Let’s not beat around the bush: The G1 was not a very good phone. That’s not to say Android isn’t a good mobile OS — it is, it’s just that the initial hardware built to run the OS didn’t do it justice. It was poorly designed and had a fairly cheap feel. And now, it appears that the G1 may already be on its last legs as Android engineers aren’t sure if the phone will be able to handle the upcoming updates to the Android OS.
While nothing is set in stone yet, it’s looking pretty grim. The latest “Cupcake” Android update apparently pushed the G1’s memory to the limit. And subsequent updates should only require more. But what’s crazy about this is that the G1 was launched just 10 months ago. Certainly, the devices will keep working with the current flavor of Android, but just imagine the pain early adopters must feel if their device is already a dinosaur that they can’t upgrade, not yet a year into its release.
I’ve used the G1 pretty extensively, having obtained a demo unit from Google shortly after its launch. From just about day 1, I didn’t like it. The obvious comparison was to the iPhone, but it was a hard one to make since the devices were so different. The G1 had a physical keyboard, no multi-touch support, and could run applications in the background to name a few things. The better comparison is to the so-called “G2″ also known as the “Google Ion” or the myTouch 3G. That device, also built by HTC, is similar to the G1 but improves on it in just about every way. It’s faster, thinner (thanks to the removal of the awful keyboard), has better battery life, and just feels nicer.
The myTouch is actually the device Mike switched to after rejecting the iPhone, and as I hear from him every time I see him, he loves it. I don’t hear anyone say that about the G1. Sure, there are plenty of people who use it, and some like it, but I think all would concede that there are better phones out there. And if they won’t yet, when a new Android update comes out that the G1 can’t handle, I’m sure they will.
So big deal, a phone that a few hundred thousand people use is passing away before its time, right? Well the issue behind it is a potentially much larger one. The G1 going out of date speaks to a problem the Android platform has: Its open nature and the desire to support as many phones as possible is always going to leave some devices out in the cold.
Of course, that is hardly an Android-only problem, it’s a problem with just about every platform besides the iPhone. While the original iPhone has been out for over 2 years now, it was still able to be upgraded to the latest iPhone firmware, 3.0, this year. Granted, some of the features were disabled because the hardware has evolved, but it can still do the majority of things that the other iPhones can do.
With so many different devices, and many more said to be coming by the end of this year, the Android platform will continue to get fragmented in a way that is likely to be confusing to consumers. And that doesn’t even speak to the fragmentation of developers developing for phone-specific features of Android devices when more come out.
Of course, there are upsides to this openness, and we should see plenty of applications and features that aren’t available on the relatively-closed iPhone. But it’s a tricky trade-off if consumers are buying a device that they’re not sure will work with all the applications on the platform, and worse, the newest versions of the OS itself.
Really, I just wanted to write a eulogy for the G1. I’m looking forward to some good Android phones in the future, the G1 was not one of them.
[photo: flickr/rainer ebert]
My G1 became incredibly slow after I upgraded to Cupcake. I had to free up some space by removing some apps and deleting photos.
I love my G1 but I’m ready to move on to my next Android phone.
Mine’s just fine, I still love it. I’m don’t want to upgrade until there’s another with a hard keyboard, though. I like it.
Hates Twitter; loves G1. Yer batting 1000 today, Devz.
not on my scorecard
MG score of inside song references… YE Yang-like (but the Blogger post reminded me that the over-40 set among your fans is…. um… me)
SORRY I use to love my G1 but I am struggling with it now..my wife and I have one and after the cupcake update the hardware is barely, just barely supporting it making it very sluggish and unresponsive and believe me I don’t have more than 30 apps installed. This phone will clearly NOT support any more updates, is just a fact.
What is more concerning is that the new my touch still carries almost the same system memory and processor, which makes not worth to pay the $199 to upgrade.
We are stuck with our G1 until late Q4 when according to the news many new phones and a nvidia Tegra Android may come to our rescue..
Have you installed any apps you have running in the background all the time? If so, go into its settings and try clearing its cache. Same with any other apps you use a lot, like the browser or mail.
After using it for over six months, the cache for Twidroid twitter app on my phone was 25mb for an app that’s only 800kb in size – once I cleared that the whole phone ran twice as fast.
It’s a bit like complaining that your Windows install is running like a dog when you haven’t defragged the hard disc in two years, keep gigabytes of junk in your temp files and insist on having a load of useless programmes in the startup folder.
And how do you feel about having to do that just 10 months (maybe less) after getting it?
