Engadget have produced a complete review of the Android based G1 handset. Overall, the handset received a massive thumbs up from the Engadget reviewers, Joshua Topolsky and Chris Ziegler. The most important point to come out of the article is that the G1 is that the device isn’t about hardware - the look and feel is ‘ok’ but the software features are the jewel in the crown for Google.

We’ve listed some of the reviewers high, and low, points below:

• handset design has a slightly retro feel
• not be the lightest of phones (weighs in at 5.57 ounces)
• it would appear that the flip out screen doesn’t give the reviewers the solid confidence of other handsets. When opened the screen felt a little loose and rattled when receiving calls/texts
• the 480×320 screen got a huge thumbs up. Outstanding colours and crisp text went down well. One minus point here - the G1 doesn’t utilise multi-touch; if users shout loud and long enough it’ll probably be added to future versions
• speaker performance could be better - it’s not as good as the Blackberry
• 3G speed tests were surprisingly poor - this has been attributed to T-Mobile relatively new 3G network which is still experiencing some issues alongside poor coverage
• GPS got a real panning - you can follow the link at the end of the article if you want the full details
• no support for VPN, Microsoft Exchange, and BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• the G1 had problems distinguishing between a long press and a scroll motion - the handset detects that your finger has moved, it kills the notion of the long press in progress until you lift your finger off the screen and try again
• the device has copy/paste between any two text fields - at last, a manufacturer listened to what we want!
• attractive home screen with plans to add widget support
• Google’s Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, and Google Talk support out of the box - although the reviewers weren’t overly impressed with all these features (but the GMail client has a ringing endorsement)
• no Flash support

As I said, on the whole the G1 is a real winner (in the eyes of the review team). It seems like Google has listened and implemented what users want. Admittedly, there are some annoyances but it’s early days right now.

Here’s the link for the G1 review

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