review: google's htc dream phone -- that's it? - sharp interactive touch screen

(CNET)--
It has been more than a year since Google Android was released, and rumors about HTC Dream have begun to leak onto the Internet.
We think it is fair to say that this dream, like Apple's iPhone, has aroused expectations and hype, not only because it will be the first smartphone to run Google's mobile platform, it is also possible to surpass Apple's darling. (
Hey, whether you like it or not, the iPhone sets a new standard for phone design and fusion and serves as a benchmark for touch
Smartphone screens these days. )
In September 23, HTC Dream was officially introduced in the world, and now it is called T-
Moving the G1, the initial response was "is that all right?
"I must have it ! "
Unfortunately, we are in more trouble. " camp.
G1 definitely offers some features that the original iPhone and the current iPhone 3g don't offer, including copying-and-
Paste features, multimedia info, better camera and Google Street View.
However, there are also some serious design flaws, at which point G1 does not support stereo Bluetooth, Microsoft Exchange, or video recording.
Although these functions may be (
Could Be)
We think HTC, Google and T-
Mobile has a chance to actually come out and swing, but doesn't make the most of it.
Despite these complaints, we were impressed by Google's Android operating system.
G1 has great potential (
And any Android device after that)
As developers create more applications for an open platform, they become powerful minicomputer.
Now there are only about 35 apps in the store, so we feel that the G1 is a bit limited.
Obviously, people have enough curiosity about Google Android to attract buyers;
In fact, pre-orders for G1 are sold out.
However, it does not offer the popular appeal and ease of use of the iPhone, so the G1 is less suitable for anyone jumping from a regular phone to the first smartphone.
Power business users may also want to delay before adding more company support and productivity applications. We'd say the T-
Mobile G1 is the best
Suitable for early adopters and gadget hounds who like to fiddle with and modify equipment.
With the addition of G1 and apps, we will continue to test, although we hope to have better hardware in the future, we are excited about Google Android, and think it might change the way we use our smartphones. The T-
Mobile G1 will pass T-
Moving in black or bronze in October 22 will cost $179. 99 with a two-year contract. Design The T-
The Mobile G1 is manufactured by HTC and looks like a smartphone with the company's other handheld computers (such as T-
Mobile wings and Sprint giants. Measuring 4.
Height 6 inch by 2.
1 inch wide by 0.
6 inch deep, heavy 5.
The G1 is definitely not the most stylish device, and we certainly won't call it sexy.
Instead, the words "interesting" and "strange" appear in your mind.
This is mainly because the bottom of the phone stands out at a slight angle.
We asked HTC about the design decision, but as of the time of publication, they had not been heard.
Probably to get the speaker of the phone closer to your mouth is not a bad thing, but as a result, it will affect the ergonomics of the keyboard and we will discuss this later.
In a pure appearance battle, the iPhone will win.
That is to say, the keyboard of G1 is strong in structure and has soft function
The touch finish on the back provides a nice rubber-like texture that makes the phone easy to hold and comfortable to hold.
Also, there is a good reason for the larger size of the g1: a full QWERTY keyboard.
There are some users who don't want to switch to full touch-
Due to the lack of tactile keyboards and screen smartphones, G1 is undoubtedly an attractive choice for such customers.
To access the keyboard, just push the screen to the right.
The sliding mechanism is quite interesting because it's not straight upand-down motion;
The screen actually swings slightly to the left before the capture is in place.
We are indifferent to this design quirk;
We don't find any particular advantages or disadvantages, just something to pay attention.
The sliding motion is smooth, but after a few days of use, whenever we nudge the screen, we start to notice the squeaky sound ---not good.
The keyboard itself is reminiscent of T-
As many observers have pointed out during our review, mobile assistants.
It's not necessarily a bad thing because we like Sidekick's keyboard.
The buttons are a bit small, but overall the keyboard feels spacious and there is enough spacing between the keys and we don't think it should cause problems for too many users.
If anything, we would like the buttons to be lifted more because now they are set to be flush with the surface of the phone.
