Bottom Line: Apple's iPhone Still Beats Google's G1 Android GPhone

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

4phun - 24 Sep 2008 04:50 GMT

http://www.alleyinsider.com/

Bottom Line: Apple's iPhone Still Beats Google's G1 Android GPhone
Dan Frommer | September 23, 2008 1:50 PM

There's no shortage of first-look reviews of Google's (GOOG) new
Android "G1" GPhone today, so now that we've played with one
ourselves, we'll cut to the chase: Google's first effort at a mobile
phone is a good one, but Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 3G is still the high-
end smartphone to beat.

Why? Google's G1 is great for programmers, geeks, and open-source
lovers who want to be able to do science projects with their phone.
It's priced roughly equivalently to the iPhone. (G1/T-Mobile: $179
plus minimum monthly data plan of $25; iPhone/AT&T $199/$30.) And
perhaps someday it'll be great for the rest of us who just want to be
able to make phone calls, surf the Web, play games, listen to music,
and chat. But right now, Apple still has an edge. Why?

More polished, intuitive user interface. Google's Android OS is
powerful and looks attractive, but it's a bit too Windows-like.
Apple's iPhone user interface is simpler, cleaner, and just makes more
sense.

We're spoiled by multi-touch. We tried "pinching" Google Maps to zoom
out on Google's own phone, and were shot down. It'd be easy for Apple
to add Street View maps -- very slick on the G1 -- to their Maps app
with a software update; but HTC and Google simply can't have multi-
touch on this phone.

The G1's keyboard is nice, but what are you really going to be typing
on a phone? (Especially one that can't access Exchange/BlackBerry
email accounts.) Is it worth making the phone almost twice as thick as
the iPhone? Maybe not.

Apple's App Store is a year ahead of Google's. We're surprised by how
many apps we've downloaded, especially professionally produced games,
and how much time we spend using them. At Google's launch event today,
we heard about two geeky apps for the G1, but nothing about
partnerships with Electronic Arts or other big gaming shops. Google's
Android App Store will be sparse at the beginning, and will take a
while to fill out.

Syncing the iPhone to your computer is a breeze. Music comes from
iTunes, photos from iPhoto, etc. Google won't have an iTunes-like
desktop syncing app, and instead will sync up with Google's various
Internet-based services. We still don't know how we'll be able to move
music from our computer to our phone, but we're betting it won't be
nearly as simple and seamless as Apple's made it.

We're not nearly as hung up about stats as some of our blogging
brethren. But Google's G1 comes with a tiny percentage of the memory
-- 1 GB -- that Apple's iPhone comes with -- 8 GB. Sure, you can buy
an 8-gig card for $50, but there goes any cost savings over the
iPhone.

Nothing against Google: The G1 is a fine phone, and we see a
potentially bright future for Android. But so far, our money's still
with Apple.

Reply to this Message

Todd Allcock - 24 Sep 2008 10:30 GMT

> http://www.alleyinsider.com/
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> More polished, intuitive user interface. Google's Android OS is
> powerful and looks attractive, but it's a bit too Windows-like.

Some of us consider that a plus rather than a minus! ;-)

> Apple's iPhone user interface is simpler, cleaner, and just makes more
> sense.

I have to agree that so far I'm fairly unimpressed. (Though I was
expecting to be unimpressed, so I certainly wasn't disappointed!)

> We're spoiled by multi-touch. We tried "pinching" Google Maps to zoom
> out on Google's own phone, and were shot down. It'd be easy for Apple
> to add Street View maps -- very slick on the G1 -- to their Maps app
> with a software update; but HTC and Google simply can't have multi-
> touch on this phone.

Sure- Apple CAN update their map software, but why after fifteen months
haven't they? For free server-based GPS/Nav software, WinMo's Live Search,
with turn-by-turn directions, speech input (and Microsoft's patented clunky
UI!) is still the software to beat. It's matured into being WinMo's
"killer app."

> The G1's keyboard is nice, but what are you really going to be typing
> on a phone? (Especially one that can't access Exchange/BlackBerry
> email accounts.)

Two words: text messaging. A hard keyboard, regardless of how small and
akward is still the fastest and least error prone way to bang out a text or
a quick email.

> Is it worth making the phone almost twice as thick as
> the iPhone? Maybe not.

Maybe not, but if Apple offered an iPhone with a slide out keyboard, even
if twice as thick as the current iPhone, I'd bet you a hundred shares of
AAPL it'd outsell the current model. As much as iPhoners love their iPhones,

a real keyboard still ranks at the top of their wish lists.

> Apple's App Store is a year ahead of Google's. We're surprised by how
> many apps we've downloaded, especially professionally produced games,
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Android App Store will be sparse at the beginning, and will take a
> while to fill out.

Of course- among Google's many blunders was delaying the release of the
Android SDK- only a few dozen of Google's special partners received early
versions of it, so most developers are starting late and from scratch. And
(Google Blunder #32) at first, the app store will be limited to free apps
only, so the developers' efforts won't even be rewarded, probably so Google
can reinforce the "open source" philosophy of Andriod (or perhaps because,
in a classic bit of irony, the store's shopping cart software is as
unfinished as Android itself!)