I have a G1 as well and I’m happy with it… if the G1 won’t support the next update, then oh well, I’ll still be happy with Cupcake. It does everything I need it to.
Also, I actually like the keyboard on the G1 and I can’t imagine getting a different Android phone without a physical keyboard.
Did we call the iPhone a bucket of fail when, one year later, the iPhone 3G was released?
no, why would we? it ran iPhone OS 2.0 just fine.
And 2 years later, it runs OS 3.0 just fine.
I think 2-3 years is a useful lifetime for a phone, esp. given how contracts tend to work. 10 months is pushing it.
Aren’t you touching upon the whole open source vs closed applications/environment debate? Freedom + confusion or simple but constrained?
Doing a factory reset helps a lot. You end up with a lot of “cruft” with system settings. Use MyBackup Pro to backup your data. You shouldn’t need to back up your contacts since it will sync with google. Also, don’t back up your system settings either. Backup everything else, do a factory reset, re-download MyBackup Pro, and then restore. Your phone should be much snappier.
I blame the widgets.
You know, those little desktop widgets that third-party developers could make for Android 1.5 phones.
Even just one (poorly-coded or hardware-intensive) widget can slow the entire phone down.
If not the widgets, it’s the stuff that runs in the background. IM, Twitter, Facebook, clients–for example–running in the background slow the entire device down while they check for new messages or whatever.
I observed this, and removed just a few widgets and apps from my Cupcake-rockin’ G1, and it runs like a rocket now.
It is sad to note that G1 has met such a dreary death! Google, are you listening?
Who says you have to upgrade? If it’s working fine the way it is, why update the software? It doesn’t seem necessary for most users.
And yes, my iPhone 2g is still good; Apple hasn’t made it obsolete quite yet.
Noone says you have to upgrade, but certainly, there will be software that just wouldn’t work if not updated. There are many program worked pre-Cupcake, but stopped functioning until after author update the software to support Cupcake.
You may, and you probably find some update to your favorite program no longer supported because of versions.
I just got a G1 maybe 4 months ago and it sucks to see it already being crippled by potential new updates. But, I’ve been thinking of switching back to WM again as Exchange on the G1 just doesn’t work as I want it to. Luckily in the UK the G1 is free on contract, so it wasn’t like I paid good money for it so no major loss to me.
Other than Exchange problems I do like Android though and will look out for something different soon.
The HTC HERO (http://www.htc....o/overview.html) has exchange support
As a G1 user myself since Nov, I have to say that I really like the phone. In comparison with the other touch screen and app capable i believe it is one of the most reliable. I like the overall feel and that it INCLUDES the physical qwerty keyboard! It might now look as “sexy” as the iphone but in my opinion the G1 is better.
I agree. I use the physical keyboard a LOT more than the soft one.
I like it and all the iphone owner I know envy me for having it. (I’m in Ecuador and there is the only G1 I’ve seen here)
It’s a new phone on a new OS. Sure there will be better ones in the future, however I don’t think I’ll change my G1 until a G3 or G4 comes out.
Why would I? It does what I want… period.
I offer polite applause for subversive Elton John references. However, the title would have retained the cadence of its source of you’d said “THE Android ever will.” Just sayin’.
oh believe you me i debated that. but i thought everyone would jump on my with “why would you say ‘did’?!”
so i went with the 1997 version
Actually, you know, screw it, I’m going with it. Thanks for the inspiration.
The G1 was a THICK monster of a phone with hard-plastic buttons that were tiny and painful to press. It’s not what people want.
I’m not sure who at T-mobile signed off on that behemoth, but he/she should probably quit the cell-phone biz and move on to an instruments that don’t have to fit in the tight pockets of hip, slim people.
it is thick like a brick.
The below does not actually prove anything, but I would like to add it in just for fun.
Average United States brick dimensions: 8 * 4 * 2.25 inches
(Cite: http://wiki.ans...red_house_brick )
Average US brick volume: 72 cubic inches
—–
T-Mobile G1 dimensions: 4.6 * 2.16 * 0.62 inches
(Cite: http://gizmodo....m-android-phone )
T-Mobile G1 volume: 6.16032 cubic inches
—–
The G1 has 8.556% the volume of a brick.
He he… good one.
it is unquestionably a failure so far but they will not give up because it is core to their future so expect major improvements. it will get better.
I love the G1 and have had it for 4 months. I’m not really sure where you’re coming from with any of this as I’ve only experienced the device get quicker with new updates.
