CrackBerry Kevin on the T-Mobile G1

[CrackBerry Kevin]

OFFICIAL ROUND ROBIN POST

Hey Guys and Gals,

Sorry for my tardiness in getting this post up!!! It's an official Round Robin post, so be sure to post on this thread daily for your chance to win a G1, Blueant Z9 bluetooth headset and some SPE screen protectors!!!

The truth is, I've been loving the G1!!! I had a a few initial hiccups - like getting my APN settings in for Rogers (running it in Canada) and finding where to stick my 8 gig MicroSD card (what a well-hidden port!), but after that have found the G1 easy to use and a joy to use.

It's not quite as communication efficient as my beloved BlackBerry, but I think coming to the G1 from a BlackBerry does make for a smooth transition. The trackball and back button are already automatic to me, and the OS is very well laid out.

In regards to completing by Round Robin Must Dos... the G1 makes that pretty darn easy. So my real questions for y'all are:

a) are there and tips/tricks I should be aware of that aren't readily discoverable (that I may over looked)?

b) what are the must-try apps or WOW things I need to do with the G1 before I write my final review and hand off the device

c) anything else I should know??

One of the things I have noticed is that the Gmail PUSH email is a bit slow. I have the G1 and BlackBerry Storm currently hooked up to my same gmail account. The BlackBerry is always 30 seconds to a minute ahead of the G1 in receiving the message on the device. Any ideas?

Thanks all!!

Kevin

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Ohhh..and another question. How do I do screen captures on the G1??

[Dr. Tyrell]

Originally Posted by CrackBerry Kevin

Ohhh..and another question. How do I do screen captures on the G1??

Good to hear from ye ol' tardy one! Been playing around with the Storm instead of the G1, eh? Well, we'll forgive you, if you are nice.

I'd answer all your questions but the one-a-day round robin requirement encourages speading out the comments. For now I'll just point you to this article on how to do screen captures. Not the ideal solution but relatively simple. Screen capture is one of the highly anticipated capabilities such as video recording, soft keyboard, app storage on the SD card, and full backup that are being worked on.

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Thank You!! Downloading now!!!!

[ericdroid]

Yeah, that's probably your best bet for screen captures. There was an app just added to the Android Market for screen caps, but the developer's description says that root access is required for stuff like screen captures. Kinda sucks, but hopefully people will find some clever workarounds that doesn't require a hack or modded firmware. G1's only been out for just over a month after all.

As for a "WOW" feature, I always go to the compass mode of Google Street View on the maps app in order to show it off to people.

[devonair]

I'm surprised that there is so much less discussion here than on the other round-robin posts. I'm actually watching each site's reviews eagerly, because this year's comparison coincidentally fell right before the end of my Sprint contract... and I seriously need a replacement for my aging 700wx. As much as I originally wanted to replace it with a WM device, it looks like my choices are quickly narrowing down to an iPhone, G1, or Bold... Argh, but I hadn't even been considering a Blackberry until all of these comparison reviews went up, haha! I live in the Google cloud, though, so I'm somewhat biased and rooting for the G1 to knock it out of the park. =P But when the hell will we get news (and ship dates) of the next Android device???? If I don't have to leave Sprint (and its much-faster-than-HSPA EV-DO Rev A with greater coverage), I'd love to stick with the service that I already know works in my region. =(

[berd]

@devonair,

Rene mentioned in another thread that Android Central is a new site and many aren't aware of it yet.

If it wasn't for the RR, I wouldn't of been aware of it either.

[Dr. Tyrell]

To follow up on a couple of Kevin's queries.

Must-try apps or WOW things: The G1 is so new that not many people have tried everything. Some of my favorite apps are Any Cut, Barcode Scanner, Geodroid, PicSay and Power Manager. The only app to exceed 250,000 downloads is PAC-MAN... go figure.

Gmail lag: 30-60 sec, eh? Wow, you BB boys are impatient! Are the phones running on the same data network and plan? If so, I have no explanation.

Finally, about that repeated comment in reference to the hardware not being sexy. She's a capable, versatile, dependable, friendly, no-nonsense working girl who is ready to form a long-term relationship with the right owner. If you want the latest fashion plate, look elsewhere!

[ericdroid]

So far I've found my must-have apps to be:

- OI Notepad (I'm very used to the Palm "four pillars of PIM")
- OI Shopping List (should be called "tasks" or "to do")
- Twidroid (the best twitter client on android yet)
- fbook (facebook app that really just wraps the iphone facebook web page, but adds photo uploading)
- the weather channel (the weather maps seem slow, but the rest is great)

[Dr. Tyrell]

Not many G1 owners on this site yet but check out the 164 comments and counting on CrackBerry.com! Pretty favorable overall, too! Here are a few excerpts (without attributes, sorry):

Nice phone, Nice review.

Google & HTC did a good job!

Wow, after this review I NEED this phone!

Honestly, the G1 is looking a heck of a lot sweeter than I thought.

That phone looks really cool.

This phone looks awesome.

Even though I am a Blackberry enthusiast, I must say, I have my eye on the G1.

I LOVE HTC product's just a little less than BB because they usually run WM, but this baby is one bada** piece of equipment!

That is actually a really cool phone. I love all it has to offer and its ease of use.

If Blackberry weren't around I would own this phone.

If I could get BB msgr on it I would get it today.

I am very impressed with this phone. Sadly, I'm with Verizon. If I had T-mobile I would ditch my blackberry and buy it in a heart beat. Very cool phone! :-)

Okay, not to be a traitor, but I really liked the G1. I loved the interface and the flexibility, and the combo touchscreen/trackball.

Kevin, I am sorry, I have sinned... I cracked... purchased a G1 online.

I really think the combination of a touchscreen, full qwerty, and the trackball provides all of the most efficient interface mechanisms.

It's like a Moped. We all want to ride one, but we don't want our friends to see us on it.

I always thought it was really ugly but in the video looks nicer. Also looks very snappy and responsive.

Very clean interface. I kinda like the no-frills hardware, too. Neat and clean all the way around.

The phone was really smooth and fun to work with.

Slick little phone, can't wait to read your final impressions.

I tried it out for a few days and thought it was pretty cool.

I'm very impressed with the Google OS. Great looking phone.

Android looks very promising and for a first phone that is very impressive.

No doubt about it - this OS will dominate the smartphone market in a year or two.