Ardent Meridian

So, despite the initial, disappointed, and apparently false, impression I got from reading most of the interesting technical sites/blogs on the release of the T-Mobile G1 – it has apparently sold out all 1.5 million pre-order units.

That’s pretty impressive for a cool looking and sleek phone with every feature known to man …

For a phone with a relatively dull appearance, apparent ergonomic issues, and the inability to do anything useful in the context of Microsoft Exchange, like the G1, it is downright staggering!

I am smart enough to admit when I am wrong about something, and in terms of the G1’s or, at least, Android’s appeal: I was wrong!

Not that I am about to change my opinion on wanting the G1 device for myself or not: I don’t – I’ll wait for something a lot more "current" looking.  But as a platform to develop for, well, 1.5 million pre-orders is not something to sniff-at.  One has to believe that for every pre-order there are as many people that will snap it up at retail, and that just bodes even better for the platform as a whole.

I am going to finish my current iPhone projects, and see how they fair, before spending any more time on learning and coding on Android.  At least now, however, my enthusiasm for the platform has been restored and I do plan on releasing applications for it as well.

If Android can generate these kinds of sales on a relatively, to me at least, uninspiring handset, one has to wonder what it could do when coupled with some pretty hardware with no obvious ergonomic issues – coming out to a populated applications market …

It was, with some anticipation, that I awaited the full and final details of the T-Mobile G1 handset; the first of what will hopefully be a long line of Android based devices.

The early images of the G1 that have been floating around on the web have been less than inspiring, but I was more interested in the G1 as a way to explore Android and its SDK running on actual hardware than in using it as my day-to-day phone.

The basic hardware specifications of the G1 are comparable, or superior, to most current smart-phones that are available at a similar price.  For example, it stacks up well against devices like the, slightly more expensive, AT&T "Tilt" (my previous day-to-day device).

The most interesting aspects of the hardware layout as follows:

• 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios
• 3.2" half-VGA (320×480) color touch-screen
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• GPS receiver
• Accelerometer/motion sensor input
• ~5 hours talk time with standby time claims ranging from ~130 hours to ~300

Although not billed as a "business" phone, comparisons with other smart-phones are inevitable, and in this space the G1’s primary competitors are Windows Mobile based devices, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry units and Apple’s iPhone.  In such a comparison the most glaring omission is the total lack of support for any integration with either Microsoft Exchange or Outlook. All of the competing devices have rich and solid support for over-the-air (OTA) synchronization with Exchange as a standard feature.

You could enable IMAP support on Exchange and again access to corporate e-mail that way, but e-mail is only a fraction of what Exchange offers; it is the combination of e-mail, scheduling, groupware and collaboration features in Exchange that make it compelling – and without that you’re missing the point.

It is, of course, possible that support of Exchange will be added later, either as part of the Android O.S. itself (although that doesn’t seem likely, given that Google already has their own infrastructure and solutions for that functionality) or via a third-party application via the Android Market.  That would, in my opinion, be a serious "sit up and take notice" event in the evolution of the Android platform and the devices it powers.

Despite the high-promise of an open platform for building applications, and how powerful that potentially is in the business space,the lack of Exchange support is going to render the G1, and other Android based phones, as unviable for common business use.  Again, the G1 isn’t billed as a business phone, it is more consumer-targeted, and that is fair enough.

So, how does the G1 stack up as a consumer phone?

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