The bigger problem is that the bottom of the G1 makes it awkward to hold the phone while typing a message because your right hand doesn't have a full range of motion.
This will definitely affect the speed and accuracy of typing.
When you slide on the phone, the screen direction is automatically switched from portrait to landscape mode.
That said, while equipped with an accelerometer, the screen does not change when you physically rotate in the phone's off state.
According to T-
Mobile devices, during the testing process, people prefer that the screen changes only when using the keyboard, which may be the case, but we see the benefits of automatic screen rotation in some cases, such as looking at pictures.
This is not to say that this feature will not be added in the future, there will be apps in the future, directions will rotate with the location of the phone, even when the screen is off.
Actual display measures 3.
2 inch diagonal with a resolution of 320x480.
It is vibrant and sharp, just like the iPhone and RIM BlackBerry Storm, the touch screen is capacitive, so it will only react to the touch of your finger, instead of reacting to your nails or other objects like a stylus.
G1 provides tactile feedback, but is limited to certain actions, not each touch.
First of all, you will feel a slight vibration when the icon is long and on time.
Overall we thought it was good, but sometimes the G1 didn't record our behavior, so it would be nice to have some kind of confirmation.
To access the various features in the app, you can perform another long press and a window with options pops up.
It is contextual, so the menu item will always be relevant to the program you are in.
You can go through the list quickly, or drag your finger to get a slower, more precise look.
Also, you can pan and move Web pages and other documents by holding your finger down and then moving on the screen.
However, unlike the iPhone, the g1 touch screen is not multi-touch, so you can't zoom in and out the page by separating your fingers.
Admittedly, we did miss this feature because it made it easy to view web pages and pictures, but it was not necessary.
Entire user interface, T-
The Interface for Mobile g1 is clean, fun and easy to use.
You are free to customize the home screen with your favorite app and you can do this in several ways.
For example, you can press long on the home page, which will pop up a menu where you can add shortcuts, widgets, or change wallpaper.
Alternatively, there is a small tab on the bottom edge of the screen that you can touch and pull up, which will show a full app menu.
From there you long press an icon and drag it to the home screen.
To remove it, do the same touch operation and drag it to the trash can.
Please note that this action is just to remove it from the screen and will not remove the app from the device.
There is also a sliding panel on the left and right, where you can add more shortcuts, and there is also a notification bar at the top where you can drop down like a window shadow, check for missed calls, new messages, downloads, etc.
There's a lot to love about the G1 interface, its glass touch
Screen display, slide-
QWERTY keyboard (
Although we don't like small keys)And that Pearl.
Like a trackball for navigation.
We can even say that the response of the touch screen is comparable to that of the iPhone.
But we have to say that the overall interface is not so intuitive.
Like most other phones, for example, we need to go into the menu layout every time we want to access something, which can be a bit clunky.
Yes, you can drag your favorite app out as a shortcut, but that means you need to spend quite a bit of time setting it up.
With the iPhone, there is no home screen at all;
You were brought directly to the menu.
We realized that the iPhone is a very unique phone in this sense, but in the strict comparison between G1 and iPhone, the iPhone's interface won.
Also, although we like the trackball and menu bar mentioned above, it's not as smooth as the multi-touch gestures on the iPhone, especially zooming in and out of the picture.
This is more obvious in the browser application and we will explore it later.
External features below the display, you get some tactile navigation controls including call and end/power buttons, home shortcuts, back buttons, trackball navigators, and menu keys.
Similar to the touch screen, the menu button is related to the app you were in at the time.
For example, if you are in a Web browser and press the menu, you will get the option to open a new window, go to the URL, bookmark the page, and more.
This is a small issue, but we are a little annoyed that pressing the End/Power key will automatically lock the phone;
We are used to using the End/Power key as a shortcut to exit the app.
That's why we have to unlock the screen a lot, which is annoying.
The left spine has a volume rocker and a microSD expansion slot.
To access the latter, the screen must be turned on to remove the protective cover.
