iPhone Comparisons Benefit T-Mobile G1

Am I like the only person who didn't get a G1 to review? Clearly, I should have asked T-Mobile (where I don't have contacts) rather than HTC (where I do have contacts). HTC wouldn't give me a G1. With so many reviews out there today, I have to ask how many thousands of units did the review mobiles add to the 1.5-million G1 sellout. Was it my imagination, or was even the clerk at the convenience store typing on a G1 this morning?

GOT A TIP OR RUMOR?

Enough yak, yak. My gripe isn't about being left out, but not being able to write from hands-on experience. From the varying perspectives on the Google phone, this is one device I should have handled and used before writing about. The review embargo lifted at midnight. The G1 goes on sale Oct. 22.

I got my first real-life G1 glimpse—fleeting at that—at Tuesday's MacBook and MacBook Pro launch event. The blogger sitting next to me chucked one in his bag. I asked how he liked it. He didn't. The guy described the G1 as a bad Sidekick concept that didn't make it to market. He complained about the dull design and the device's flimsiness.

Now contrast that impromptu, and presumably honest assessment, to today's G1 reviews. They're surprisingly good, which starkly contrasts reviews of HTC touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile. The G1 doesn't need to be as good as iPhone, just good enough to sell well and, more importantly, win over developers.

The iPhone 3G and T-Mobile G1 are first and foremost about developers. As I've repeatedly asserted, the mobile phone is the PC's successor for computing/informational device that will be most relevant to most people. The cell phone is:

• more personal than the PC, because of how it is handled and used—and there is more intimacy and emotional attachment.
• long term, a more compelling development platform, because of the sheer number of devices and the easier means of distributing applications to people anytime and anywhere.
• the first Internet-capable device used by most people in emerging markets.

The cell phone is the next-generation information/computing platform. But no platform succeeds without applications, which is where the developers are important. Apple has the important early numbers success, possibly 10 million iPhones sold to date. Volume platforms usually win over developers, and iPhone is off to a resoundingly good start.

Google won't have volume for years possibly. T-Mobile's G1 is the only Android-based phone currently available. That means distribution in one market, and one where the faster data network is in early stages deployment. But Android and its supporting application marketplace are about open-source development. The Android Marketplace is incomplete, but it's open with free applications.

I expect the G1 to initially appeal to:

• people considering or owning Sidekick
• T-Mobile subscribers wanting iPhone
• users of Google services, such as Gmail
• texters looking for a real keyboard

At least three of the groups are likely to be younger users. Businesses looking for Exchange Server support won't get it from G1.

What the Reviews Mean for G1, iPhone
Google's coup here—T-Mobile and HTC, too—is that reviewers are mostly comparing the G1 to iPhone rather than BlackBerrys or Windows Mobile devices. The iPhone is a hot, highly coveted smart phone. The G1 gains cache, simply by association. The half dozen or so reviews I looked at this morning are the best free marketing Google or T-Mobile could ask for. While some reviews are critical about the phone's flaws, it's the association with iPhone—that the G1 is at least a worthy competitor—which matters most to the Android-based phone.

The reviews are surprisingly positive, considering Android is a v1 mobile operating system. HTC has plenty enough experience on the hardware side. But it's not that hardware here that matters. Apple distinguished iPhone 3G through innovative software plus hardware plus services. Google has shown that it can do great software plus hardware plus services, too. Developers should watch how the competing platforms play out. Microsoft's software plus services is fundamentally flawed because there isn't enough emphasis on hardware integration.

My eWEEK Labs colleague Andrew Garcia writes: "I would be happy to get a G1 when my current service contract expires, if only to take advantage of what should be a vibrant developer community." Whoa. That's a major developer statement coming from Andrew.

Andrew dinged the device for v1 bugs, but generally liked the G1. Apple shouldn't worry about the G1's sex appeal. "At rest, the device is not the most visually appealing smart phone, but the modest countenance masks a powerful and easy-to-use piece of hardware," Andrew writes. He says that "the touch-screen is exceptional," sentiments other reviewers also expressed.