The point about 10 months is interesting, but at the same time, most purchase cycles for early adopters is 12 – 18 months maximum as it lies with carrier contract renewals. That means between 6 months and a year of a phone who’s hardware isn’t appropriate for it. I can handle that personally, when you compare it with the fact that most smartphones can’t handle the OS they have installed from the beginning.
I’m looking forward to a hardware upgrade in April.
He is saying this because he is paid to do so. This is all about what he is paid to say.
Ask a tmobile store how the sales are of the g1, then you will see how bad of a phone it is.
Just because it cant hold 4000000 photos and carry 20000 songs, means nothing.
“That’s not to say Android isn’t a good mobile OS — it is”
MG, you don’t have to defend it. We all know that Android is a third-rate Java OS that’s slow and lacks polish. It’s nowhere close to iPhone OS 3.0 and probably not even close to Palm’s webOS.
Fact is, Android is just another OS in the style of Linux that will be split into a dozen branches over the next few years and just like Linux, none of the distributions will come even close to the quality and polish of Mac OS X or Windows.
iPhone OS : Windows/Mac OS X = Android : Linux
HAHAHA, Brian, the polish of WIndows, that’s hilarious.
Look into Win 7. It’s not as bad as Vista! If you hate Mac, it’s an OK substitute.
But I do prefer Mac OS X. It’s in a class of its own.
you know I really do like Android, not as much as the iPhone OS, but just compare it to any mobile OS that came before, it’s 1,000 times better. Also, I’ve seen some of the customized flavors of Android and those look a lot nicer, the regular Android builds aren’t my cup of tea in terms of design.
Right. And that’s the thing… Android will get fragmented and each variety will diverge and each company supporting Android will start adding support for their own devices and in few years, all these Android apps will become incompatible. On Linux you have a bunch of windowing systems and an app written in KDE will not run on Gnome and vice-versa.
Soon, there will be confusion in their marketplace and app developers will have to struggle figuring out which device supports what features (does it have GPS? magnetometer? multitouch? camera? autofocus camera? and so on) and which device supports what resolutions. And then you’ll even have to figure out which device uses which theme so you’ll have to write 5 different themes for your app.
That means that writing Android apps will be a few magnitudes more expensive than writing iPhone apps.
Which platform do you think will win? (Hint, that’s a trick question: iPhone has already won).
PS: Do you know why game developers love writing Xbox games? It’s because they know what each machine can do and they don’t have to worry about dozens of possible configurations, CPU speeds and video cards. That’s why Android will suck for development.
> an app written in KDE will not run on Gnome and vice-versa
Obviously you haven’t tried.
> there will be confusion in their marketplace … app developers will have to struggle figuring out which device supports what features
Android apps already have what is necessary, they declare a set of “permissions” that they use (eg : turn GPS on…). That could be easily turned into a filter system in a future version of the market.
> and which device supports what resolutions
This is already adressed. The UI system is flexible enough, of course you cannot use it to write a single UI for 320×240 and 1280×800, but which UI system does ? There’s already a multiple layout design principle (ie you can make different UIs for different resolutions).
> which device uses which theme
Theme data is available in the framework. All apps already automatically use the current device theme, without anything additional to code.
>Obviously you haven’t tried.
I have. I don’t have extra gigs of space to install KDE libs to run KDE apps on Gnome.
>Android apps already have what is necessary, they declare a set of “permissions” that they use
What do you do when you are designing an app and realize that your app can only run on device X (made by Motorola for example) and other ANdroid devices don’t have that hardware feature or enough CPU speed? Your app now suddenly becomes a custom app for a specific phone. When you write an iPhone app, it runs on ALL iPhone devices (with some notable differences between 3G and 3GS). So with iPhone you have two devices to worry about. How many devices do you have to worry about when you write an Android app? Potentially dozens.
>Theme data is available in the framework. All apps already automatically use the current device theme, without anything additional to code.
That’s if you want to use SDK widgets which means your apps will look stale and you can’t innovate on the UI side (well, you can but you have to worry how your new widget will look like under all the different themes). If you take a look at iPhone store, you will see apps with dials, knobs etc. all of which are not in the SDK and yet look great and feel native to the iPhone. Imagine doing the same on Android which uses different themes.
Mac OS X – 6% of PC market
iPhone – 6% of smartphone market (approx)
Coincidence?
One OS – One computer does not work well. People do like have choice. Android gives them choice, iPhone does not.
who says it’s not working well? apple’s $30 billion in cash (with no debt) in the bank?