On the right side, you will find a camera activation/Capture button, although you can also take pictures by pressing the trackball.
Since the dedicated camera keys are a bit small, we actually prefer this approach.
Also, when holding the phone horizontally, our thumb tends to nudge the screen up when trying to take a picture.
There is a mini USB port at the bottom of the device, which is protected by the included cover.
This is where you can connect the power charger and sadly, this is also the only option for you to connect your headphones.
No special headphone jack 3.
5mm or whatever, it's really disappointing.
We have asked HTC about this decision, but as of the press release, we have not received a response from them.
Yes, there is a headset in the box, but you will not get the same comfort and quality as a nice pair of headphones.
If you want to have the privilege of using your own phone, you have to spend extra money on the adapter.
Last but not least, there is no flash or selfie in the camera lens
Portrait mirror is located on the back and G1 provides users
Replaceable battery.
T-fitting
The Mobile G1 comes with a travel charger, USB cable, wired headset, 1 gb microSD card, soft case and reference material. For more add-
Please check out our phone accessories, ringtones and help pages.
As the first smartphone to run Google's Android operating system, T-Mobile G1 quote?
Well, it offers a lot of basic core features, and of course, it's tightly integrated with Google's products, including Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Calendar.
Wireless options and multimedia capabilities are also well represented in G1, but there are also some obvious omissions and limitations that need to be pointed out.
T-voice function-
Mobile G1 is a four.
Speaker calls, voice dialing, conference calls, and speed dialing are available.
Visual Voice Mail is not supported;
This is not a service.
Mobile offers anyway.
The address book is limited only by the available memory, while the SIM card can accommodate an additional 250 contacts.
A good convenience if you have a Gmail account;
All of your contacts will automatically sync to the phone book.
Each entry has space for multiple phone numbers
Mail address, instant message processing, postal address, etc.
For caller ID purposes, you can assign photos to one of the contacts, group ID, and 33 multi-tone ringtones.
There is even a setting where you can send a contact's call directly to a voicemail each time--
We think it would be great if you really didn't like someone.
G1 support T-
The Mobile MyFaves service, regardless of the operator, can give you unlimited calls for five contacts.
MyFaves's personal plan starts at $29. 99 a month.
Bluetooth is on-board, but the supported profiles are limited to wireless headsets and handheld devicesfree kits.
However, like the iPhone 3G, it doesn't like stereo Bluetooth or bundles, so you can't use it as a modem for your laptop.
The latter is a smaller problem for us, but if we don't get 3 points.
5mm headphone jack, we want stereo Bluetooth support at least. Wi-
T-Fi and 3g
Mobile G1 is the first 3g of the operator-
Smartphones capable of operating on the 1700/2100 MHz band.
As of writing, T-
Mobile has launched a market of 3g to 20 mar.
The airline plans to expand its coverage to a total of 27 mar markets by the end of 2008.
We know, T-
After multiple complaints, mobile has now abandoned the initial 1 gb data usage cap.
As we pointed out in the iPhone 3g review, the 3g experience is relative, depending on many factors, such as the number of people on the network at a given time, the type of web page you are trying to load, etc.
Ask for any T-before buying and investing in 3g phones-
Mobile Services and 3g
Be able to call to understand their experiences and better understand their expectations.
Also make sure you have enough T-
Mobile 3g coverage in your area. T-
Mobile will not sell G1 in stores outside of 3g coverage.
You have to buy online in those places.
3g speed is good in our preliminary test.
As we did on the iPhone 3g, we looked at the Graphics
Dense websites like WorldofWarcraft.
Com, the fastest loading speed at CNET is 32 seconds.
It takes about 50 seconds for Com to load completely.
Downloading apps from the Android Market is also fast, with no more than 10 seconds per app.
Meanwhile, it takes some time to play YouTube videos on 3g networks.
We will continue to test in the lab and update the review when we get the results.
As an alternative to 3g, G1 integrates Wi-
Fi, it can transfer seamlessly between 3g and accessible WiFi networks.
