大象传媒

Looks quite slick and easy on the eyes... I wonder when this will start to appear on other handsets?

I bet the owner of that mobile number in the final few seconds of your video was delighted at having their number broadcast like that ;)

Being a bit nosey (or should that read investigative journalist?), I googled the top number to find that it's a Recruitment Agency - are you sending subliminal messages to the 大象传媒 management Rory?

I'm not sold. Google are an advertising company, and to lesser extent a content company.

To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty much happy with my Windows Mobile phone. I don't see what this can do that my WiMoPho can't.

Forgot to ask, how does it preform as a 'phone'? I've been using 'smart' phones for a while now and I've always found the 'phone' functionality lacking...

Your first impressions are pretty much what I would've expected: plenty of "fluff" (barcode scanner???????) to titilate the marketing guys but dodgy when it comes to the ease of doing what you do most on a phone: text and make calls. I'll bet the underlying platform is solid: I have a lot of respect for Google's engineering prowess - but it's how the platform is exploited to create the user experience that's crucial and tellingly that's precisely where Google don't have a hand in the phones that use Android.

... and SophiaParvz seems to be a lazy spelling of Sophia Parviez, the T-Mobile PR manager according to another Google's suggestion. It's OK, he forgot to include the international prefix when dialling Penta in Croydon !

Does the barcode reader cover book ISBNs and barcodes for CDs/DVDs ? That would be useful for cataloguing home collections as well as shopping.

Google Android is at least an open platform, unlike Apple's locked iPhone/iTunes tie-in. See -

@mernsmern

I agree, I think that the fact it is open source is a huge plus. Apple is so closed it is more of a step backwards from microsoft than a step forward.

The open source community is really good at giving end users what they want fairly quickly. They just really need to focus on making stuff more user friendly so they can hit the mainstream.

Gogole (for all the recent privacy problems) has done a really good job in encouraging the growth of open source.

@mernsmern

I agree, I think that the fact it is open source is a huge plus. Apple is so closed it is more of a step backwards from microsoft than a step forward.

The open source community is really good at giving end users what they want fairly quickly. They just really need to focus on making stuff more user friendly so they can hit the mainstream.

Google (for all the recent privacy problems) has done a really good job in encouraging the growth of open source.

This might be a big PR spin but it doesn't really add up to a great deal. SmartPhones are reckoned to make up less than 12% of all mobiles sold so its unlikely any more than about 1 in 10 of mobile users will ever really be interested in it. The problems with SmartPhones are more fundamental than the hardware/software - mobile data is still too expensive and too limited in functionality for most people to want or use it.

These phones are starting to separate the plain phone user (phone and text) from the 'all-in-one' user who wants all the functionality of the home PC in the phone.

We tried a Samsung phone last year with a slide-out keyboard and all the bells and whistles, but it was too much complication.

At the end of the day we went back to basic Nokia 6300 phones which do more than we need. We go overseas regularly so Tri-Band is necessary, but we take a mini-laptop as well, so anything web-related we can get at the motel, and internet access at airports etc is still not good enough IMO.

The comment about mobile access costs above is also very relevant. Great if someone else pays your bills!

Peter

Since S60, WinMo, Apple and Blackberry SDKs have ben out for ages I'm not sure what extra this brings. Developers will build things that are either:

a) Profitable and/or
b) Fun to do

Regardless of the platform.

The lack of a 'wow' factor counts in its favour as far as I'm concerned. The evangelism surrounding the iPhone appeals only to the fanboys whose adoration is based on faith rather than facts, and rubs many people up the wrong way.

@neilhoskins,

I base my decisions on whether a device is useable. My iPhone does everything I want, and is aesthetically pleasing to boot.

Making wild accusations using daft, tired stereotypes like 'faith' (surprised you didn't say fanboy or cult) just makes you look like a green eyed fool.

Get an iPhone, you will soon see what I mean.

"Get an iPhone, you will soon see what I mean."

See what I mean? Evangelism. Honestly, they'll soon be knocking on doors pushing copies of 'Mac World'.

Did I try to push my opinion of the best phone on you? No. Did I even mention what my preference was? No.

All the pundits are comparing the G1 with the iPhone. Well i dunno. How about comparing the G1 with a similar HTC running Windows Mobile?

All the video footage is showing stuff the G1 does. Again, what about the stuff it doesn't do?

Video? I notice there is a YouTube app but i haven't seen it demo'd yet - anyone have a link to that?

Flash?
PDF/document viewers?

And what about this Google sync thing - how does the G1 handle stuff off-line - will i still have all my email like on the Blackberry when i'm out of range?

Still waiting for a bit of journo with a bit of know. I can understand why journos like wow-phones better - a lot easier report on. ;-)

I shall be sticking with my basic conventional phone and my Asus eee.

@neilhoskins

Calm down son, you'll give yourself a heart attack if you carry on like that! It's not evangelism I am preaching, I just think the iPhone is an amazing device and suggesting you should try one. It was YOU that mentioned 'fanboys'' and 'faith', as if Mac fans are part of a cult - utter hokum created by people who strive to be average. Me? I just like a well designed, clearly thought out product. Simple.

Anyway, back to the point. What I find really amusing about this whole Android thing is every single article, video, blog will talk about how good the OS is, how functional it is, but no one actually demonstrates anything on them apart from touching the screen to bring up an icon!

What is it like to type an SMS on?
How sensitive is the touch screen?
How easy is it to navigate through the menus?

All you see is journalists clicking the home screen and that's it!