Market share is a bad way to think about this. Think about profits instead.
Here’s a hint for you:
Our analysis indicates that Apple’s iPhone accounted for only 8% of handset industry revenues but 32% of industry operating profits in 1H09,” Sacconaghi wrote in a note to clients today. “Even if we exclude the operating losses generated by Motorola and Sony Ericsson, Apple still accounted for 25% of industry profits. iPhone’s success is akin to Apples position in the PC industrywhere the company enjoys an estimated 25% of industry profits, despite capturing only 6% of industry revenues.”
Not to be pedantic, but it’s not actually a Java OS. You write your apps in Java, but then the Java is compiled into code to run on the Dalvik VM, not the Java VM (which also enabled Google to bypass Sun’s licensing for mobile).
Really, Java is just used as an intermediary format with which people are already familiar. It’s something to type so that you don’t have to learn to type something else. The OS doesn’t run Java at all.
Actually, no I’ve had it for 9 months as I’m on an 18 month contract.
the title should probably read
The G1 Burned Out Long *Before* The Android Ever Did
heh you must have seen it for like 30 seconds in between changes (see comments above)
G1 had to get out there no matter what. It was a test bed, a quite successful one but certainly not a high standard device. It showcased what is possible for Android, what’s coming in the next year or so.
It’s not random that pretty much all Android phones use the same CPU and improve in areas Android has nothing to do with (camera specs, Sense UI etc).
I’ve also spoken to a number of developers who were turned off specifically by the G1 when they initially looked at it to decide if they should work with Android as well as iPhone. As they say, don’t settle.
I agree.. Android is geeky and promising (hacks), iPhone OS is sexy and mature (app store)
MG Siegler saying a bad thing about an Apple competitor? I’m so surprised!
Michael Arrington, what have you done?
Everyone knows that the real reason why Mike hates iPhone is because he’s afraid what iTablet will do to CrunchPad.
“I don’t hear anyone say that about the G1″
I love mine, so now you have. I’ll admit that a G1 with the default firmware is pretty crappy (slow, limited space, etc.). But with root access, it’s a damn good phone.
I’m on cyanogen which gives much more space (by using the sdcard for applications) and more speed (overclocking CPU). And I can depend on that third-party firmware, so this is hardly a problem.
so, in other words, it’s good when you hack it, something which an average consumer will never do.
Exactly. The G1 is perfect for the type who already is running Linux. If you aren’t that type, you probably should be using a different phone.
yep, we agree.
It even looks like a second rate phone.
Gosh, my 2+ year old iPhone runs the 3.0 OS just fine. I would think the G1 could run the next update if Google really wanted it to. Naturally, it takes some talent and planning, but Google’s got all that, right?
The G1 is a geek phone – it unlike Apples closed systems – allows for practically unlimited development opportunities.
The iPhone is for people who care more about what their phone looks like than what it actually does. Like most Apple products its more about style than substance.
The iPhone’s service is soooooo frickin bad and its battery life is sooooo horribly short that there is no reason to use the thing unless you’re a trendy bastard that likes to give 2x the money to ATT and Apple.
I dont love the G1 but its a hell of a lot better (and cheaper) than Apples iPhone and I dont have to use that POS app iTunes!!! iTunes blows
Sorry, Charlie, it looks like your geek phone is obsolete! Thankfully it’s an open platform, so feel free to write your own OS! Geeks like you love doing that.
I coulda had a jailbroken iPhone
To give balance to your battery life comment: I’ve owned both an iPhone and the G1. The G1 battery life pales in comparison to the iPhone.
it does not matter anyway as my battery is on its last legs! I have the dev version from google and there is no after sales care from those guys :p
still I have gotten some solid usage out of it.
I guess I am waiting for the hero pro (slideout keyboard version its bound to happen).
This is insane. The phone’s not like you would get next one just because one becomes obsolete. If you, like me, got this phone like I did when it launched, you’d still have 14 months in contract that either you have to pay insane amount of money, or wait while you potentially lose compatibility with some programs, etc.
Going to disagree with you yet again on the keyboard.
The G1 should hold me over until the Android market really explodes with competition. It’s only a matter of time.
Hopefully, then I can still pawn it off on someone who doesn’t read your columns.
“And that doesn’t even speak to the fragmentation of developers developing for phone-specific features of Android devices when more come out.”
Or the fact that different phone companies are building their own interfaces on top of Android.
With both hardware and software issues, it’s looking less and less like developers will be able to build just one “write-once run-anywhere” application for Android.
