiculously weak. The OS upgrade improve it somewhat, maybe through better power management of open applications, but it still has an obscenely short battery life. This is the first phone that I own that does not last a day without needing a charge, and I don’t even consider myself a power user. A 30 minute call, a few email checks can deplete a full charge to about 50% just after 8 hours of use. I don’t even set it to update data all the time and I don’t use its power-hungry applications like GPS, but it still sucks power like there is no tomorrow. All the comments I’ve read from other users about battery life have the same experience. It is just silly. I even thought that I probably have a defective unit and passed by a T-Mobile corporate store. The sales representative told me that they are aware that the phone’s battery is short and reasoned out that it is because of its features and that it is an internet device. I was dumbfounded by her answer, but I am just too polite to point out that other smartphones or convergent devices don’t have this same crazy battery life as the G1. She even suggested getting another battery, but by then I was already zoning her out. Actually getting another battery as a backup is also not an ideal solution for this phone since the battery door compartment is a chore to open. The door is made of plastic with small slots all around but is really hard to prop open and do regularly. On the few occasions I opened it took me like almost five minutes tinkering with it and fearing that I am going to break it in half. The battery door compartment of both the Dash and the MDA is infinitely easier to open and all three phones are manufactured by the same company. What’s up with that HTC?
Conclusion
Even with the absence of native Exchange support and an abysmally short battery life, the G1 is still a keeper. I like the design, the full keyboard, cloud computing, and the improved functionality of its applications via the OS upgrade. I can do email, maps, twitter, share photos I took with the camera via email or twitter, surf, watch You-Tube videos, text message really fast, and make a call with it. It does what I need with a mobile device and it is not as ubiquitous as the iPhone. Of course, after doing all that, I am lucky if I have enough juice to power the phone, but hey I still have a cool phone with a full keyboard and a cute green little android as a mascot.