“I wouldn’t trade my iPhone for a G1. Not by a long shot,” Troy Wolverton reports for The Mercury News.
“Mainly that’s because the G1 simply is more difficult to use than the iPhone. In the week that I tested the G1, I often found myself hitting the wrong button, debating which one to press or wondering where to find the button I wanted, problems I almost never have with my iPhone,” Wolverton reports.
“The source of my problems: It’s often confusing on the device to know whether to use the touch screen, the QWERTY keyboard or its dedicated keys,” Wolverton reports.
“The G1 has other shortcomings. The device can wait up to five seconds to take a picture with its camera after you first press the shutter button, making it considerably slower than other camera phones. Its software makes little use of its built-in accelerometer, meaning the device doesn’t rotate pictures or Web pages as you rotate the screen,” Wolverton reports.
“Getting movies, music or even contacts on to the G1 is a lot more difficult than it is on the iPhone, because Google doesn’t have anything similar to iTunes to manage the transfer of such data from a PC. Nor can you sync directly with an Exchange server for your work e-mail or address book, as you can with both the iPhone,” Wolverton reports.
“And in terms of physical design, the G1 doesn’t even compare. Its thick, blocky shape is more reminiscent of Microsoft’s brick-like Zune MP3 players than the sleek iPhone or the ultra-thin feature phones of recent years,” Wolverton reports.
Full review here.
Aye aye sir.
Troy Wolverton is a joke. Of course a pre-release version of the G1 without many third party software options doesn’t hold a candle to a refined product like the iPhone.
@ Crazylegs:
I only read the parts posted here (not the entire article), but the features he mentions here were available in iPhone 1.0 (except Exchange). Here, he was pointing out more inherent problems with the phone.
I don’t know enough about the guy to know if he’s a joke most of the time, but here he didn’t come off as one to me.
<u>Five seconds!</u> I would infer a great deal about the quality of a product (or lack of same), if one really had to wait that long. What is that phone’s major malfunction?
Uh, Crazylegs, the initial iPhone release (even in beta and without all the third-party apps) still makes this thing a clunker. Comparing apples to apples, there’s just no comparison, for the overall design and functionality of the iPhone hasn’t changed one iota since Day 1. Will the G1? At the very same stage of their development, the iPhone is still a Michelangelo, and the G1 is a velvet-Elvis.
“iPhone is still a Michelangelo”
Minthe a Leonardo da Vinci.
Having owned a Nokia Communicator over ten years ago the G1 is setting no new standards. I was one of the first to get the Iphone and there have not been any real challengers to the overall superior Iphone yet.
wow, finally a bad review, oh but its on a mac web site!!!!
people wait untill YOU get your hands on it, let these gadget bums say what they wish, thier a joke!!!!
APPLE, NERVOUS YET????
The G1 looks like everything I ran to the iPhone to get away from.
Troy used to write bad things about Apple products when he wrote for thestreet.com. Times have changed I guess. Good going Troy!
“APPLE, NERVOUS YET????”
Probably not.
@ george
APPLE, NERVOUS YET????
No they’re not, but your a joke.
My Oh My! All of these experts on the new G1 and I will be a week’s salary not one of them has touched this phone much less actually used it.
Not everybody worships every design decision made by Apple. Some people even have DIFFERENT NEEDS from what the iPhone was designed to meet. What a radical thought!!!
you guys need to stop.
I played with a G1 phone for about 20 minutes and it’s actually quite good. It’s nowhere near the same level of the iphone in terms of intuitiveness, but the android OS runs very smoothly and performs very well.
I wasn’t too bothered by the form factor, it is bigger and clunkier than the iphone but it really feels great in the hand.
I do want to mention that I didn’t play with the slide out keyboard too much, but overall I am very impressed with the g1 and with android.
Don’t talk all this garbage about how bad it is until you’ve actually tried the thing? Many of you will be surprised at how responsive it runs. It has a certain overall fluidity that even the iphone lacks. I have a 3g and while I love it, if a sexier HW model comes out for android I would honestly consider switching.
@CaMeLtOad
hehaw ya jackass!!!
BobbyMac,
You make to much sense. The entire point of these forums is to praise Apple to the hilt, while bashing anybody or anything that they think might compete with it. Just look at how they treat Blackberry users. You would think that Apple was first to this market and RIM a recent wanna-be. Of course, thinking people know that RIM was servicing the market for years before the iPhone was introduced. Yet the fan-boys act as if the Blackberry was introduced after the iPhone.
Mindless iDiots!!!!!!
I’ve read a lot of threads here about Blackberry, no posts bashing BB users that I’ve seen. Plenty bash the BB web browser or call the device “clunky” in various ways, nothing against users. Even posts critical about the company aren’t any more common than those defending RIM.
There are plenty of idiots that post on MDN, as on any web forum allowing open debate. But the site is not mindlessly supportive of all Apple’s decisions. Even in the past few days there are numerous posts critical of Apple removing FireWIre from the new MacBooks.
