T-Mobile G1
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Google inspires excitement and anticipation with each new area it gets into. That's every bit as true for its new mobile operating system and mobile phone design as it is for everything else. This week we take a close look at the first phone to hop on Google's bandwagon, T-Mobile's G1, to see what it has to offer.
Google is getting into nearly anything Internet-related. I remember the days when it was only a simple web search that wasn’t even that popular. How things have changed for Google. They even have their own email, called Gmail, and their own web-based applications called Google Apps. They recently released a beta version of their own browser, Chrome.
What is there left for Google to go into? How about mobile phones? It seems like a strange idea, but it’s true. After years of rumors and speculation, Google is going mobile. The first carrier to jump in with Google is T-Mobile. We’ll take a look at Google’s Mobile OS and the phone it runs on.
T-Mobile G1
First we will take a look at the phone, which can be bought through T-Mobile. The physical phone is made by HTC, a very famous maker of smart phones. They call it the HTC Dream; they often have names for phones that are picked up by carriers but are renamed from there.
The phone has a 3.2” 480 x320 pixel screen which is touch sensitive. It also features a dual core CPU/GPU chip made by Qualcomm, running at 528 MHz. Seeing a device with a big touch screen isn’t unheard of; it’s becoming the standard now. Having a physical keyboard isn’t breaking news either. What is interesting is that this phone has both, a touch screen and a keyboard. While it’s not unheard of, it isn’t typical in most devices.
The G1 won’t have any audio outputs, but will allow audio though the miniUSB connection. This is pretty typical for HTC phones. The phone has a 3.2 MP camera on the back; that is really good for a phone, but it won’t be able to do video or any zooming. I would have liked those features; I can’t imagine it is that much more expensive to include them in a cell phone camera.
The G1 has 192 MB RAM and 256 MB flash memory. It's pretty nice for a phone to have this much RAM. As for storage, however, it doesn’t have nearly as much as the iPhone. The G1 does have a microSD slot and comes with a 1 GB card, but you can buy a bigger one if you wish.
The battery in the G1 is user replaceable, unlike the iPhone's. Like the iPhone it has a built-in accelerometer. This is something new that is slowly making its way into smart phones. There are only a few phones that have this built in. I think this is a cool feature, and will be getting into most smart phones eventually. It can bring a new aspect to gaming on mobile devices. Take a look at what the iPhone can do with its accelerometer and games.
HTC didn’t forget to add 802.11 B/G, Bluetooth, and GPS. These three features should be standard on all smart phones from now on. The GPS will bring new features to Google Maps.
Next: Google Android >>
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