T-Mobile G1 - Google Phone Review

Overall Rating

Accurate touch screen, qwerty keyboard and trackball can all be used for input/navigation.
Simple, intuitive menu.
Full internet.
Notifications viewer.
Good volume on music player.
Lots of extra applications available.
'Sleep' mode to save battery life.

Using applications drains battery.
Lights behind keys can hide what they are under some light levels.
Camera has no zoom or video function.

I have had my G1 for about 1 week now and I am very impressed. This is a stylish phone with lots of features. Considering how light and small this phone is, I am amazed - really, it should be called a palm computer with call capability.

I have never been with T-mobile before (the only provider of the G1 in the UK) but the teams in various shops that I entered asking about this phone were all very helpful and happy to help. The coverage is also good for my area and the shop I bought the phone from even did a coverage check (both phone and internet signals) for any other areas that I go to regularly.

The package I went for costs £35 pcm and for that I get 700 minutes included as well as unlimited texts and internet (a fair usage policy is in place so be aware of monthly allowances).

Right, on to the phone itself.

The phone, as you look at it has a large screen, a track-ball, a 'back' key, a menu key, a 'home' key and 2 start/end call keys.

You can make calls while in this mode by way of a touch-screen keypad or through your contacts. The touch-screen keypad is large and easy to input the correct numbers.

The main hone menu has a clock in the centre and a few shortcut buttons, swiping your finger left or right reveals 2 extra main screens, one blank and one with a googlesearch bar on it. All 3 of these screens is customisable with the ability to add or remove shortcuts through use of the menu button.

At the bottom of the screen is a tab. Pulling this up with your finger reveals an extensive menu with all of your applications and other abilities (dialer, e-mail, browser etc.)

The call clarity is good with both parties being able to hear well. Texts have a nice feature in that the G1 clumps 'streams' of messages together so you can see any particular text history with each person you're talking to.

The internet is also very impressive. The G1 can utilise GPRS, Wi-Fi and 3G to get a signal. This means that the internet page load-up time is about the same as my PC at home which has broadband (even with Wi-Fi switched off).

When you slide the screen to the right, the phone turns into a palm top computer with a Qwerty keyboard. The internet pages can be zoomed in or out to see the whole page or just a few words, and the track-ball can be used to select links (although I find the touch screen once again to be accurate enough for me).

Unfortunately, while using the internet or any applications (games, newspapers, traffic conditions etc) you can see the battery level decrease. This is alarming at first but the battery still lasts well, if you're sensible. By pushing the 'end call key' while on you home screen, the phone goes into sleep mode where battery usage is nearly nill. So I keep it in this mode until needed. But be prepared to recharge the phone daily (especially when you first get it)

BUT, take this into consideration. This phone is basically a computer - if you used a laptop all day, would its battery last? No - and you can't make phone calls easily from a laptop. As I said at the start - this is a computer first, with a phone built in. I am very impressed so far.

The only reason this phone isn't get a 10/10 from me is that the battery could have been a bit bigger to give more life and the camera doesn't zoom.

Members' Comments ondraegon's Review

• welshgirl44 on 30th Dec 2008

  I found this review helpful because...it helped me decide whether or not to get the G1 google phone. I can see now it is got more problems to it than I knew about but also more features so thanks for that