In fact, the YouTube app for smartphones will only use Wi-
Low Fi and playback
The res version when using the cellular network in order to optimize the loading time.
Note, however, that to download songs from the Amazon MP3 store, you need a Wi-Fi connection (
Same as on iPhone).
Unfortunately, T-is not supported in G1-
Mobile HotSpot @ Home Service.
There is a Skype app called iSkoot on the Android Market that allows you to radio over the phone instead of Wi-
But we can imagine adding VoIP clients to the database.
There is also a wireless manager under the Settings menu where you can turn all radios on and off and set up connections.
To save battery life, you can turn off 3g and restore to the edge network--
This is a good idea if you don't need to go online or download apps or music.
T-Web browser
Mobile G1 uses Webkit as the basis for its browser, which is at the heart of the Safari browser on the iPhone.
It uses full HTML browsing and it supports Java and you can surf on almost every website-
In addition to using Flash.
You can pan on the screen with your fingers, even if you can't zoom in by pinching as you did on the iPhone, you can bring up the screen zoom control at the bottom of the display.
Similar to the iPhone, you can also double
Click on the web page to zoom in on a specific section.
Of course, you are not limited to the touch screen when browsing the browser;
In fact, we prefer to use trackball to scroll on the page.
You can also tab between multiple browser windows, and we like to have easy access to browser settings through the browser menu itself.
With the iPhone, you must go deep into the settings menu to find Safari settings.
Like the iPhone, you can view your browser in portrait and landscape mode.
But there are some problems with the G1 browser, which makes it impossible to be a completely seamless experience.
For example, we don't like the fact that we have to go in and out of the browser menu for basic browser navigation such as back and forward.
Yes, all of these features have keyboard shortcuts, but we don't want to keep them in mind all the time.
Although we like to have a physical QWERTY keyboard, we would like to have some kind of screen keyboard so that we can enter text when holding the phone in portrait mode.
While this is more of a hardware failure than a browser itself, we 've found that the smaller display in g1 can make browsing a bit more cumbersome because you need more scrolling.
Although the interface of the browser is a bit unsatisfactory, we like that it has a lot of customizable settings.
They include text size, ability to block pop-ups
Window, option to close image loading, automatic-
Install the page to the screen, enable or disable JavaScript features, the option to not accept cookies, and of course the option to clear the cache, history, cookies, and passwords
Perhaps the most interesting browser option is that you can enable "Gears", a potential future application that can extend the browser's capabilities.
This means that Google may develop a way for you to get some Web content offline-
Imagine, for example, being able to edit your Google document without a signal, and then sync it back online when you have a signal.
Not yet, but we think it has a lot of potential.
The Android market may compete with the built in Android Market
In the App Store on the iPhone, Google also launched its own mobile App Store called Android Market.
Its layout is a bit different from the iPhone's App Store.
For example, instead of having a page on its own, the featured app queues at the top of the Android Market home page.
Below is a shortcut to the full list of apps, games, search features and download app pages, called "my downloads ".
However, there doesn't seem to be a place to download an updated version of the app like an iPhone, but this may not be necessary.
When you enter the list of apps, you will find that they are sorted, such as productivity, lifestyle, and so on.
There is also a category called Demos, which may provide a demo version of the paid software, which must be lacking in the iPhone App Store.
At the time of this review, all apps on the Android Market are free, so the issue doesn't make much sense at the moment.
But hopefully the demo category will be put into use in the following cases
The payment app will appear in the future, because it would be nice to try it before you buy it.
Each category then lists the app by popularity and release date.
We love this very much, especially since apps in the iPhone App Store cannot be listed by date.
Another good feature of the Android Market is that each app has a warning list of whether it has access to the Internet, the GPS feature of the phone or your personal data.
We downloaded several apps from the App Store.
Because the App Store is not associated with a program like iTunes, you don't need to enter-in any logs-
Download the input or password information for the app.
In our view, this is a huge advantage.
It's easy to download apps on two WiFi and over T-
Mobile 3g network-
We didn't get a chance to download them on EDGE.
