ProBargainHunter.com

It has been a few months now since I replaced my HTC Wing with the famous G1 running Google Android. Fully functional internet browser on 3G network is invaluable when 90% of things you do on your phone is web related. I also love the Gmail and Google Maps integration.

Despite all the great features G1 offers there are quite a few things I wish could be fixed. Some of these are just annoyances while others are really important factors that make me wonder if I should have made that jump. If you are thinking of joining the ranks of G1 owners, read these notes and decide for yourself if G1 is good enough for you.

Things I hate about my G1

1. The keyboard has no ‘arrow’ keys - I use the keyboard a lot and lack of arrow keys is a big setback. I am supposed to use the little trackball instead but it is too sensitive to my liking and I always have problem with it if I just need to move the cursor by one space.
2. There is no ‘today’ widget for the dashboard - I loved my old phone’s dashboard that listed today’s events and tasks. For some reason G1 doesn’t have anything like it and unless you go to the calendar (or configure a reminder) there is not way of knowing you have an important meeting coming today.
3. Battery life is terrible - If you use the device for internet or other things, the battery is only good for an hour or so. Even with occasional use (5 minutes here and there) I have to put it in charger every evening or it will just die overnight.
4. Market place has very few apps - From what I hear iPhone has many more applications at the marketplace compared to Android. This was somewhat expected. I hope things will change once Google opens it up to developers who want to sell their apps (so far all the applications are free).
5. No file manager - I couldn’t find any file manager application that would let me move files around and edit text files. An app like that is crucial for my needs. A workaround so far is to connect the phone to a computer via USB and mount the file system as a Windows drive. You can then use your desktop computer for file management.
6. Cannot record video - Android doesn’t come with any video recording software out of the box and I am still to find a Marketplace application that would do so.
7. Proprietary audio jack - You can’t simply connect your stereo headset to the phone. Instead you have to use a special proprietary HTC converter. I understand this is done due to size limitations (the same jack is used for USB and power) sill I consider it a huge inconvenience.
8. No support for A2DP on bluetooth - The absence of normal audio jack would not be a big problem if it wasn’t for the lack of support for A2DB. This is a bluetooth protocol that would allow you to stream stereo audio from your G1 to a wireless headset.
9. No easy way to sync contacts - While I did find an application to synchronize my calendar, I am still out of luck searching for one to sync my Outlook address book. So far I just exported and imported my contacts via a CSV file.
10. Ever hiding phone keyboard - Whenever you make or receive a phone call the screen is filled with details about the caller (or calling) party. If you want to use a keyboard (e.g. for touch tone operation) you have to expand a collapsible virtual keyboard. This is something I have to do a lot and I really wish I could configure it to stay always open.

The biggest problem I have with my G1 is not any of the things I mentioned above. It is a lack of good password & account management software. I used eWallet for Windows Mobile (by Ilium Software) on my Wing and there is simply no replacement for it on Android. This is a huge setback for me since after web and email this is the next primary function of my phone.

Do you have G1? Are you happy with it? What are some of the things you don’t like? Please share in the comments