T-mobile G2 First Impressions

It's not often T-mobile really surprises me - but they did this last weekend. I had pre-ordered a G2 and was promised it would ship Oct 6th (or was it 8th?). Instead, it showed up last Friday. What an unexpected treat!

So here it is, my first impressions after having spent a couple of days with the phone.

Pros

• Love the option to setup multiple Google Accounts. I can now wire in my Google Apps work e-mail as well as my @gmail.com personal account to the phone.
• Many actions on the phone on wicked fast compared to my myTouch. Bringing up the camera, performing a software install, and other tasks like this used to have a small but noticeable delay. Now they whiz by.
• Web surfing seems faster too, though that may be mostly in my head
• The multi touch screen has real potential
• The screen is gorgeous. It's big enough that watching TV and movies isn't as crazy as it sounds.
• While not directly related to the G2, AppBrain rocks. Using it, I was able to reinstall the 60 or so apps I had on my myTouch without a problem. If you've got an Android phone, AppBrain is an absolute must.
• I'd rate the built in keyboard above average. It's not, say, the original Sidekick quality, but it's roomy and has a relatively good feel to it. The presence of a .com button along with the @ button shows that someone was thinking outside the box a bit.
• While it's too early to declare the camera high enough quality to justify real use - it does seem very, very promising. This may finally be the Android (or, really any phone I've ever owned) that can take something resembling a crystal clear photo. I'm very excited.

Cons

(To be fair - none of these are really significant detractors. Haven't really found one yet.)

• The keyboard is nice, but did they really need to drop the 5th row? Still, the Alt key (to access the numbers) is easy to get to.
• The phone is a brick. It seems heavier than the dimensions suggested to me. Perhaps that's a good thing it feels so solid?
• The keyboard hinge mechanism seems like it could be fragile. Though, like fears about the Sidekick rotating hinge, it may never amount to anything.
• The lock key placement doesn't do it for me. I always find the buttons placed along the edges of the phone to be a hassle to use. I'm also not blown away by the home, menu, and other keys. The track pad is workable, but, nothing exciting. Again, all the controls are workable - they just don't feel delicious (whatever delicious would feel like).
• Where's my bluetooth keyboard? Seriously, this phone is powerful enough, and the screen large enough, that a bluetooth keyboard would help make this a totally sane laptop replacement in a context where e-mail and web surfing is all that's needed (say, traveling).
• No case is included with the phone. This is ridiculous. How can you provide someone with a piece of mobile technology worth hundreds of dollars and not bother to include some way, even a sleeve of some kind, to protect it?

All in all, I'm really impressed. There's no doubt that between the hardware and software, this is a gigantic leap from the myTouch I had been using. Because of the 4G and what seems to be snappier processor, I'm glad I got the G2 over the Slide.

For size comparisons, here's a G2 snuggled amongst some other phones of various ages. For extra credit, can you identify each of the models below?