I hope something better than the current Android phones show up. So far I am underwhelmed. The speed and apps suck as does the on screen keyboard.
More tragic is the theme of the HTC Dream / G1 in Spain, where Movistar has not yet updated Android to version 1.5 and many users are still using 1.1 because of ignorance or fear or load new roms
XDA always be;)
Long live G1!
Yo do realise that the G1, Magic,MyTouch,Hero are the same phones , right? The only diffrence is that the Hero has more Ram.
So… you say you haven’t heard ANYONE say they love it and then your own co-worker comments on the article that they love it? Obviously you didn’t look too far – this statement (if not this entire article) is at best ignorant and at wost prejudice.
I absolutely love my G1. It’s simple and to the point and I have yet to have any problems with it.
Rag on the physical keyboard all you want, but it’s an accessibility feature. I’m serious- I understand you prefer the touch screen keyboard, but I’ve got bigger thumbs than you:P Even with a pointer finger and lots of practice, to me the touch-screen keyboard is still a poor substitute for the physical one.
Which means the lack of future support for the G1 is particularly daunting to me, since it doesn’t look like physical keyboards are going to be a future trend in android phones. I’ve heard the iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is better, but as a programmer, switching over to a platform that treats other programmers like those kids you had to invite to your party in order for your parents to let you have one, that’s just not acceptable to me.
I love my G1. I love the keyboard, the screen, several available apps, the ability to develop your own apps, the list goes on. I like the bulkiness… or what I call sturdiness. The only thing I would want is a flash for the camera. Thats the only thing my husbands blackberry has that I envy.
How many commenters say they love their G1 compared to how many say they hate their G1? I agree with Rob – your statement of no one loving it is at best ignorant and at wost prejudice. It seems the only people who are trashing are people who don’t own it or haven’t spent time with it. I’ve had my 8 months and I love it. Yes, it got slow after Cupcake but I did a reset and its been fast for months. I use it to stream music in the background, play MP3s, research news, browse site, use the awesome gmail integration, etc. etc. Nuff said.
iphones are great if you’re a chick, or a douchie type.
And would you people going thru one simple google search and see that Android is linux based, and not java based? Is it that hard?
I hate to do it, but there were a ton of people bitching that Apple updated the iPhone every 12 months, making the last one obsolete.
I have a 2G iPhone, and it still works. It runs every App a 3GS will, and runs the most up-to-date version of the OS.
It was a poor design decision to save what probably amounted to very little money to reduce the system flash memory in the G1.
That being said, going forward, there won’t be much fractioning of the market for Android apps. I’m thinking there will be 3- iPhone style touch screen units, G1 style keyboard units, and Blackberry style smaller-screen thumbboard devices. These are the three form factors that work, and most phones fall into one of these categories…
One thing that worries me about Android is how to ensure that we can write software that will work on all variations of the Android phones. It is already starting to be a problem with the iPhone now that the newest model has so many more capabilities.
You mention that you hate the keyboard. Some of us love it. I personally do not like the on screen keyboard, even though my G1 comes with that capability. I never use it. That is why I do not have an iPhone or the new Google Phone that comes with no keyboard.
Early adopter and early developer (www.winebythebar.com). Can’t fully express my disappointment in the way Android has played out. Suffice to say that the iPhone app has taken on much greater priority.
If Android gets fragmented, who cares. The thing is, apps will run in any (updated) version anyway, that’s the whole point of the OHA. Look the different linux distros. Hundreds, yet, apps are fully compatible.
Not true. Apps are not immediately portable. Each hardward device results in re-testing and re-release. My own app, Wine by the Bar, crashes on HTC Hero in the UK. Untestable nightmare.
Sorry , but the original iPhone is a dog with 3.0
Not true.
Siegler:
Your article isn’t entirely true. It is not the memory that is at limit: the G1 has 192MB of ram. It is the OS partition on the G1 that has hit the limit. (If I remember correctly, it has a 128MB embeded flash storage with a 1GB upgradable external flash card. )
The only thing Google has to do to alleviate this problem is to have a file system upgrade that extends to the 1GB flash card that comes with the phone. (Mine is upgraded to 8GB HDSC card). Unofficial firmwares already have this feature, it is called “App to SD” where all data and apps are offloaded to the SD card via a symbolic link.
Let’s see how google wants to handle this. To be honest, if they dumped G1 support only 10 month into the product life cycle, I will be pissed, and this will be a very negative precedence for future Android phone buyers.
Going to Google IO was the best investment I could have made.
