Google's G1 worthy of being in same class as the iPhone

The Google phone is now the second phone I've forced myself to put down so I could get some sleep.

The first was Apple's game-changing iPhone.

What remains to be seen is if the Google phone will have the same impact that Steve Jobs' beauty has had. I can say this: It deserves to be part of the same conversation as the iPhone.

Called the T-Mobile G1, it goes on sale Wednesday.
The phone's debut is significant because Google, like Apple, has the muscle to change an industry. The G1 is the first of what is expected to be many phones using Google's Android open-source platform.

Is this G1 better than the iPhone? Well, are the Cubs better than the Sox?

The G1 is better if you like a physical keypad to tap out messages. If you're enamored by the iPhone's multitouch controls, the G1 may not impress you.

The G1 is an attractive phone, even if it is thicker and heavier than the iPhone. It's intuitive too. In the week I've been testing it, I have yet to open the manual.

The G1 runs on T-Mobile's new 3G network and is largely controlled by a touch screen, but not exclusively. There are three ways to navigate: touch, a keypad and a trackball. I completely overlooked the trackball at first. But when I handed the phone to my wife, a BlackBerry user, the first thing she did was use the trackball.

"BlackBerry users gravitate toward the trackball," said Rhone Rarick, T-Mobile's senior brand manager. "Younger consumers gravitate toward the keypad because they like to text a lot."Four hard keys sit on the bottom of the phone. The keys are for making and ending a call, one for the home screen and a back button.

Activation was a snap: You'll be prompted for a Google account if you don't have one. My phone was activated and my contacts were downloaded onto the G1 in minutes.

The iPhone remains the sexier product. You won't buy the G1 because it wins the beauty contest. But as Google's first phone, it's impressive.
source:chicagotribune.com