” But the site is not mindlessly supportive of all Apple’s decisions. “
Oh nooooo. No chance of that. Microsoft is TOAST. I suspect they’ll be out of business in 5 years. I skate where the puck is going to be. The back of ours looks better than the front of the other guys. Crappy Dells. Crappy HPs. Crappy Windows. Apple is going to destroy Microsoft. I trust ONLY Steve – If he thought we needed Non-Glossy Screens/Firewire/Dedicated Graphics/a Netbook we’d have it. It’s not about features, My Macbook is so Sexy, elegant, and it’s just gorgeous!!!
Naaa, no mindless support here.
I love my new iPhone snuggled in its OtterBox case and I’m sticking with it no matter what the chumps at CNET, or wherever say about the Google phone or any other “iPhone Killer.”
And that’s that.
Where’s all the “competition is good” wussy’s?
Quite a few praised this clunker to help push Apple’s innovations before this thing even came out. Apparently, Apple is so far ahead of this that the competition is zilch.
I even know a few people who felt, “Google has money, they should be able to take on the iphone”. It’s called an illogical argument. Bill Gates is extremely rich, does that make him good at basketball or microbiology? No. Google and the rest of these companies need a truly innovative plan first, then the R&D;dollars, and the time, to make anything even remotely remarkable. Copycatting will only impress those who believe that it’s a form of ‘competition’.
I think the G1 is shit. Any of you fucking chumps got a problem with that?
In other words, a turd.
Silverman (Houston Chronicle) was actually mildly complementary of the G1. He roughly compared its level of polish and sophistication to that of the original iPhone, although he did not like the keyboard or the frequent need to use the menu button or the scaling +/- controls on the screen (no pinch for G1). Silverman is generally realistically favorable to Apple products, so he has some credibility. But it seemed to me that he gave too much credit to the Android ‘open’ software approach, as well as the G1’s potential as opposed to its current reality. Perhaps he was influenced by the “underdog” syndrome – root for the new guy going against the incumbent.
A lot of people are raving about the ‘open’ Android software approach. Few of them seem to be concerned about its possible pitfalls. I wonder how long it will take for malware to run rampant on he Android platform? My guess is that we will find out in the next few months, since the article stated pre-order sales of 1.5 million units.
“Difficult, confusing, brick-like” like Ballmer’s brain.
“thier a joke!!!! “
Keep the irony flowing. Nice work.
I’ll admit that I’m a Macintosh fan-boy and I think that the iPhone is cool technology, but I’m still not going to discount the G1’s release. I praise Google’s efforts to move mobile technology into a different direction.
It might not be the direction that Apple would go, but it’s an interesting approach, and well worth looking into, and even encouraging it. If one program that was developed for the G1 ever comes to the iPhone, I’ll be ecstatic.
Keep up the good work Google. We can all encourage people to think differently.
@joshtheiMacguy,
Trolls are getting easier to spot each day.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> I don’t know if Apple is getting so good its getting hard to put them down….. or that the trolls have just run out of good material.
Maybe Microsoft is not paying them so much so they are getting the fired advert writers…………….
” The entire point of these forums is to praise Apple to the hilt, while bashing anybody or anything that they think might compete with it.”
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
——- Boy, its sure obvious that he does not actually read the material here. ………
” Just look at how they treat Blackberry users. You would think that Apple was first to this market and RIM a recent wanna-be. Of course, thinking people know that RIM was servicing the market for years before the iPhone was introduced. Yet the fan-boys act as if the Blackberry was introduced after the iPhone. …….Mindless iDiots!!!!!!”
—- So, the one who sells the most items or if you put down ANY other system…… that settles it for him….. TROLL!!!!
I guess its the obvious— Apple hate—- that starts to show up in their writing. “APPLE sux.” Hmmmm is the the buildings, the corporate structure, the govt labeled identity????? Just what is this “Apple” that sux-ith so much.??????
Then its the review of other equipment but not in the “glowing terms” that you get from CNET or MSNBC or such. You know, they have to do it to get advertising and free products. MDN is just a forum and mini news source. Maybe we need to “HATE” them too. Just cause.
OK, its sat. I am going to forget about these trolls, shills, etc and just go out and play in the sun. I leave the “troll” calling to the rest of you.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Just a thought.
en
ok so lets have some1 do a review that owns a g1 not just tested it! i mean geez he probably beta tested it… i mean sure the g1 is probably going to have issues… but lets all go back to when the iphone came out! it was an overpriced piece of shit! bottom line is… if you have an iphone and your a mac enthusiast of course your going to talk trash about a competing phone! the funny thing is… i own a g1 and have absolutely no problems with it! i love my phone and wouldnt want an iphone but thats my opinion… dont bash things you dont know how to use. i and my father both work for apple and we know at least 300 people at our site that prefer the g1 to the iphone.. simply because of some of the programs.. ie ShopSavvy and others… oh and whats this? the g1 comes stock with street view? and you have to download it on the iphone? haha thats all i have to say… peace haterz
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” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />, Tyler.