The T-Mobile G2 Preview
by Vivek Gowri on October 7, 2010 12:29 PM EST
HTC has been having some interesting problems with the G2. For an HTC handset, it seems like there are a lot of minor issues popping up all over the place. I already mentioned the loose hinges issue, but there’s also an issue with the amount of memory the phone ships with. The G2 is supposed to have 4GB of NAND built in, whereas the Desire Z has 2GB of flash memory. More than a few G2’s (including mine) have shipped with 2GB onboard as opposed to the 4GB that it should be. It sounds like a pretty simple assembly line mixup on HTC’s part, but it’s still odd to see so many production issues with an HTC device, regardless of how new it is. I’m supposed to be exchanging mine for a different unit sometime soon, but we’ll see how T-Mobile decides to handle this one.
Edit: A bit of Googling brings me to this thread on the xda-developers forum, which basically says that the G2 ships with a 4GB NAND chip onboard, but the remainder of the memory is not recognized. How T-Mobile/HTC plan to fix this issue still remains to be seen.
Overall though, the G2 has the potential to impress. Great design, a great keyboard, good screen, solid camera/camcorder and good performance. The hinge and battery life are two significant issues that prevent the phone from being great. I suspect T-Mobile's sudden stop of preorders for the G2 has more to do with correcting the build quality issues and less with actually fulfilling demand. There's unfortunately no way around the battery life, but we'll reserve a full conclusion for when we have our entire suite of battery tests complete.
The manufacturing issues aside, G2 seems to live up to the immense hype it had before launch, and T-Mobile seems to have a winner on their hands. Most people who got G1 contracts early on should be set to upgrade right about now, making the G2 doubly attractive to those people.
For a number of reasons, the G2 strikes a unique place in the market, one that has been sorely missed since the passing of the original G1. As the first top tier GSM Android device with a keyboard (since the G1), the first top tier HTC GSM Android device (since the Nexus One), and the only Android device on any network that’s running a completely stock version of Android, the G2 is going to get a lot of fans really quickly. Let's hope T-Mobile can address the hinge issues quickly enough to avoid disappointing those eager fans.
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strikeback03 - Thursday, October 14, 2010 - link
Installing programs to the SD card is a function of both the OS and the app developer, Froyo now allows it but the developer also has to enable it. So right now I would imagine some programs can be moved and some can't.jmunjr - Sunday, October 10, 2010 - link
T-mobile disabled tethering on the G2. I used a G2 last night and this is the first T-Mobile smart phone I've been sold on...until I found out there is no native tethering support. Well there is but T-Mobile disabled it. Funny thing is tethering support exists in their prepaid Tap device... So silly...Jon Niola - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
I went and sprung for the G2 this weekend. I am a software developer who is getting into the mobile space now and figured it never hurts to have another test environment.So mind you - I already own an HTC Droid Incredible and HTC Evo 4G and I am using them as a comparison.
First off - the thing that Vivek mentioned that I was most nervous about was the hinge mechanism. I have to say after being a bit rough with it (intentionally) it is strong and I have zero concerns about it breaking from regular use. The hinge actually has a horizontal support piece underneath as well that reinforces the two "posts" that connect the top half.
As for battery life it is actually holds charge longer than my Incredible or Evo 4G. While I am not doing a byte-for-byte, use-for-use comparison, I have been impressed at how even idle the battery goes down slower than the other two.
The build quality of this thing is actually impressive. Yes it is heavy - but a good heavy. It feels like a friggin tank in the hand. The brushed aluminum is a winner too. Does not feel cheap or plasticy at all but rather feels like a refined, well-made device.
Still getting use to the vanilla Android vs the Sense-enhnaced that I am used to but from a developer standpoint it is nice to have a clean test bed like that :)
Honestly I feel it was worth every penny.
rester555 - Monday, October 11, 2010 - link
I went to a T-mobile store to see if the OS was stock? It was indeed running Android Froyo 2.2, but it was not stock. It had the tethering options disabled.So is this really a stock version of Froyo?
Jon Niola - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - link
News going around today that a stealth OTA update is re-enabling native tethering.Why it was disabled is beyond me but looks like it is coming back.
synaesthetic - Thursday, October 14, 2010 - link
It's not stock. It's almost stock; there are some crapware apps that CANNOT be uninstalled without root (which, due to the G2's restore-on-reboot function, does not stick).Tethering is also disabled and removed, as you've noticed, though some folks have (supposedly) received an OTA update re-enabling USB and Wi-Fi tethering as well as adding T-Mobile's Wi-Fi Calling app.
lukeevanssi - Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - link
when I saw this mobile phone than I understand to about this feature and details so I found here..http://burnxtreme.net/
jeans_xp - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
HAHA, first smart phone is iPhone 3GS. I find a good website for smart phone news and latest technology:www.mobilegoing.com
jeans_xp - Sunday, November 7, 2010 - link
No Samsung Galaxy S.www.mobilegoing.com