After downloading, the app will appear in the menu and in the My Downloads folder.
Since the Android market is so new, it is difficult to compare the available apps to those on the iPhone.
However, we think it shows a lot of commitment.
There are already apps like ShopSavvy that allow you to scan barcodes for comparison shopping, as well as BreadCrumz, which allows you to create routes for your friends using photos as visual aids.
With the development of the Android market, we will update this part. E-
G1 provides support for several emails
Mail account type.
Of course, Gmail charges the highest as a Google product, but you can also configure your smartphone to access pp3 and MP4.
With full HTML support, you can view photos and graphics as well as text.
You have access to all folders and any actions performed on your smartphone, such as deleting email messages
The mail will be reflected in your real account.
To the delight of many, we are sure that you will get a copy --and-
Paste function and there is an attachment viewer to open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents, but note that you cannot edit these files (
IPhone can also be seenonly).
All we need to do is enter our logs and successfully set up our review unit with our Gmail and Yahoo accounts
In ID and password.
Seamless transfer of our Gmail contacts to G1 and mobile
Mail delivery is sometimes faster than on our PC, but attachments take a while to download.
Sadly for business users, the bad news is that there will be no Microsoft Exchange Server support at startup, so it will not sync with Outlook e-
Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc.
You can view Outlook e-mail via OWA (
Outlook Web Access)
But we want the full support of get-go.
We think this is a very obvious omission.
We assume that all interested parties want to attract consumers and commercial users, and that the G1 will send a good message considering the inclusion of the full QWERTY keyboard --
Central equipment for mobile professionals.
However, without the support of the exchange, it could be a mistake for many of these customers.
The G1 was pre-installed for four moments.
Messaging clients including Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo Messenger.
While working in other apps, you can keep IM chat in the background.
The smartphone also offers thread text messages and multimedia text messages.
Productivity and PIM tools
Mobile G1 provides basic PIM (
Personal information management)
And productivity tools.
Calendar, Contacts, calculator and alarm clock.
Advantages of T-
Mobile G1 is to update contacts, calendars, and Gmail through the air, so you don't have to sync with your computer every day.
Except e-
Mail attachment viewer, Google Docs only supports viewing, but we cannot access the shared Google spreadsheet. Again, the T-
Given that you can't really edit Office documents, moving G1 may not be the best choice for enterprise users.
We believe that more productivity applications will emerge as the Android market expands.
Auxiliary GPS and network available in G1-
Auxiliary location.
Of course, Google Maps is pre-installed on the device through standard maps, satellite and traffic views.
In addition, you can see the street view of Google Maps with a compass mode that offers 360-
By simply moving the phone, you can see the extent of the street (
No other phone currently supports this feature).
Basically you just have to click on any point on the map and then touch the bubble to get a full
Screen View of the street.
You can then move your phone in any direction (
Top, bottom, left or right);
You can even rotate in the circle and the view will move as you (
Come back soon to view the video demo).
You can search for a variety of businesses and plan your itinerary by entering the start and end points.
Turn provided by G1-by-
Turn in the direction of driving, but not in real time like a separate portable navigation device.
Instead, you can look up the text list --
Based on instructions or with step-View route on mapby-Step direction.
Again, we suspect that a navigation app will appear in the Android market sooner or later.
In our initial tests, GPS performance was mixed.
While it is able to provide us with accurate text directions, we find that g1 is slow in determining our location and we often receive such a message, "your location cannot be determined.
We will continue to work hard, but you can also try to change your position.
"There were also several times when G1 put us in the middle of San Francisco Bay ---yikes.
We are still continuing our GPS test, but it is definitely not a good start.
Music and video, while Apple's mission will be a complete oneblown iPod-
Like the music player in the iPhone.
Mobile G1 is more like a mobile phone than a music player, no burden.
That is to say, the music player on G1 is very powerful for what it is and will meet the needs of most casual listeners.
As you would expect, songs are organized by artists, albums, songs and playlists.
