Saw a lot of media coverage about T-Mobile’s introduction of the G1 handset. I’ve watched several demos and I’m not really sure what I think of the handset yet. Its certainly not got the wow factor that I had after seeing the introduction of the iPhone. Maybe the missing piece was the Steve’s reality distortion field.
The software looks compelling in the demos that I have seen, but lacks the polish of the iPhone. Google has done a good job creating a platform, though I’ve seen some outstanding UI concepts that are not integrated into this particular handset. What seems to be lacking is the cohesiveness that makes the iPhone great. The UI looks a little disjointed with the main menu which scrolls in and then the ability to dock widgets and app icons on the “desktop.” I really don’t know what else to call it – home screen maybe.
Surprisingly, the capacity of the G1 is very minimal – sitting at only 1Gb of storage. That is a major limiting factor, but reflects the fact that the G1 isn’t an all-in-one, convergence device. Its just a smart phone with internet. That is the iPhone’s biggest competative advantage, but then I don’t think we’re seeing Google squaring off the device against Apple. Apple has turned out to be a great partner which showcases many of Google’s online products within the iPhone, so the G1 isn’t going head to head with the iPod capabilities of the iPhone for sure.
AppleInsider has a great piece about the differences and goes much more into depth comparing the devices – worth a read for sure…
