T-Mobile G1 Review

The quick review? No need to trade in your iPhone. The longer review? Well, first kudos to T Mobile for sending a review unit to an Apple-centric site. It would've been easy for them to pass, but clearly they're proud of their product, and there are some things they can be proud.

The best feature in which the G1 bests the iPhone is camera quality. Still photos look far better on the G1. Beyond that though, and it's hard to tell whether this is the phone's fault or the Android OS, but navigating is clunky. The biggest issues come from the home button, back button, menu button, clickable scroll wheel button at the bottom of the phone. Apple has shown that you only need one button (and maybe another for copy and paste).

It's not fair to compare the phone to the iPhone, as it's not so much a competitor, as a phone doing its own thing, its own way. Take it or leave it. It's good enough that many G1 customers who were thinking about leaving to go to AT&T for the iPhone could change their minds. I don't think many people will be trading in their iPhones for the G1 though.

We'll get a better sense of what the Android OS is capable of in the upcoming slew of other Android-based phones just around the corner.

Here's the full video review:

iPhone V2 Prediction - Blackberry Pearl paving the way??

There has been a great deal of speculation on when we're going to get the next version of the iPhone and even more speculation surrounding its new features.  I'm going to add one more to the menu today based on the announcement coming out of the RIM & T-mobile camp.  RIM released the Blackberry Pearl 8120t.  WHO CARES

Well I do.  I think it's significant for several reasons . . . ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION APPLE??

Here goes . . . the 8120t does all the great stuff the other Blackberrys do, but it goes one more step and adds Hotspot @ Home to the list of features.  This means that the smartphone will use Voice Over IP (VOIP) when making calls from your home network.  This marks the first consumer focused smartphone to use this technology.  I can hear the screams already . . . yes there are several other Blackberry devices utilizing this technology, but the pearl is a consumer device so stick with me.

In the all you can eat world of cell phones today, consumers demand unlimited everything.  Currently AT&T offers unlimited data , texting (if you choose to pay for it), and voice (again if you choose to pay for it).  Should you opt for all 3 your monthly service bill before all those taxes is $140.  Pretty steep if you ask me.  In contrast Hotspot @ Home will run you $20 additional.  Assuming you make the majority of your calls from home you can get away with the $40 or $50 plan and pay $60 or $70 total each month.

Besides from the cost basis alone, VOIP is just plain old cool.  Apple likes to be the first to do everything.  They've missed the VOIP smartphone game just slightly, but it's not too late.  My prediction for iPhone V2, VOIP, and not just @ Home.  You heard it here first folks, Apple and AT&T are going to deploy technology that will allow the iPhone to make a call over any WiFi network it can join.  This would mean massive rollover minutes so AT&T better get those calculators and slide rules out to keep track of it all.

So there you have it.  T-mobile has decided that consumer smartphones should have VOIP technology, and I agree.  The cool factor alone will sell tons of phones and the industry once again will have to figure out how to keep up.