You can get typical music player features like the ability to shuffle, repeat and create playlists on the fly.
Even if there is no cover, you can still view the album art in list format.
What we particularly like is that you can convert any song directly from the music player to a ringtone by clicking the "use ringtones" button.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the music player is its relationship with the Amazon MP3 store, which is Android's answer to the iTunes music store.
Unlike the iTunes Store, all songs in the Amazon store are DRM-
Free means you can do whatever you want-
Transfer them from the computer to the computer, edit them to a shorter track, and so on.
Unfortunately, like the iTunes Store, you can only go through Wi-
Fi, not via 3g network.
To buy a song, all you need to do is use your Amazon account and click the buy button.
Songs and albums are usually cheaper than iTunes. -
On Amazon, a song is about $0.
89. an album can be between $5 and $9 (
Songs on ITunes are usually $0.
An album is about $9. 99).
You can browse the store through the top 100 albums, the top 100 songs, genres, or just search for your favorite songs or artists.
Of course, you don't have to buy songs from the Amazon MP3 store if you don't want.
You can upload any of your music files to g1.
G1 supports MP3, M4A, AMR, MIDI, WAV, Ogg Vorgis format with 192 mb ram and 256 mb rom.
As we mentioned, the G1 comes with a 1 GB microSD card with 11 songs pre-installed.
The expansion slot supports up to 8 gb cards.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the G1 music player is hardware-related.
G1 has no stereo Bluetooth and No 3. 5-Mm headphone jack
These are absolutely obvious omissions in our view, which of course means that G1 is not a substitute for a music player.
In addition to the Amazon MP3 store and music player, T-
Mobile G1 includes a dedicated YouTube app.
It takes quite a long time to load clips through 3g, and the quality is not the best either.
Although the image and audio are synchronized, it is very vague, but we are also looking
Because we're using T-
Mobile networks, not Wi-Fi.
For video, the screen direction will change from portrait mode to landscape mode. Camera The T-
Mobile G1 comes with 3. 2-
A million pixel camera better than the iPhone 2
But you can't record the video. (
People, what do we learn from Sidekick or the iPhone? )
To make matters worse, there are no camera settings such as white balance, effects, and shooting mode.
We recently reviewed Motorola Krave and it also stripped off the camera features, which Motorola says is because its customers don't want.
We hope this will not be a trend as we like to have these editing options.
Taking pictures with G1 is a challenge.
You have to have a stable hand to take a clear picture, because the image is blurred due to a slight movement.
Before we took a satisfactory picture, we took about 10 to 12 pictures, and at the end we were quite frustrated with the experience.
The picture quality is average.
We found clear definitions of objects outside, but a little soft in the middle.
The image also has a little yellow hue.
Performance T-
Mobile G1 does not require additional steps like the iPhone 3g during activation.
You should be able to T-
Move the SIM card and start using the smartphone immediately.
We tested four. band (
GSM 850/900/1800/1900;
UMTS/HSDPA 1700/2100)T-
San Francisco mobile G1 with T-
Mobile service, good call quality.
We enjoyed the good sound, the background noise was small, but the audio was a bit blown out when the volume was set to the highest volume.
There's no problem with our voice interaction with airlines.
Automatic response system, no dropped calls were encountered during our review.
Our friends also reported positive results, saying that the sound quality is quite good.
Unfortunately, the speakers are not that original.
On our side, the sound sounds very weak and sometimes garbled;
At the same time, our callers say we sound far away.
We can take T-
Mobile G1 with Logitech Mobile Travel Bluetooth headset.
We were impressed by the excellent performance of smartphones.
The G1 was very responsive during our testing and we did not encounter any system freeze or crash. The T-
The Mobile G1 is rated for 5 hours and the standby time is up to 5 days.
We are still doing battery run-out testing but will update this section with full results.
Interestingly, in the average day of using mobile phones, networks, GPS and multimedia applications, we noticed that battery life dropped from 40 to 50%.
According to the FCC radiation test, the digital SAR rating of G1 is 1.
11 watts per kilogram.
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