Scott Conlon

So I was a little late to getting on board with the Tmobile G1 phone with Google’s Android operating system. But I finally ended up getting it. Was I disappointed? Was it worth buying the Tmobile G1 phone?

In case you are not familiar with what the G1 and Android are, I figured I would tell you a little about it. Google was one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, which is a group of companies including mobile handset makers, application developers, some mobile carriers and chip makers. The role of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is to develop the standards for mobile devices. One of the standards already developed by the OHA is Android, the open source operating system for mobile phones.

Android is open source which allows developers to tap into the software to customize the operating system and to develop applications that make use of the operating system functions. There are many features of Android that really make it a powerful piece of software. Google provides an Android Software Development Kit which provides the necessary tools and standard APIs to develop applications for the Android operating system. One of the most powerful features of Android is the complete multitasking environment it possesses. This means the operating system can run multiple applications in parrallel and any applications in the background an draw attention to itself by producing notifications. Applications on Android can also embed web content. HTML, javascript and style sheets can be embedded through the WebView on Android. Many other features help make Android one of the most powerful operating systems on the mobile devices.

So what does this have to do with the T-Mobile G1 phone? Well the G1 was the first and currently the only phone with the Android operating system on the market. Was buying the Tmobile G1 phone worth it?

The phone has a touch screen similar to that of the iPhone and many other smart phones currently available. It does not have multi-touch like the iPhone but it does have a built in QWERTY keyboard that can be used simply by sliding the screen open. There are not as many applications available as the iPhone but since the Android phone will eventually be on more phones with more carriers, Android apps will eventually out score the availabilty of iPhone apps. I would say the largest problem with the T-Mobile G1 phone is the battery life. The phone for me sometimes does not even last the whole day. This is overcourse with use of applications, talk time and texting. Since you can charge the phone with a wall jack, USB port or car charger, you usually can keep it charged. There are applications you can also install that help you with power management so that you do not drain the battery really fast.

Other than the poor batter life on the phone, I would have to say the Tmobile G1 was worth the buy. Since I was able to renew my contract with Tmobile when buying the phone I saved $200. It only cost me $179. I mostly wanted to get the phone so I can begin learning the development process in building applications for the Android operating system. So I will write blog entries in the future to let you know what I think about developing for Android and how those applications work with my T-Mobile G1 phone.

If you also have the G1 phone or have used it, then let us know what you think about it and what applications you find useful or fun.