Tech Central: The ten best Google Android applications

My first impression when the G1 was released was that it was not going to be a iPhone killer, and further use of the first ever “Google phone” confirmed my suspicions. Still, it is clearly a smartphone in the same class as Apple’s iconic product. Despite a few niggles, it is quite impressive.

The main difference between the G1 and its competitors is the slide-out qwerty keyboard. This is a useful addition for anyone frustrated with tapping an unresponsive pane of glass. The keyboard buttons are quite small, though, so fast typing is not really possible. But it is more like using a BlackBerry than an iPhone.

Another useful addition is the “trackball”. You can use the touchscreen to scroll through webpages and click on icons, as with other similar devices, but every once in a while the links are two small for a big fat thumb to select easily. Faced with this problem on the iPhone, you can zoom in and out using the clever “pinch” motion on the touchscreen, but the G1’s zoom is much less cool and clunkier to use. The trackball is a neat way around that problem: when the touchscreen becomes frustrating, you can use the trackball instead. As with any device, the more you use it, the easier it becomes to navigate through web pages and documents.

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But the G1 has some significant problems. First of all, it gets hot if you use it for too long. I've spent hours in a Swiss hotel room with nothing better to do than read newspaper websites on an iPod touch, your hand would get uncomfortably warm and clammy if you tried that on the G1.

The battery life sucks, too. If you use the G1 intensively, it would require charging every night. On a Blackberry, you could probably go for four or five days without having to charge it again. Finally, it is not beautiful. It feels plastic, and looks more like a clever toy than high-end gadget. You can see the joints inside the phone move when you slide out the keyboard. I can’t help but think that a tiny design flaw like that would have been deemed unacceptable by Steve Jobs.

But where the G1 comes into its own is in the applications and the Android software. If you’re an avid user of Google’s services, like Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube, it’s the perfect mobile device. It syncs with your Gmail account with minimal fuss. The Android market, where you can download new applications, is easy to use and understand. Right now there isn't the same array of applications that you can get on iTunes, but the initial selection is encouraging, and much more is on the way.

My particular favourites were music applications like TuneWiki (a karaoke machine for the G1) and Imeem (an online radio player). These are important applications because, although the G1 will let you download MP3s from Amazon’s music store, the G1 comes with only 1GB of memory. As a result, the phone is unlikely to replace your iPod.

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned making calls on the phone yet. But lets face it, nobody buys a smartphone just to make calls. It’s a good idea though to check if the T-Mobile network provides good 3G reception in your area. In London, I had no problems in terms of reception or internet speed.

And finally, its relatively cheap. It's free on the T-Mobile network for price plans starting at £40 per month. The problem with that is that you’re locked into the contract for 18 months, and my guess is that there will be better Android phones on the market by then. But if you can’t wait, the G1 is a good start.

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