Googlephone unworthy of Satan tag
Where's the temptation?
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Comment If this is The Satan Phone, then Beelzebub has lost his mojo.
For more than a year, the world has breathlessly anticipated Google's foray into mobile handsets, and today, the waiting ended with the arrival of a phone that tops the rest of the market only in its ability to promote applications from Google.
Google says it believes in open access to the US airwaves. It trumpets open mobile platforms where all apps are created equal. But like so many American phones before it, the T-Mobile G1 is locked to a single wireless network. And if you buy the thing, you'll be force fed a veritable smörgåsbord of software from the Oompah Loompahs inside the Mountain View Chocolate Factory, including Google search, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Street View, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and, of course, GooTube.
Google is so intent on pushing its own apps, it's made sure that Gmail wireless access is completely free, that there's no Exchange support, and that you can't even sync the phone with your own PC. If you want calendar and contact syncing, you'll have to do it through the Googlenet.
Yes, some app developers could come along and build their own sync software. But surely, no developer is that stupid.
First, they'd have to build an app for the device itself. Then they'd have to fashion their very own desktop software. Then they'd have to pray that someone would actually track all this down, pay for it, spring for a USB adapter, and install the lot on their own, not realizing that life would be much easier if they just bought another phone.
Clearly, no one is going to buy a T-Mobile G1 unless they've already downed Google's Cloudy Kool-Aid, they're shackled with a T-Mobile contract, or they don't quite understand that some phones are built by companies that have mastered more than just the art of online advertising.
Making its debut a good 15 months after the Jesus Phone, the G1 somehow takes a step backwards. It can't match Apple's multi-touch interface. It doesn't offer stereo Bluetooth. It doesn't have a headphone jack. And according to more than a few who've handled the thing, it feels a bit like a cheap piece of plastic.
Well, Google has improved on the iPhone's ruby-killing App Store, promising its Android Market will be free of Jobsian despotism. And the G1 does cut and paste. And you can spin around in circles when you do Google Street View. But from where we're sitting, this isn't enough reason to give T-Mobile two years of your life.
The Satan Phone G1 also lacks video recording. And there's no video playback outside GooTube. Again, Google insists that developers will change all this. But developers won't change all this unless they're sure Android's audience will extend well beyond the people who thought it was mighty nifty that Larry and Serge showed up at the G1 press conference on roller blades.
And after glimpsing the G1's Googlicious cheap plastic, developers must have their doubts. ®
COMMENTS
@Professor Smith
("Professor"? Hopefully not teaching youngsters anything about analysis ...)
Metz hasn't even SEEN the HTC phone, which, again, is NOT a Google product, but rather an HTC product that runs the Android OS. And, again, the Android OS is far more capable than is being utilized by this initial implementation, so the shortcomings described by Metz all relate to HTCs implementation, and have little bearing on the nature of the Google contribution.
If you count "looking at 72dpi net pictures" the same as "having physical access", then I guess you're correct, even though both you and Metz completely ignored the El Reg review of the phone, which described it like this: "..it’s got a nice weight to it, 158g to be exact, which makes the phone feel sturdy in your hands". And <shock>, this was written after actually HOLDing one!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/24/first_look_g1/
Professor Smith, Metz truly does hate Google for some reason, and every article he has ever written about them come from that position. He is ignorant in so many ways, it's a shame to see El Reg continuing to give his wholly unqualified rants any exposure. This HTC rant is more of the same, right down to the fact that it was written without any contact with the device he was writing about.
@James Butler
You just need to look at it to say it is not a match to the iPhone. No need to try it. You have to realise that phones, MP3 players and gadgets in general are things first to "wear" and secondly to use, so they must look cool. This phone is everything but cool-looking.
@Mark Berry
It's a rant. Metz is a Google-hater without enough of a brain to infuse his articles with facts and rational analysis. This "review" is based on hearsay and what he is capable of understanding from what little he has read about HTC's phone that uses Google's Android OS. He hasn't even played with one for himself, and still he believes he is qualified to write an article about how suckie Google is because HTC's phone, he hears, isn't as cool as the iPhone.
Metz needs to get a life, and those that take his word regarding anything Google need to get lives, too. Spread out, a little, and get some more informed data before jumping on the Metz bandwagon, people. You look ignorant when you parrot him.
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