We want to take you on a quick tour of Android from a consumer perspective to help you better know the lay of the land, talk smack about iPhone/WebOS/Windows mobile at your next cocktail party, or even pick up a new smartphone to call your own. Here's a quick rundown of every Android device currently for sale on a US carrier, and a few that are expected in the coming months, led by John Walton, PhoneDog's resident Android Guru and Managing Editor of DroidDog.com, the place to go if you really want to get to know Android.

The Editors:

John Walton, PhoneDog Editor and Founder, DroidDog.com; Noah Kravitz, Editor-in-Chief, PhoneDog; Aaron Baker, News Editor, PhoneDog; Adriana Lee, Lifestyles Editor, PhoneDog

Special Guests:

David, Founder, TmoNews.com (for his T-Mobile expertise); John Edgar, Android Geek and Friend of the Dog

NOTE: We've broken this article into two parts for your ease of reading. Part One covers currently available Verizon and Sprint Android phones. Part Two covers available T-Mobile phones and upcoming Android devices already announced or strongly believed to be coming to the US market within the next several months.

NOTE: All prices are given as on contract/after rebate when bought direct from the carrier.

Verizon Motorola Droid ($199)

John Walton: Droid looks and feels like a high-end device and may be the poshest Android to date. I prefer to leave the hardware keyboard hidden and avoid that sliding mechanism altogether, but the display makes up for any complaints. Not to mention that this phone comes with the sure-to-be-a-smash Google Navigation and Android 2.0.

Noah Kravitz: My qualms with the lousy, awful, terrible keyboard aside, Droid is sleek, fast, and sports perhaps the best display on any mobile phone ever. It's also the only way to get Android 2.0 and Google Nav, which as John says are both pretty keen. I'd love to see Droid2 as a super thin, touch-only version of the same phone.

Aaron Baker: A 3.7-inch display, Android 2.0, and a great form factor make the Droid my favorite Android device this year.  Despite the keyboard and some battery life issues, the design appeals to business professionals (a group that Android needs to begin catering to) and media junkies.

Adriana Lee: Stunning display, yes. I could even see it in full daylight with the sun blasting my eyes. Okay, the keyboard isn't perfect, but as an iPhoner who'sbeen pining for a physical QWERTY, I'd rather have this than none at all. A bit too boxy for my taste (I prefer more rounded corners), but the excellent build quality is evident. And Android 2.0 rocks! Can't wait till all my favorite apps (like Layar) support it.

John Edgar: The metal, glass, display, weight, and feel all scream quality. Android is ready for prime time with version 2.0.  I have concerns about app compatibility and how fast apps will come online for use on Droid. App developers have only had the SDK for a few weeks. There was a 4 to 6 week lag in compatibility for some apps with Android 1.5.

HTC Hero: Sprint Hero ($179), Verizon Droid Eris ($99), Unlocked "European" GSM Hero (Price Varies)

JW: The European Hero swept me off my feet with its daring design and the debut of HTC's customized flavor of Android, Sense. Sprint's version may be lacking the retro-geek lines of the GSM version but it has all of the original Hero's grace - and then some - behind the screen. Sprint's Hero is a great introduction to HTC's custom UI, but Sense will be extra impressive on a more powerful phone.

NK: Hero has a leg up on Droid with a Web browser that does iPhone-style pinch-and-zoom, and HTC's custom widgets and apps. Despite Droid Eris' low price tag, Sprint's Hero is still the better value over the long haul of a two-year contract. But Droid Eris looks cooler all done up in black.

AB: While this is a "love or hate" thing, I much prefer the form factor of the Sprint Hero to the Droid Eris.  That being said, there will always be a group of people that prefer physical QWERTY keyboards to virtual keyboards, and I am one of those people.  Despite the inclusion of a physical QWERTY, HTC's Sense UI along with pinch and zoom capability make this device a winner.

AL: European Hero = serious win. Sprint's version? A little less so for me, re: the form factor. Yes, it has rounded corners, but the flat "buttons" at the bottom don't appeal to me. But I'll take it if it means I get to use Sense. As for Eris, I like the rubberized exterior, so this felt good in the hand. In both cases, I love the rollerball action, but I felt like the onscreen QWERTY keyboards were a little small and spaced close together.

JE: I am a Euro Hero fan. The feel of the white teflon coating on the hardware does so much for the tactile feel of the device. Personal belief is that a bad hard keyboard is better than no hard keyboard at all. I would not purchase Eris, when the Motorola Droid is available, and woudn't be swayed to Sprint's Hero when the European version is available. But that's just me.

Sprint Samsung Moment ($179)

JW: Moment is a powerful handset in disguise. The physical design leaves plenty to be desirerd in my book, but if you're looking for a capable, customizable Android with a hardware keyboard, then Moment is worth a look. Just be sure to thoroughly test drive that QWERTY.

