Two Weeks With The G1

I have had my T-Mobile G1 Android phone for two weeks now. If I was rating it on a scale from 1 to 10, I would give it a solid 8. I'll start with the negatives first:

The battery life is unbearable. I use the phone for work 80% of the time and it won't make it through an 8 hour work day with moderate use. I have disabled the battery guzzling features, like wi-fi and GPS, but I need the bluetooth for work. I have gotten into the habit of pressing the hang up key when not in use to turn the screen off and this has made a huge difference. I can go about 6 hours now before I have to charge up.

I don't mind the size of the G1 -- it is only a bit bigger than my old Blackberry Curve. However, it does seem quite a bit heavier. A minor complaint, but it feels heavy in my sports jacket pocket whereas I used to never notice the Blackberry.

The camera is fairly useless. There's no flash and apparently no stability control. Expect a ton of blurry pics. The good pics I have taken are rare exceptions.


Other than that, the phone is an incredible tool. The 3G coverage in the Sacramento area is exceptional. I haven't found a place yet, downtown or suburb, where it doesn't work. The web browsing is great and the messaging works very well; e-mail or SMS text messaging. The Google integration is nothing short of amazing. This is a nearly zero-cofiguration phone. Plug in your Google credentials and the phone syncs calendar, contacts. and e-mail seamlessly.

The applications I have tried from the Android Market have worked well. The phone hasn't crashed a single time.

All in all, the phone has exceeded my expectations. If the battery life was better, I could forgive just about all the other minor flaws.