I got a close-up view of an Android phone today. It was an HTC phone, dubbed the G1. It is the first phone that runs Google’s Android software, and it is probably going to give the iPhone a run for its money as the coolest gadget of the season.
T-Mobile has already signed up 1.5 million people who want to buy this phone, sight unseen. It goes on sale on Oct. 22. The pre-orders suggest that Android has the same kind of sex appeal as the iPhone, which sold a million units at its debut. It’s amazing that so many people want to buy this without feeling it in their own hands first. The promise from Google to consumers: You can make it your own, and you can have a full web experience.
You can check out the features online. But holding one is better. The first thing you notice is the touchscreen, which is 3.2 inches long. It’s smaller than the 4-inch iPhone touchscreen, so there isn’t as much real estate to play with. You can orient the phone either vertically or horizontally, just like an iPhone.
When you tap the screen, it lights up to reveal a series of dots connected by lines. You make an “L” pattern with your finger, connecting the dots, to activate the phone. This is similar to the iPhone feature that keeps you from activating the phone while it’s in your pocket. You can also make a circular motion to lock the G1 when you’re putting it back in your pocket. No more calling people by accident from your pocket.
You can embed your own wallpaper on the home screen. And you can stick a bunch of icons onto that main screen for the apps or functions that you use frequently. You can get single-click access to Google Maps, including features such as satellite maps, traffic conditions, and street views. You can also tap once to get Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, and Google Talk (for chat).
If you run out of space on the home screen, you can slide your finger across the page to scroll to another part of the screen. You can scroll to the left or to the right; when the scrolling stops, you can find more real estate on the home page for more icons. It’s like the second page on the iPhone home screen. It makes you think that the screen is actually showing you just a small section of the main page.
Google Search will fetch you results just like the desktop version. But you can get the results prioritized based on your location, so that the search results will show you what is closest to your current position. That makes finding things like a restaurant easier. HTC has also included a MyFaves icon, which is the T-Mobile interface for speed-dialing your friends or mother.
Beyond the basic Google apps, you can add your own. You can visit the Marketplace for Android apps and buy whatever you want. The apps are sorted by alphabetical order or by popularity. You can search for things and buy them with a couple of taps. They download to the phone and you can stick the icons on the home page.
One of the amusing apps was a “level” app, which makes use of the accelerometer in the phone. It basically can tell which way the ground is, no matter where you turn the phone. So this cute app is just like a carpenter’s level, with a bar and a virtual bubble inside some virtual liquid. If you hold the phone level with the ground, you can move the bubble toward the center of the bar. You can do this vertically or horizontally.
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