The T-Mobile G1: The Sidekick Sequel By Candice Fellowes At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

HTC is a mobile phone company famous for its low-key image and carrier branded phones. It's new release, the Dream, is known in the US as the T-Mobile G1. The T-Mobile G1 inherits its body design more or less from its predecessor the Sidekick; with its foldout keyboard. It's a classic QWERTY keyboard and ideal for Sidekick enthusiasts who like their tactile keyboards and don't want to go the way of the touchscreen. The sideout keyboard makes the phone display screen go from portrait to landscape, and depending on your point of view this can be good or not so good. The bottom of the phone also juts out slightly, presumably for closer proximity to the mouth, but it does make you fumble around a little bit when trying to use it. The Sidekick style keyboard orientation should not be underestimated, however, as these ergonomics have proven themselves on one of the most popular and hip low budget phones in history.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the G1 is that it's the first phone to use Google's brand new, open source Android operating system. The linux based system enables Google mapping GPS (of course) as well as Google Street View, multi-media messaging and drag and drop. The latter features are not available for the iPhone. It's difficult to avoid the feeling that Google is not only setting its sights on Microsoft's software hegemony, but also Apple' s vertically integrated hardware product line. The range of aps for it right now are limited, but clearly this is a function of how new the phone is. At the time of this writing Google is already on the verge of releasing an update to the Android OS called "Cupcake" which will optimize a lot of the pre-existing capabilities (such as animation and javascript handling) as well as take care of a few bug fixes.

The G1's interface is easy to use, with a very customizable display. Pressing down on the home page will bring up menus to add shortcuts, add widgets or change the screen display. The phone also synchs to Gmail accounts and offers multiple phone/contact book options. You can even add pictures to phone book entries. The G1 is also a 3G phone, giving it access to faster networks and "world phone" (SIM card based) capability, particularly as the 3G smart networks continue to spread, it's clear that the G1 as aligned itself with the right, forward looking technology forces. The phone also has speakerphone, voice dialing, conference calling, and speed dial, as well as over 33 different melodic ring tones to choose from.

The G1 also carries some of the T-mobile's best deals in the mobile phone industry. Most notable is the MyFaves service which gives unlimited calls to up to five contacts with plans starting at 29.99 a month. Along with the uber-competitive price plans, the T-mobile call services are also well known for polite and effective phone support. All aspects considered, the G1 is a flagship phone in its own right, as the offspring from the partnership between HTC, T-Mobile, and Google. With a pedigree like that, the future bodes well for the G1.

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