The G1 sucks for one simple reason - it looks like it sucks. It's like sticking the engine and dashboard of a ferarri in a 1999 mazda - the spec sheet tells you it's great, it handles great, it's cool on the inside, but it's still not going to impress any ladies when you drive up with it.
They should have put a little more effort in the external finishing.
I bought one yesterday at a T-Mobile store in New York. And I generally agree that the fit and finish is far from the iPhone. But I don't think buyers of this phone -- or their phone-admiring friends and acquaintances -- will care.
For this phone, it's about the three S-es: screen, software, slide-out keyboard. They are all top-notch, and they are the features that will have people gawking, talking, and eventually buying the G1. I had a clerk at a different store who had never seen or heard of the G1 ask me to look at it half an hour after I bought it. They were in love after about 30 seconds.
The screen is bright and crisp, as good-looking as the iPhone, and despite the lack of multitouch, works well. Android is shockingly good in round one. The notification system alone is a huge step forward in mobile phone design. And the keyboard bridges the gap to all the ex-Blackberry users (such as myself), who don't want to tap-tap away on a screen.
It sounds bad, but I totally agree with you. People LOVE their apple products, they have an odd attachment to them. (Rarely do you hear people telling you they love their computer...well they do when their computer is a mac).
They are more likely to tell their friends that they should get one too.
> People LOVE their apple products, they have an odd attachment to them. (Rarely do you hear people telling you they love their computer...well they do when their computer is a mac).
As Mitch Kapor once said, IBM PC is a computer you can respect, Mac is a computer you can love.
They should have put a little more effort in the external finishing.