Walt Mossberg's review, "Google Answers the iPhone," is better marketing than millions spent on TV advertising. Walt is a fair and impartial reviewer, but his review's title makes that aforementioned association with iPhone. That G1 could come even close to iPhone will be enough for many readers to strongly consider T-Mobile's Android-based mobile.

"I like it and consider it a worthy competitor to the iPhone," Walt says of the G1. That's in the second paragraph of the review. You need read no further, baby. The G1 is worthy. In the video accompanying his review, when first discussing the Android Marketplace, Walt says "it's a platform for developers."

Walt wonderfully explains the G1's many benefits, but he doesn't overlook its shortcomings—and he's quick to point out the many differences from iPhone. Walt rightly observes that G1's biggest differentiator is the physical keyboard, which he described as "only fair in my tests." More: "I found the G1's user interface inferior to the iPhone's." Still, in the video he describes the touch-screen as "very clever."

Engadget's separate hardware and software reviews best capture the G1's shortcomings. Joshua Topolsky and Chris Ziegler write: "The first thing that strikes you about the G1 design is its, well, surprising lack of 'design'...the G1 stands out with its decidedly trend-bucking, quirky styling."

What makes the Engadget hardware review stand out is the attention to details about the G1 as a phone. A cell phone should be a phone first and everything else second. "Overall, we felt somewhat ho-hum about the sound quality of the G1. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but it's also not breathtakingly good." Later, they complain about ongoing calling problems: "We experienced no shortage of dropped calls, echoing / delayed audio, and full-on signal loss. Data was even more maddening—we had trouble getting a 3G signal, and when we did it was usually quite weak."

By the way, my colleague Andrew doesn't think much of the phone features, either.

Joshua and Chris give a remarkably thorough review of Android, Google Web services integration and the developer opportunities. Where Apple chose to tightly control the iPhone user interface, Google has opened up the Android UI to customization. Users can put pretty much what they want on the home screen and "anything else an app developer wants to expose," write the Engadget reviewers.

It's the future Apple has got to worry about. Google plans to eventually let developers write their own informational widgets, which "will turn your home screen into a destination," Joshua and Chris write. "You'll come to the home screen to check the weather, news, sports scores, your RSS feeds, run a couple Web searches, and do pretty much anything else the legion of Android developers can dream of cramming into a pretty little space."

The G1 and iPhone will succeed or fail because of their platform appeal to developers. If I ever get a G1 to test, I'll have lots more to say on the topic.

[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com.]

Related Posts:

• Google's Devil Phone Reaches for Heaven, Apple Watch, Oct. 12, 2008
• Has Apple Sold 10 Million iPhones?, Apple Watch, Oct. 6, 2008
• God Phone Meets the Devil, Apple Watch, Sept. 23, 2008
• Apple's Arrogant App Store Developer Policies, Apple Watch, Sept. 14, 2008
• iPhone Storms Smart-Phone OS Market, Apple Watch, Sept. 11, 2008
• How Shiny Is Google Chrome?, Apple Watch, Sept. 2, 2008
• Chrome: The Google OS, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 2, 2008
• Does Android Dream of iPhone?, Apple Watch, Aug. 28, 2008
• iPhone 3G: Software + Hardware + Services, Apple Watch, July 22, 2008
• Windows 95, Only Better, Apple Watch, July 14, 2008
• Is This Any Way to Launch a Platform?, Apple Watch, July 14, 2008
• Android, 'Can You Hear Me Now?', Microsoft Watch, Nov. 27, 2007
• Android: What You Are to Google?, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 5, 2007
• Google Brings Mobile Software to Life as Android, Google Watch, Nov. 5, 2007

Posted by Joe Wilcox on October 16, 2008 2:45 PM