Should I get a G1 now? and 10 questions

[saadi]

I was seriously think getting a G1 but after reading some reviews and forums, I kinda hesitated..

Here are the questions my friend and I put together, maybe you guys could help me figuring out more:

1. Does it (or a thirdparty app) have an easy system backup method, like you can do with itune with iphone?

2. I probably know the answer, but I don't expect it to sync with my microsoft outlook I'm using at work, right? How about work email? (probably not either..)

3. It doesn't support video taking, unless in a few month a major patch fix the interface, right?

4. Do you find memory or storage space (with SD?) an issue? I may use it to store lots pics, ebooks, and other data.

5. I heard gaming in G1 is still very crappy. Not many good games as on iphone. Gravity sensor is only available inside Google map. Is it true?

6. How easy to chat besides using Gtalk? Any support for msn, yahoo or others?

7. How many video format does it support with third party players now? How about file types like pdf files, ebooks, rich text and so on?

8. Is there a centralized or "most-trusted" place for downloading and discussing android software? (So I don't need to go to all 5 different web places to find out which one provides what...) How is the auto-update for third-party software? And is the third party development really slows down comparing to 3 months ago?

9. I know...Battery....Just want to know, how bad is it really, compare to iphone, and other smartphones (Nokia, Samsung...)

10. Based on your own experience, do you suggest me and my friend get a new G1, or wait for better phone (N97?) or simply getting an iphone instead?
(maybe I'll get a 1yr contract one for $299) My main focus is user interface, data management, stability, response time, browsing and online/email communication.

I know this sounds long and some questions are dumb, but I basically put all my questions and doubts into this thread. I also want to help other potential G1 users to get more clear view of the current G1.

Thanks so much!

[applezoom]

I'll do my best with these:

1) there are some backup applications, but i haven't used them. I don't know of any super-automated backup method (though everything is on your sd card, and contacts, etc, are synched with Google, so...)

2) There are some apps starting to come out that support exchange email, but nothing native atm

3) There is an app that does video taking, but with no sound. Native the device is no video recording yet

4) I have a bunch of ebooks, video and stuff on the 1GB card that it came with and haven't run into any issues. Upgrading is as easy as buying a new sd card

5) Accelerometer is supported in games, many use it. The games aren't as killer as on the iPhone yet, though the free ones coming out lately are pretty promising; decent 3-d graphics and such

6) There are applications that support many chat formats. aim, gtalk, windows live, and yahoo come pre-installed

7) you need a 3rd-party app for pdfs, many ebook formats have apps that support but .html ebooks don't have any yet. video are standard formats but not .mov yet

8) There's a marketplace app (like Appstore) that has all of the items people have published there. There are many new aplications hitting the market each day lately, if anything development is speeding up

9) I thought battery was bad until I saw my friend's battery life on their Samsung smartphone. I can go a full day with decent use, web, gps on, 3g, and still have 25% batter at the end of the day. some of my friends with iPhones have to turn everything off if they'r enot using it, and still barely make it through the day. I haven't found battery to be too horrible after the 'newness' wore off and i wasn't using the thing 24 hours a day

10) hard to answer. G1 wins the geek-vote, but if you want everything already developed and ready to go right this second, then the only option is iPhone. I think you should be one of us, though G1 will only get cooler from here, and iPhone has already reached its max of coolness (it's only going down from here)

[PunkZanyJ]

1.I've used "MyBackup" from the Android Market and it did keep all my settings, however, I had to reinstall all of my apps, and assign ringtones, (google syncs contacts but doesn't keep some of the info like assigned ringtones at the moment). Less of a pain in the rear than hard resetting my windows mobile phone, though.

2. There are some apps and things that help bridge the gap, but there's no perfect solution. The iphone had the same issue when it came out.

3. There isn't a video player yet. Currently there's an app on the market that says it's a video recorder, but I've found that it actually just takes a bunch of sequential pictures and stores them in a folder, consequently you can ONLY view these "videos" with that application. It kept force closing on me, so I uninstalled it.

