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T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream) review

7.0

Editors' Rating

Design		6.0
Features		8.0
Performance		7.0

Bonnie Cha & Nicole Lee CNET

Published: 21 Oct 2008

The T-Mobile G1 is equipped with a 3.2-megapixel camera, which beats the iPhone's 2-megapixel camera, but you can't record video. Even worse, there are no camera settings, such as white balance, effects and shooting modes.

After taking numerous shots, this was the clearest picture we could take with the G1's camera.

Taking pictures with the G1 was a challenge. You have to have a steady hand to get a clear shot, as the slightest movement will result in a blurry image. We took about 10 to 12 pictures before we could get a satisfactory shot, and by the end, we were fairly frustrated with the experience. Picture quality was mediocre. We found that objects on the outside had sharp definition, but got a bit soft in the middle. There was also a bit of a yellowish hue to the image.

Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; UMTS/HSDPA 1700/2100) T-Mobile G1 in San Francisco using T-Mobile's service, and call quality was good. We enjoyed good sound with minimal background noise, though audio was a bit blown out when the volume was set to the highest level. We had no problems interacting with an airline's voice-automated response system and didn't experience any dropped calls during our review period. Our colleagues also reported positive results, saying the sound quality was quite good. Unfortunately, the speakerphone wasn't as pristine. On our end, the voices sounded tinny and garbled at times; meanwhile, our callers said that we sounded far away. We were able to pair the T-Mobile G1 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.

We were impressed by the G1's snappy performance during our testing period, and we didn't experience any system freezes or crashes. It has a rated talk time of 5 hours and up to 5 days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests, but will update this section with a full range of results. Anecdotally, on an average day of using the phone, web, GPS, and multimedia applications, we noticed that the battery life dropped anywhere from 40 to 50 percent.

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Overview

T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream)

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Editors rating: 7.0

Verdict

The design isn't great and we'd have liked some additional features, but the real beauty of the T-Mobile G1 is the Google Android platform, as it has the potential to make smartphones more personal and powerful. It's not quite there yet, so for now the G1 is best suited for early adopters rather than business users.