Camera Phones Plaza

HTC Dream G1's box no longer comes in the form of truncated pyramid, as we accustomed to Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. Now it comes in a regular, mid-size box. Inside it we find the charger (which has a surprisingly long cable), a microUSB cable data transfer, a leather cover, the well-known stereo handsfree, the 1150 mAh battery, software CD and many books and leaflets.

HTC has used quality materials to make their new phone, Dream G1, so the exterior appearance is very nice. So far, after all the images in which I saw the phone, I was convinced that it is made from a cheap, shiny plastic. I was wrong, it is quality plastic and it is really gentle. It is very solid too. The front plastic is glossy and the back is matt. HTC Dream G1 has a slightly curved bottom and a very interesting sliding screen. With a length of 117 mm, a width of 55.7 mm, 17.1 mm thick and weighing about 159 grams with battery and all, Google's product may be included in the category of medium-sized smartphone. To get an idea is almost as heavy as a Touch Pro.

In the bottom right, we find the photo capture button, on the left side we notice the volume keys and in the lower left corner, a very well hidden microSD card slot. The microUSB port is on the bottom side and it is used for both recharging the phone and data transfers. Even the headphones connect through the microUSB port because the phone does not have a dedicated 3.5 mm audio jack.

The front side of the phone is occupied by the 3.2 inch TFT screen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels and 65,000 colors. Under the screen, we see the call / reject keys, the menu key, and the return to the previous menu key. The arrow keys are replaced by a trackball. In the backside, Google G1 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, but unfortunately, without a flash. I have expected, at least, the flash to be present, if they put a camera that has a better resolution. Next to the camera, the phone has a speaker, which offers good sound quality. The QWERTY keyboard is ergonomic, easy to use and fun. The keys offer a good response and are large enough that you can hit them easily.

The phone does not have a stylus. You have to control it using the touchscreen or the trackball. I was pleasantly surprised to see that, whatever method we have chosen, I moved quickly through the phone menus. Android's has a big advantage here; it is an operating system thought from the start for touchscreen phones, so all the menus and text are large, you can easily use the finger. The opposite is Windows Mobile, where everything is written very small, so without a stylus is very hard to control the phone. G1's trackball looks very well.

HTC Dream G1 uses the Android operating system from Google. Android is an operating system that runs only on devices specially designed for this. Applications for Android are written in Java. Android is an open-source operating system, which means that developers have access to source code, they can change it, but they can optimize and write applications depending on how the operating system was designed. Android has a very successful 3D interface and many useful functions. It is based on all sorts of pleasant visual effects. Running menus is easy, you just have to walk around with your finger on the device screen.

HTC Dream G1's screen is a 3.2 inch TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels and 65,000 colors. The stylus is missing, so you will have to use your finger. G1's built-in screen technology has made its absence to be felt less, because it has a high sensitivity. The accelerometer is good, but works only in certain applications. However, images and text look very well on the screen and switching between portrait and landscape mode is very fast. Too bad that this switch is made only on opening / closing the QWERTY keyboard; I would have liked to go into landscape mode when I turned the phone horizontally, even if I did not open the keyboard.

If someone would ask me to choose between iPhone and HTC Dream G1 in terms of quality and music functions, I would definitely choose the iPhone. G1 is not necessarily made for those who love listening to music all day. It sounds pretty good and pretty cool, but they could have done a better job. The big problem is that the phone does not have a 3.5 mm jack, so you can only connect the original headphones, or others that are using  the miniUSB port. That does not mean that HTC Dream G1's media player doesn't know how to recognize MP3 files, AAC +, WMA, WAV, MIDI, Real Audio or Ogg. I am happy to see that the songs can be heard even with the player in the background. Songs can be sorted by artist, album or grouped into playlists. The music player can display the album cover. There is no equalizer or other settings for bass and treble. The sound is average, and when it comes to the integrated speakers, things are even worse.

If the audio player knows how to "read" quite a lot of audio formats, but it does not have a very good playback quality, the video player is pleasant surprise. In addition to most video formats (H.264, 3GPP, MPEG4 and 3GP) that knows how to play very well, the video quality is very good when it comes to streaming sites like YouTube.

G1's camera disappoints greatly. Besides the fact that the flash is missing, just as the image settings, the picture quality is very low. The only pluses that I can give is that the camera has a dedicated button, easy to use and that it has autofocus. Natural light pictures come out well. The main disadvantage is that the camera does not allow video capture.

HTC Dream G1 is compatible with GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA technology. Transfer speed can reach 7.2 Mbps, depending on the network. The phone has WiFi connectivity too. HTC Dream G1 has a web browser based on WebKit, which is related to Safari and Google Chrome. Google said that they are working on a version of Chrome for Android, so we hope to see this browser soon. WebKit is capable of displaying any website. I really like how this works; you can zoom on certain areas of the page for details using the zoom function. It is one of the few mobile browsers that work with window pages, meaning you can have several Web pages opened at once.

G1 has Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, but unfortunately, you can only use this function to connect a handsfree. You cannot transfer files via Bluetooth. I hope that a firmware update will solve this problem.

G1 comes with many pre-installed applications, dedicated to Google's applications. That means you have access to Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps and GTalk. Once started, the G1 will ask you to enter your Gmail account. You cannot activate the phone without a Google Account.

The GPS is present, along with a digital compass so you will not get lost no matter if you are in a city or in the desert. HTC Dream G1 comes with Google Maps preinstalled. It does not have voice navigation, but I do not know any other navigation application that can go on Android.

Even if at first sight the phone seems a bit large, you will be captivated by its intuitive menus, very good Internet services, and the superior quality that the touchscreen offers.