4. Memory management isn't an issue for me. I have around 40 apps installed with no warnings about running out of memory. SD Capacity is really limitless. I think currently it takes up to 16GB but don't hold me to that, it could be capable of bigger cards.

5. I don't know what kind of games iPhone has, but yes, this is not going to replace your GameBoy, DS, or PSP. There are some pretty basic games (a billion sodoku versions, some card games, puzzles) and some inventive games (papijump, papiriver, bonsai blast) that use the accelerometer.

6. Googletalk, MSN, and Yahoo come pre-installed but be warned --- Google talk is the only one that does NOT use SMS messages. There are some other messaging apps on the market (HelloAim gets a lot of praise) and I understand they use data (not sms).

7. Right now I think it's just mp4, and has to be a specific kind of mp4s at the moment. At least two different players in the market right now.

8.I don't know what you mean by "most trusted", so I guess the answer is no. The built in market is supposedly the most trusted and reliable of sources for apps. There doesn't appear to be any kind of auto-update for 3rd party software. Some devs have built update notification into their apps so that when you open them they tell you if there's a new update, but that's not true accross the board. One ap, atrackdog, allows you to scan the market for updates on the apps you have installed. The say they will add background checking soon. Development seems to be be pretty steady, i'd say there's about 3-10 new apps a day on average, not as true with games, maybe 1-3 a day average.

9. I had a T-Mobile Wing and charged it daily. It probably could go a day and a half without charging, but then I also wasn't using data, 3g, or GPS on the Wing. I get about 12 hours out of my phone, but to be honest it's usually idle through most of that. I use "Locale" to manage my services so that GPS and WiFi aren't on all the time.

10. This is actually a lot simpler than I think you're making it out to be. What features are dealbreakers to you? Does the G1 have, or not have those features? That's really what it comes down to.

One thing to keep in mind if you do get an Android phone. Google is big on updates and improvements. Gmail is almost a different species than what it was when I first got it, and that was only 3 years ago. And it's still showing as "Gmail Beta"!!! If Android doesn't have something, and people are crying for it, Google will deliver. Will they deliver in 30-minutes or less, probably not, but the thing about Google is that they are constantly improving their products, not only individually, but making them work together. Gmail now has the ability to add things to the G Calendar, and you can open almost all your email attachments and save them in Googledocs or even Picasa. They just acquired feeburner and prompted me to merge my feedburner account into my google account. Same thing happened last year with Youtube. So if you're patient, google will surprise you, if you're not, then get an iPhone. It's not a value judgement, if there's stuff the G1 doesn't have that you feel are dealbreakers, then go get a phone that has what you want.
I don't think it's a matter of me, or anyone else, telling you what to buy, it's a matter of you looking for a device that fits your needs. If that's the G1, welcome aboard, if not, happy trails.

[landotheripper]

I'm not gonna answer the 10 questions but I will tell you that the G1 is a great investment as a great phone and a long lasting phone. The G1 is open sourced, which means that it will always be updated by 3rd party company apps or community apps. You will definately enjoy this phone!

[saadi]

Thanks so much all for the replies. I think it's very helpful to me, my friends, and any others who are reading the thread.

[googled]

I got my G1 last week and haven't had time to go through all the features but I'm very impressed by it. Playing Labrynth using the accelerometer and VNC were my biggest wow moments and that doesn't touch the surface. I used VNC from my K800i but the open-source free version for Android is sooooo much nicer. But everything from Wifi through GPS and using it as a phone (yeah it is a phone too ) have all worked well. The keyboard is a huge improvement if you're coming from a regular phone for texting and browsing.
If you're a geek or like gadgets it's superb and there's hundreds of apps and games available if you're not happy with the standard package. I pretty much fell in love with the phone out of the box. Something I could never say about my old K800i.