NK: Moment's an interesting device that I want to like more than I really do. The AMOLED display is gorgeous, and the combination of a stock Android release and fast processor makes for a smooth ride through apps and Web browsing. But whoever designed the hard QWERTY board should be fired - the keys are okay but the layout makes no sense at all.

AB: I absolutely love the Moment's AMOLED display, fast 800 MHz processor, and roomy QWERTY keyboard.  Overall build, not so much.  Yes, there's a lot packed under the hood, but the Moment is a bit bulky.

AL: Fast and snappy. If function matters more than looks, then this handset might be up your alley. But for guys, this fattie of a phone isn't the most pocketable (and ladies, don't even think this will fit in your skinny purse). As for the keyboard, staggered keys and dedicated number rows are generally good, but not in this case. The "z" isn't where you expect it to be.

JE: This would be the phone I would choose from the current Sprint Android offerings based on sheer horsepower alone. That combined with a physical keyboard, albeit a quirky one, seals the deal for me. AMOLED is a huge plus. Not my ideal phone though, making it a device that would not get me me to sign on the dotted line with Sprint.

Continue on to Part Two: T-Mobile and upcoming Android phones.

"As much as I'm hoping that it'll be possible to somehow continue updating the G1, I can't promise anything."

"RT @morrildl Rumors of the G1's demise are greatly exaggerated."

David over at TmoNews swears up and down - or blogged, anyway - that a trusted source got wind of some kind of a "new" G1 coming from T-Mobile soon and a myTouch 3G Version 2 already on tap for next year:

First, MyTouch is now considered a franchise name for T-mobile. ThinkSidekick. Other details were pretty sparse, but apparently topics ofdiscussion were a "new" G1 coming "soon" and the MyTouch2, coming 2010.

On the one hand, the first myTouch 3G hasn't even hit stores yet, but it's also customary for carriers and handset makers to plan their product lines a year or two in advance, so it's certainly feasible that the next myTouch is already on a product roadmap PowerPoint deck somewhere in Tmo-Land.

Given that T-Mobile's CTO made no bones about calling myTouch 3G the carrier's flagship Android phone for the rest of 2009, I have to guess that we're looking at a minor refresh to the G1, if this information is valid. T-Mo's done it before, with the Dash 2.0, so a G1 2.0 could certainly be possible for the holiday shopping season. Maybe with an integrated 3.5mm headphone jack and a better keyboard? That'd be kinda nice, right?

The Google Experience virtual keyboard

HTC's Sense keyboard

I should point out that several of those devices were refurbished; someone had damaged the phones or was unhappy with their condition when received and they decided to return them. Therefore, my observations do not necessarily evidence unusual build quality anomalies. So does this indicate that the G1's keyboard is easily damaged or just that some people are really careless with their phones? I don't know. What I do know is that tiny flaws can have a huge impact on satisfaction when it comes to hand-held keyboards.

The G1 keyboard comes in two flavors: silver and black. The white and bronze G1 come with the silver kb, the black, with black. On the silver model, you'll find blue letters with red symbols. On the black, white letters with blue symbols. Overall, the silver keyboard is far more difficult for me to see. When the back-light comes on, the red symbols practically disappear; in bright light, I can barely see the blue. It's maddening. The black keyboard is perfect in my mind when it comes to the color scheme, but there are other variations to consider. (cont.)

You can touch-type with your thumbs, right?

Ah, that's better!

Some keyboards don't sit properly; the keys are pressed up against one or two of the edges of the holes through which they protrude, causing friction and a shoddy look and feel. The back-lighting is sketchy and inconsistent, and this problem seems worse on silver model keyboards. For instance, the bronze G1 I'm using now has a light nearly as bright as the Sun sitting under the number 6, while the rest of the keyboard is dim at best.

These issues were a contributing factor to my G1 exchange cycle, which has been resolved. But as I look around, and handle other G1s, I realize that I'm not the only one noticing inconsistencies. Some people have perfect keyboards like I did, before I bricked my G1 with hacked software. They think the G1 QWERTY is fantastic. Others have never even used what I consider to be a high-quality G1. They take a crappy board for granted. But those who have been around know the difference.

Despite it being the public release of a developer's preview, my number one complaint about the G1 is the poor quality of the keyboard. I love the design. I love the materials--at lease the ones used for the black phone. But what many see as the device's greatest strength is, to me, it's greatest weakness. So aside from the pretty colors, potential for skinning, and all the other superficial stuff that comes along with virtual keyboards, I'd have to say that their single most significant advantage--at least in the case of current Android devices--is uniformity. (cont.)

