Business Travel Tips

The Google’s first-ever mobile phone G1 launched yesterday, will also be the first non Windows/Blackberry/Danger powered smartphone to be launched on T-mobile. The T-mobile G1, will be the first handset in the world to run the new Android operating system.

G1 has an iPhone look and feel, with dimensions of 4.60″ x 2.16″ x 0.62″.
The Guardian listed three areas where the G1 beats the iPhone…and three where it doesn’t.

- Where the G1 beats the iPhone…

User interface:
Apple’s decision to jettison a physical keyboard on the iPhone divided consumers. Some found typing onto a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen quick and straighforward; others, used to devices such as the BlackBerry, found the process slow and frustrating.
The G1 has compromised, including a slide-out Qwerty keyboard as well as a pleasingly responsive touchscreen. This seems sure to appeal to a wide audience of users who prefer physical buttons to virtual ones, and could perhaps persuade some undecided shoppers to plump for a G1 over an iPhone.

Navigation:
Using Google Maps on the iPhone to find your location and plot a route is an exercise in simplicity, and certainly one of the best phone-based sat nav systems I have come across.
Until yesterday, that is. Because Google’s take on mapping, is as good, if not marginally better, than on the iPhone. The use of Street View – real world street-level photos of roads – helps to bring routes to life, and when combined with the G1’s built-in compass, it becomes a masterstroke – when you’re in Street View mode and move the phone around, the screen displays a photo of exactly what you’re looking at. Simple but clever, this tiny addition to the G1 just pips the iPhone to the post, and, in time, could mean we never get lost again.

Platform development:
The Android operating system has the potential to be a really disruptive platform in the mobile space.
Apple’s iPhone uses a phenomenally clever, powerful and responsive operating system, but it’s locked down – only applications and software personally approved by Apple ever make it into the App Store for download by consumers. Android, on the other hand, is open source, meaning anyone can write and distribute software for the platform without the need for approval.
This could potentially make Android a more innovative operating system than that used on the Apple iPhone, because the only limit to its potential is the imagination of those developers writing software for the platform.
Applications written for Android will sink or swim on their own merits, rather than an arbitary checklist – popular applications will earn rave reviews from Android users, while duds will quickly sink without trace.
It could be the most egalitarian and open-minded software platform yet seen on a mobile phone. While it’s not yet good enough to outperform Apple, the potential is there. Apple will be watching this closely.

- And where it doesn’t…

Design:
Shallow as the obsession with looks and styling may seem, the appearance of a device is incredibly important. Good-looking gadgets appeal to consumers, and, in turn, promote the wider aspirations of the brand.
The G1 is better than I had expected, but I think we’re going to have to wait until the likes of LG and Samsung release their Android-based handsets to see a Google phone that really marries form and function.
The G1 feels a bit plasticky and clunky, and while some will appreciate the choice of keyboard or touchscreen input, others view it as an uncomfortable compromise.
One of the reason we were all drooling over the iPhone was because it delivered phenomenal computing power in an impossibly well-designed device. It’s hard to imagine anyone queuing in their sleeping bags to buy a G1.

Entertainment:
Okay, so the G1 has a slightly better camera than the iPhone (three-megapixels to Apple’s two-megapixels), but, like the iPhone, it doesn’t have a camcorder function, which is a missed opportunity.
Where the G1 really loses out to Apple is entertainment. The iPhone, which has a slightly bigger screen than the G1, is a great mobile device for watching movies on, and its iTunes music store, which allows people to download songs on the go, and then copy them back to their computer, is fantastically easy to use.
The G1, by contrast, might offer US customers the chance to download music from the Amazon MP3 service, but there’s no way of easily getting those tracks off the phone onto a computer, and it doesn’t offer anything in the way of movie playback, although you can view YouTube clips on the device.
It’s a good effort by Google, but I’m afraid Apple still outperforms the G1 in every department when it comes to entertainment.

Synchronization:
Apple recently released a software update that makes the iPhone capable of synchronising with emails that use a Microsoft Exchange server, the type of kit usually found in offices. This means that, much like the BlackBerry, you can get your work and personal email ‘pushed’ straight to the iPhone as soon as it hits your computer inbox.
You can also synchronise it with your work calendar and phone book, in addition to personal calendars. The G1 lacks any of these features. Although you can synchronise with Google’s own email service, Gmail, as well as email services that use POP3 and IMAP servers (such as Yahoo!), it can’t synchronise with Exchange servers.
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