I am laying the groundwork for the purchase of a G1 phone. I know, and have complained, that it looks too much like a prototype. I also don’t like the whole moving part business. It’s just begging to get broken. However, given that it is the only smart 3G phone in the T-Mobile lineup, I have to pick it. It won’t be all that bad. It has some features that make it a bit of an upgrade from my current handset. Some of these features involve how I maintain my online presence.
I have moved off my hosted Microsoft Exchange account and rerouted email to my Gmail account. Although the G1 is said to handle “push” email, I figure it will natively interact with my Gmail account. This is good enough. I have managed to keep my Gmail account under 20 percent of the storage for a long time. I don’t think this will change. In fact, I’ll probably be able to delete more junk now.
Calendar
One of the problems I’ve had with my Outlook calendar is that I need Outlook to view it. It’s also not exactly easy to share with people who are not Outlook users. I have noticed, however, that Google Calendar can exchange appointments with Outlook. My Google Calendar has been neglected for ages because I could not justify having Outlook and Google Calendar open on the same desktop. The only other option for Google Calendar was on my mobile phone; the mobile version is too simple. The G1 will change things because the calendar will run natively on the phone and update my online calendar.
To-Do Lists
Google’s To-Do list is not great yet. More than that, it’s not available on the mobile site. Fortunately, you can have your calendar list To-Do items through other services like Remember the Milk and Vitalist. I don’t think the G1 can access the to-do list outside the website.
Contact Management
I strongly considered getting a Blackberry phone due to my large contact list, which keeps growing. This is the main reason why I can’t go back to a simple handset, they can’t handle more than a few hundred contacts. The G1’s contact integration with Google will help simplify my experience; I have yet to find the limit on how many contacts Gmail can hold. In addition, no more manual syncing. The instant syncing reminds me of my experience with the T-Mobile Sidekick, in which photos, contacts, email, and other handset data was automatically synced. I believe the G1 will be the same, except for the photos.
Content Creation
I do not think that the G1 will have a significant difference in my ability to create content except for two instances. In the realm of mobile pictures, the quality of the images will improve a bit. The G1 has a higher resolution camera than my current phone and auto-focus. With respect to video, I will miss out on that until somebody comes out with a video app for the G1. My only option would be to use a separate camera and then swap memory cards. I have not determined how my blogging will be affected. Depending on how good the web-browsing experience is on the G1, I may be able to write posts on the go a bit easier, or not.
Cloud Footprint
Having a mobile handset running Windows Mobile or the Blackberry OS, you benefit from having a variety of applications to run. You can download a Twitter app, something for IM, something for Jott, something for Remember the Milk, for Plurk, and a variety of other things that live “in the cloud”. This extensibility is great. However, it gives you a huge footprint. You have to create and log into so many websites to take advantage of the convenience that these services offer. I expect the G1 to reduce that footprint for me since most of the most useful applications are built-in and have a web interface with the same login. For those services that don’t have a G1 app, I expect that I will be able to use the handset’s browser instead of waiting to get home. For most people a smartphone as a minimized version of their computer. For me, I live on my smartphone and view a computer as a souped up way to interact with the world.
A smartphone should make it easier for you to do whatever the heck it is you do. Most importantly, it should free you from the desk. It is even better when it makes maintaining the backend of your personal information system (PIS?) a breeze.
Shaine 