Black ink on white keys. It almost makes too much sense.
 Anybody know where I can get one of these? (I'll need to hold it first.)

Have I answered the question of whether or not you need a hardware keyboard? Probably not, but I can help you decide for yourself. If you're looking to buy a G1 for the keys, test them out first. Test them on the exact phone you plan to purchase.

Without getting too far into the dirty details, GPush uses IMAP IDLE, which is the same system used for push GMail on Android and WebOS (Palm Pre) devices.  Siegler says GPush works pretty well, even though "IMAP IDLE is generally thought to be not as good as actual push."  GPush grabs emails within 30 seconds of their being sent, which isn't quite "NOW" push technology, but is an improvement over iPhone's manual fetch capabilities - though I kinda think if you really, really need your email RIGHT NOW you should be rocking a BlackBerry, anyway.

BTW, GPush has not yet been approved by Apple for inclusion in the App Store.  And it may never be.

But that's not the point of this post.  This is the point: iPhone OS's push notification system stinks.  Apps like GPush - along with the bevy of push-enabled IM and twitter clients ready to gush on through the App Store - will only serve to highlight how iPhone OS was beyond state-of-the-art when it first hit the scene a few years ago but has lost a step in today's hyperconnected, cloud-based world of mobile computing.  Android and WebOS have a huge leg up on iPhone when it comes to user-friendly ways of notifying you of new Emails, messages, calendar alerts and other events.  I've written about it before - as has nearly every mobile tech journo/blogger on the planet - but Apple's "Stop everything and read this dialogue box now!" system just isn't very good. 

Apple's notifications were fine when we were all still stunned into silence by the beauty of iPhone OS 1.x and 2.x and the otherworldly multitouch display it appeared on.  Two years later, Palm Pre's display and OS look at least as good as iPhone's (if not better), and Android's gaining ground, as well.  But both Android 1.5 and WebOS 1.0 have iPhone beat when it comes to keeping users aware of all manner of alerts without interrupting their current task and overall workflow.  A glance at the image at the top of this post shows iPhone's clunky one-at-a-time "badge" system flanked by WebOS and Android's more modular systems that allow for multiple notifications that can be dealt with, ignored, or swiped off the screen at the user's discretion, all without interrupting whatever's going on in the foreground of the platform at a given moment.  WebOS lets you flick individual notifications off the screen one-by-one while Anrdoid keeps them all tidied up in a notifications drawer that can be opened up and then tucked back into the status bar until later.

Push notifications on iPhone OS are a good thing for Apple and its user base, no doubt.  But without having tried GPush myself - and that's a big but, I know - I can't help but imagine that a constant stream of badges alerting me to each new GMail message I receive might wind up being more annoying than helpful.  iPhone 3.0's clunky means of alerting users won't be the platform's undoing - not by a long shot given the massive adoption of iPhones across the globe - but in the face of Android and WebOS' more elegant solutions, notifications are one area of iPhone OS that's suddenly screaming for a makeover.

A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009

• I love Google's sorta-open source, sorta-we push our services on you approach to Android.  Seriously, if you're a GMail/Google Apps user you wind up with the best of both worlds: Tight integration with the killer apps you already use and a burgeoning community of developers churning out more and more neato apps every day.
• I hate how Google's sneakily drawing Android users deeper and deeper into the realm of targeted advertising opps.  No, I've yet to encounter ads in my Inbox on a G1 like I do everyday on GMail's web interface, but I fear the day is coming.  At the least, I know Google's tracking my mobile phone usage and putting that data towards their goal of world domination.  Or at least my paranoid twin thinks so.

• I love that Google partnered with HTC for the first round of Android phones.  HTC makes excellent hardware, and they've done a bang-up job building custom software for their TouchFlo 3D-enhanced Windows Mobile phones.  Capacative touchscreen AND a trackball on the G1?  Amazing that nobody else had thought of that combo before HTC and Google did.
• I hate that Android's been on the market for almost a year now and there's still only one phone that runs the thing in the US, and only two world-wide.  What is that?  Consumers like choice!  A single Android phone to satisfy all would-be US users smacks of an Apple-esque arrogance that the G1 simply isn't worthy of.  Let's face it, it's not exactly a sleek, sexy device that captured the mainstream imagination like iPhone did.  Also, while I love their value and customer service, T-Mobile isn't the leading carrier in the US - so why can't I get an Android phone on any other network in the States yet?