> Syncing the iPhone to your computer is a breeze. Music comes from
> iTunes, photos from iPhoto, etc. Google won't have an iTunes-like
> desktop syncing app, and instead will sync up with Google's various
> Internet-based services.

And right there is the fundamental difference between the phones- the
iPhone is just another weapon in Apple's nefarious plan of acheiving world
domination through iTunes, while the G1 is just another weapon in Google's
nefarious plan of acheiving world domination through Google's web-based
services.

>We still don't know how we'll be able to move
> music from our computer to our phone, but we're betting it won't be
> nearly as simple and seamless as Apple's made it.

Probably not- on the other hand, I'll bet it's less restrictive. I suspect
you'll be able to both email and/or drag-and-drop songs to the G1- two
things you can't do with the iPhone.

> We're not nearly as hung up about stats as some of our blogging
> brethren. But Google's G1 comes with a tiny percentage of the memory
> -- 1 GB -- that Apple's iPhone comes with -- 8 GB. Sure, you can buy
> an 8-gig card for $50, but there goes any cost savings over the
> iPhone.

Same old argument- generous amount of fixed memory vs. virtually unlimited
memory with the hassle of interchangable cards- six of one, half dozen of
the other. I prefer cards, because loading them via a card reader is less
hassle than syncing several GBs of media files, but both methods have
advantages and disadvantages.

> Nothing against Google: The G1 is a fine phone, and we see a
> potentially bright future for Android. But so far, our money's still
> with Apple.

As an overall marketing success, yes, Apple will win for now. Personally,
however, although I'm not interested in buying either one, if one were to
fall from the sky in front of me as a gift from the gods, I'd rather it be
the G1, just because I'm a tinkerer by nature, and the G1 has more
"tinkability" than the far more closed iPhone.

Besides, I already have a collection of 2.5mm to 3.5mm headphone adapters
left over from a prior HTC phone collecting dust! ;-)

Reply to this Message

Larry - 24 Sep 2008 12:40 GMT

> Of course- among Google's many blunders was delaying the release of
> the Android SDK- only a few dozen of Google's special partners
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> the store's shopping cart software is as unfinished as Android
> itself!)

I know Maemo Linux hackers who are about half done with a "Maemo Virtual
Machine" to run on Android, which will make all the great Maemo software
run on it...(c; That would be really cool...and uncontrolled by carrier.

Reply to this Message

Todd Allcock - 24 Sep 2008 15:29 GMT

> I know Maemo Linux hackers who are about half done with a "Maemo Virtual
> Machine" to run on Android, which will make all the great Maemo software
> run on it...(c; That would be really cool...and uncontrolled by carrier.

For all of Android's and T-Mobile's faults, T-Mo's CIO went on record
yesterday saying that there would be no attempt by T-M to blocking Android
applications of any kind- even tethering, VoIP, or any other app T-Mo would
be happier not to see! He added that future OS updates would not
intentionally break apps or lock functions, and T-Mo's normal unlocking
policies would apply (customers in good standing can get the code to remove
T-Mo's SIM lock 90 days after buying the phone. AT&T has a very similar
unlocking policy with one giant fruity exception...)

Reply to this Message

Larry - 24 Sep 2008 16:48 GMT

>> I know Maemo Linux hackers who are about half done with a "Maemo
>> Virtual Machine" to run on Android, which will make all the great
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>

So this report of 1GB before the 50Kbps throttling isn't true?

1GB isn't very much data for $25/month.

Reply to this Message

Todd Allcock - 24 Sep 2008 21:15 GMT

>> For all of Android's and T-Mobile's faults, T-Mo's CIO went on record
>> yesterday saying that there would be no attempt by T-M to blocking
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> So this report of 1GB before the 50Kbps throttling isn't true?

Actually, that is what the T-Mo site says, so I assume it's true: "If your
total data usage in any billing cycle is more than 1GB, your data throughput
for the remainder of that cycle may be reduced to 50 kbps or less."

I really suspect that's a "CYA" to prevent complaints later- T-Mo probably
wants to avoid overloading the 3G network and gererating iPhone-style
complaints, so they arbitrarily set a small soft limit that may or may not
be enforced if it turns out it isn't needed. (One analyst, who I think is
crazy, thinks T-Mobile is going to sell 600,000 of these bricks by New
Year's!) Ironically, this 1GB limit is not mentioned anywhere else on
T-Mobile's site, and doesn't seem to apply to any of their other
(non-Android) Internet plans. (Ironic, considering that the new
Blackberries and WinMo devices have the capability of tethering and thus the
ability to siphon far more data! than a G1. I suspect T-Mo is expecting, or
at least hoping for, iPhone-like usage for this device- that it'll be so
"fun" people will use it constantly, whereas the less capable browsers in
Blackberries and WinMo devices create a sort of self-imposed limitation on
data use.)

Either way, locking down the NETWORK isn't the same as locking down a
device. I have far less of a problem with the former- I don't own the
network, they do, so it's theirs to restrict as they see fit, (and I'm free
to use someone else's if I don't like the deal they offer!) The device,
however, is MINE, and they can keep their crippling, hobbling mitts off of
it, as far as I'm concerned! ;-)

> 1GB isn't very much data for $25/month.

It's unlimited data, at very limited speed! There is a difference. You get
the first GB at 3G speed, and the rest at GPRS! ;-)

Reply to this Message