While the original G1 did indeed have battery issues, one must remember the stuff it had at launch that the iPhone didn’t. You noted in a DigitalBeat article dated Feb 3, ‘09, “To me, by far the biggest feature lacking on the iPhone is the ability for third-party applications to run in the background.” The G1 had that at launch but it kinda made the phone run like a dog if you had background tasks and 3G running and took a cycle to get it right with the Google Ion/myTouch. Cupcake also gave G1’s camcorder utilities before the iPhone did.
When I got my G1, I was completely surprised at how many non-devs bought it. I saw it as a beta and not an Apple beta(which are usually consumer-friendly). IMHO the G1 really wasn’t up to the challenge of regular consumers. Like Arrington, I love my G2/Ion. The speed makes up for the lack of keyboard and multi-touch is kinda over-rated. Why would anyone expect OS X-like polish from Google, the king of the product beta?
Google needs more “reference” designs to help the low cost phone producers innovate. In the long run Google will be right, hardware will be cheap and fast, but not now. Android and the mobile devices that it runs on needs to be optimized
I know people with the G1 and similar phones. They want an iPhone. The moral of this sad tale is: don’t rationalize getting an uncool phone – just get an iPhone.
As long as you can afford the extra $500/year or more in service fees for the same plan.
I find it interesting how similar this is to mac vs. win 3.11. Apple’s device is clearly superior but the joy is limited to Apple hardware. Android is trying to run on a bunch of different platforms and is seeing all kinds of challenges because of that. I wonder if Steve might experience a sense of Deja vu?
Google really needs to let us install applications on an SDcard, I am positive that will free up some ram and allow things to run faster. I noticed some slowdowns too, and tweaked my background applications, which improved response time.
I would love to race an iPhone user in typing an email
Ha-ha!
That’s because the hardware design of the T-Mobile G1 is even older than the first iPhone. Google an HTC started the development 4 years ago.
http://www.pcwo...tc_android.html
Buy a phone and a netbook for better performance and convenience at a lower total costs and TCO.
sorry this article is garbage man…makes no effort to understand the G1, and the keyboard is what sells it as far as i can see, I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER ANDROID UNLESS IT HAS A KEYBOARD! and I know dozens of other g1 users who feel the same. Mine is rooted so no problems with space with just under 1gb for applications. Now with an application out that roots your G1 with one click there is no excuse and for those who dont want to root get an app manager and delete your cache makes alot of difference.
The G1 is lacking in refinement, doesn’t have enough memory and has a poor battery life, but I’m still having more fun with it than I ever did with my iPhone.
I liked the iPhone, but just couldn’t get used to the soft keyboard. It was the lack of the physical keyboard that made me hunt for a replacement and I bought the G1 9 months ago. And I can tell you that I loved it from day one.
It’s a rock solid smartphone and unexpectedly, it’s the apps on the Android that have me excited.
You don’t writing software to a device form factor. You are writing to the API. You rely on the OS to shield you from these things – up to a point. But you still have to code for it. This is no different than coding for the desktop. To handle different dpi settings, I still have to use a layout manager that can resize based on the dpi settings. Use vector based images rather than raster based images etc.
My Android app runs fine on 1.1. It had some problems when I moved to 1.5 – which I fixed in an hour. I don’t anticipate having any problems at all keeping up with future versions of the OS.
Then it’s a decision, I as a developer, make regarding whether to use new features of a later OS or not. And if I do, how to degrade gracefully for people running an older version of the OS. You know – things every software developer does.
You like the iPhone. Good for you. But, in my books, the G1 is already better than an iPhone. And the way things are looking, it’s getting better and better.
Keyboards – I like and need a *real* keyboard.
A bummer on the memory availability of the G1. Note that since the last security update like 3 weeks ago, my G1 is behaving slow; i.e. after cupcake, it was fine.
Next versions will only improve the HW/SW and can’t wait for next-gen…
And from the hackability (if that is a real word), perspective G1 allows me to experiment much easier than the iPhone…
I have both the iPhone (work) and the G1 (personal), and while the iPhone is more sexy and much better designed, I personally like the G1 better…
ceo
Like the phone fine. Does what I need it to do (though I would like Flash). Keyboard is also important.
I love my G1, most fun I’ve ever had with a phone easily. I also found that it ran faster after Cupcake, and just this evening there was a message telling me to download a system update.
I went for the G1 mostly for the open source nature of it all, but also for the physical keyboard. I HATE on screen keyboards, so this was a real deal breaker for me.