• I love Android 1.5, or at least love it a lot more than I did the 1.0 release.  1.5 ain't perfect, but it's a huge step forward in terms of usability, and the virtual QWERTY/spellcheck system is great.  1.5 got me to spend a big chunk of quality time with Android, and I'm more and more impressed with the apps, customization/skinning options, and widgets available to Android users.
• I hate that Google can't or won't release a truly marketable operating system.  Android 1.5 is better than 1.0, but it lacks iPhone's blatant, novice-friendly ease-of-use and WebOS' multitasking-meets-eye candy innovation.  Apple-haters harp on the "dumb grid of icons" and lack of true multitasking on iPhone, but the iPod, Web browser, and Mail apps are dead easy to use and full of consumer-friendly details.  WebOS on the Pre is still in its buggy infancy, but it's got an enormous upside.  Android?  We're coming up on a year now and 1.5 still kinda feels like it's more of a developers' sandbox than a consumer-friendly platform.

• I love what I've seen of the new Android handsets rumored to be launching this Summer and Fall.  HTC Hero, with a 3.5mm audio jack and TouchFlo-like custom UI?  Awesome!  Samsung Galaxy with an AMOLED display and 5 MP camera in a 12mm thin body?  Amazing!  Motorola Morrison, a full QWERTY side-slider made for the messaging masses?  Clever!  Android will really come into its own during the second half of this year, and there are more devices on the way than those three I just mentioned.
•  I hate that Android's first handset was boxy, clunky, had a big chin, and lacked a standardized audio port.  Is it so hard to use rounded lines and a 3.5mm headphone jack when building a smartphone?  Apple and Palm can do it, so why can't HTC and Google.  (Note: Check back with me on this one after HTC's event this week)  Android's first device should have been an absolute home run in terms of form and function - or at least form.  Instead, the G1 was a double at best.  Seriously, how are you going to compete with Apple when your premiere device feels twice as thick and heavy as the iPhone and music lovers have to plug their earphones into a dongle to use the thing?

• I love Android's push GMail support and subtle notifications system.  Unlike Apple's iPhone OS, Android doesn't bring everything to a screeching halt whenever a new message or other push notification comes in.  Like Palm Pre's WebOS, Android simply places an icon in the top-of-screen status bar to let me know when I've got a new voicemail, message, email, or download; I can flick the status bar down to see the details, or ignore it entirely until I'm ready to deal with the new information.
• I hate Android's mail app.  You might like the whole GMail conversation view thing, but I prefer a standard message-by-message Inbox, or at least the option to view Email that way if I want to.  Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but Android's mail app just annoys me.  And isn't it odd that Google just released improvements to their Android-compatible GMail web app?  It's like they want you to use the Web app instead of the Android app because they know the webmail experience is a better one.

Samsung is "unpacking" a new device on June 15th and has a fancy website and contest to tell you all about it.  Funny how Samsung Unpacked sounds a lot like Nokia's Pass the Parcel promo, but anyway ... They've also got a doozy of a tagline in, "Discover overwhelming power and performance. The new Samsung mobile phone. Unpacked before the world at three launch events, in London, Dubai, and Singapore."  A little birdy told me that they'll also be unpacking the phone in New York City on the 15th.  Could it be the i7500 Android device?  The Pixon 12 ultra-high res cameraphone?  We shall see - and apparently we'll get some clues as soon as this Friday when the phone's specs are revealed online.

HTC just dropped me a line regarding a Global launch event scheduled for June 24th in London.  What's going down there?  "At the event we will be celebrating a global announcement and welcome you to learn more about the future of HTC design."  I'm guessing they'll be taking the wraps off of the HTC Hero.  Given that I also got an email today from T-Mobile hinting at their next Android phone ("T-Mobile is planning to offer the follow-on device to the T-Mobile G1 early this summer. We'll have more details to share on this exciting Android-powered device later this month... stay tuned."), I think we might be seeing the official launch of HTC's custom user interface for Android - think TouchFlo 3D, but for Google's mobile OS - and that it might wind up on T-Mo's "MyTouch."

The settings for Better Keyboard can be found in Settings -> Locale & text -> Better Keyboard. Audio and haptic feedback, auto complete, gestures, and auto-capitalization are among the options.

While I definitely think this application deserves a thumbs up, nothing currently beats HTC's keyboard, in my opinion. However, Better Keyboard offers a much simpler installation for those who don't want to spend a lot of time learning about Android hacks.

CONS
no 3.5mm headphone jack must use usb adapter,not very stylish,battery life not the greatest expandable up to 2600 mah if your willing give the phone some thickness stock battery is 1150mah

SUMMARY
i have been following the g1 since the rumors first escalated of the device and i must say i,m not mad that i followed this phone. first and foremost the phone is not stylish not the least bit but features this phone have are very good with all the apps,different widgets and the growing android operating system you make this phone your own.It proves there is much more to come in mobile world ]]>http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/htc-g1.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=CellPhone_htc-g1&utm_campaign=PhoneDog5/16/2009 9:28:51 PM