For a few months I’ve been carrying one of the new android phones. This phone was provided to be by my employer for development, but it’s essentially the same as the G1 from T-Mobile.
Several people have asked me for my impressions about the phone, and naturally you should be suspicious of my opinions since my employer has a vested interest in the success of android. Here are a few observations:
- The phone hardware itself is pretty nice. I really really like the idea of a qwerty keyboard, because while I would never consider this as a primary computer, it’s very important to occasionally be able to enter data. I found the iPhone virtual keyboard to be almost useless for this in the few minutes that I used it.
- The software environment is just what I was hoping for, though it’s a bit immature so far. I really like the variety of applications that are available, and the ability to tailor it to my taste. I’ve also been writing code for android, and from a software developer’s perspective it’s great. I started trying to write code for android a year ago, and at the time it wasn’t ready. Now it’s relatively easy to write applications, and there is a rich library of utilities to make this easy.
- The service from T-Mobile is surprisingly good in my area (silicon valley) and the 3G service makes for snappy and useful performance. During my 30 minute commute, my AT&T phone used to drop calls several times during the drive home, but the T-Mobile service almost never drops calls during this route. Service coverage is something that needs to be judged for each user, but luckily T-Mobile has a good web site to scope out your most important locations.
So I guess the question is - would I buy a G1 if I hadn’t been given this phone by my employer? The sad truth is that I would not. The reason has nothing to do with the hardware or the software or the service itself. It has to do with terms of sale. I would be quite willing to pay $400 for the piece of hardware (or maybe $500), but I am not willing to change my carrier, and I am not willing to pay the cost of a monthly data plan. You might think this is weird, since most of the functionality of the phone is dependent upon having an internet connection. I claim that 98% of my usage of the data plan would be covered by the WiFi coverage at work, in hotels, and in my home. I don’t want to pay $25 per month for something that I don’t need.
In the past, I have used internet service occasionally for things like google maps on my personal phone in the past, but AT&T would bill me by the kilobyte and that was fine with me. I ended up using this feature about twice a year at a total cost of $10 per year, which seemed like a reasonable tradeoff. I know that lots of people would say that “I’m missing out” by not wanting to have constant internet connectivity available to me at all times, but I have yet to see enough value in my life for a constant cost of $25/month.
I’m sure that T-Mobile and HTC came to the conclusion that this is the way to maximize their revenue, and eventually I expect to be able to find a nice phone that isn’t tied to a long term contract. Until that happens, I’ll be happy to wait. This seems to be a trend with some pieces of hardware (the other notable examples are Digital Video Recorders, which are only available if purchased with a monthly plan). I say no thanks.