Over the weekend, I finally made the switch from my “old” Blackberry Curve to the Google G1. And what a disappointment it was.
Just a few minutes into it, after setting my Gmail account, synching my contacts and calendar (cool!) and even downloading some applications, I realized I made a mistake.
Some applications even started crashing like the Dialer (what’s up with this name?) or the Photo application. The good thing is that it didn’t crash the phone!
Here’s a rundown on some of the reasons why I think the G1 is just a bad phone:
- The keyboard is terrible, at least if you’re used like me to the comfort of a Blackberry or Palm keyboard. The keys are too low, the touch imprecise. And I don’t have large fingers! And when the G1 is plugged-in, typing on the keyboard gets really hard.
- The Android software does not support multi-touch (although the hardware can!), making it hard to navigate the Web: you can’t zoom on a page for example;
- Applications randomly crashes;
- Cryptic system messages like the “Force Close” error message when applications crashes. Would you say that to a human? The G1 is a phone designed by geeks for geeks. Not for humans!
- Low battery life. With Twitter, Facebook, NewsRob (Google Reader) installed the battery lasts about half a day before I need to charge the phone. That’s a showstopper don’t you think?
- SMS messages and emails are in different applications. I was used to receiving both in the Blackberry’s mail application. How nice it was!
- The phone plastic feels cheap, fragile and the camera button is nearly inaccessible when the keyboard is open.
- Finally, the back of the phone gets really hot when use for 10 minutes or more;
- And T-Mobile, where’s my Android 1.5 update? I’m still at 1.0!
So what’s the alternative for me?
Of course I could go back to the Blackberry Curve, but my goal with the G1 was to access the potentially thousands of applications and do more with my phone, and the Blackberry AppWorld store just don’t look that appealing.
Why not the iPhone? Because I need a keyboard.
So? I’m considering a Palm Pre (nice keyboard), even though it means moving to Sprint, or perhaps one of the Motorola’s Android phones, that are not expected before Fall!
You might also want to check out the Nokia N97. It’s touch-based with a slide out keyboard and impressive specs. Might be right up your alley.
Is this a joke? Lol. Clearly, you don’t have enough dirt on the device to downtalk it. Hmm ? (: its not at all hard to adapt to.
i agree with ashley. the g1, like all other phones have their short comings but the g1 still comes out on top of all the other phones, even the iphone.
I’ve used the G1 daily for several months and those who say that it’s a great phone have not. It’s cheap plastic, terrible keys and crashes all time. And I’m looking forward to get my hands on the Motorola Cliq (I just played a bit with it last week during the launch event), that is everything the G1 is not: a sturdy QWERTY Android phone that simply does not crash. Chapeau to Moto for that. JB
Hi.
I think that you have a problem with your carrier cause a 1.0 is a old, very old version of android. You need to update yuor system. So i think that you need to talk with your carrier to update.
Look, the current version is 2.2.
I just agreee with you in 7 point. The others, i think that is just system issue that could be fixed with an update.
See u!