By A Wired.com article titled “Top 5 Cell Phone Busts of 2008” is the target of this rant-filled post for naming the T-Mobile G1 as one of the biggest busts of the year. Actually, they called it the Google G1 – their first mistake.
First of all, if you’re going to name a cell phone that hasn’t yet been released to your biggest busts lists how about pointing your finger at the Xperia or Tube or something… ANYthing besides the G1 – a phone with a RIDICULOUS amount of potential? So whats your beef with the G1?
The Letdown: Letdown: The G1’s unveiling was a lot like the Bigfoot press conference — a long, awkward presentation that left a lot of people confused and/or disappointed. The handset poised to out-iPhone the iPhone had a laundry list of hardware letdowns: bulky, unattractive, and saddled with yet another proprietary headphone jack. Under the hood, the G1 had even more perplexing issues. Any sort of multitouch interface was missing, as was Microsoft Office support (beyond viewing), and video playback. Updates to Google’s Android OS could salvage the device (à la the iPhone 3G). But for now, the G1 doesn’t even trigger the same excitement as a gorilla costume in an ice chest.
Well it obviously left ONE person confused.
The hardware let down is a matter of function over design. iSnobs can make as many jabs as they want at the T-Mobile G1 but I guarantee that having a device with a touch-screen, several dedicated, physical keys, a trackball and a full QWERTY keyboard will make the G1 MUCH more of a pleasure to use in the long run. I saw the phone live and I think its pretty darn attractive.
Any sort of multi-touch is missing? Well I was demonstrated the longpress which is the virtual equivalent of a right click with your computer mouse – that seemed pretty cool and functional to me.
Microsoft Office, Video Playback, etc…. the list goes on and on but these are all things that can be solved by 3rd party developers. THIS is the power of the platform AND the phone. The APPLICATIONS. Somehow so many people are missing this point and it is unnerving.
Finally, the author sums up the article by saying, “the G1 doesn’t even trigger the same excitement as a gorilla costume in an ice chest.”
What does that even mean? If it actually HAS a meaning please don’t tell me – save your breath – it’s really, really not worth explaining. The phone is selling like hotcakes, excitement is extremely high and this phone will be T-Mobile’s hottest handset in history by a landslide. And… there are more Android phones on the way.
I just wanted to make an equally idiotic list to illustrate a level of epic fail unmatched for the day.
Top 1 Dumbest Articles of October 3rd 2008
I agree with you for the most part, but long-press is not multi-touch. And in their defense, they listed the iphone 3g as number 1.
cmaceachen – thanks for pointing out the iPhone 3G thing. At first I thought about including that in the article but decided against it. The iPhone 3G was somewhat disappointing because it didn’t bring a whole lot of new besides 3G – most improvements were a result of the App Store and Firmware upgrades. I think the case of the G1 and iPhone 3G being on the list are 2 different scenarios. If you lump in the App Store as being part of the iPhone 3G launch then including it there is equally as idiotic.
The thing that makes the article stupid is that it lists every major cell phone release. So they just ranked there disappointment in the cell phone industry.
Thank you for an Interesting article!
I wrote a follow up on your idea of the “long-press” as a multi-touch feature…
I also linked back to your article as usual. ;)
Check it out! =)
Greetz
Mac @ Android-Freak.Org
Those are pretty much the biggest phones out there right now, and two haven’t even really been released. The article as a whole is the dumbest I’ve seen from Wired lately.
Since when is USB proprietary?
Since HTC started making them with 11 pins and an altered corner bit, they should not be allowed to call it USB at all.
extUSB is not something I think john Q public is going understand as meaning “our proprietary jack contains the 4 pins you need to make a usb adapter cable”
The “gorilla costume in an ice chest” comment was another reference to the Bigfoot press conference.
I would agree with the Wired article that both the 3G iPhone and the G1 were both underwhelming to me. Both devices had the chance be be great but both rushed to market and ended with sub-par features. I was ready to buy either of these phones leading up to their launch and now plan to purchased neither of them.
From where I sit now Android seems to have the upper hand (for my business which granted is only 1 person). There are three reasons for this. 1) Android software is more open so those software gaps are more likely to be filled. 2) Multiple handset makers means that if HTC continues to drop the ball with Android then someone else might pick it up. 3) HTC has some really nice handsets on the way that would be a dead ringer if they just port Android to it.
[oops – just posted this on the wired comments section when I meant to post it here :-S]
Agreed, the article isn’t great but I guess at least it slags off everyone. Maybe they should have mentioned Blackberry and Nokia too for good measure?
At least the article ranks well on my bingo scoresheet though – http://www.planetoidandroid.com/?p=121 ;-)
Yah, I know I’m supposed to save my breath, but the gorilla suit in an ice chest thing was a reference to the recent big foot hoax that dominated the news for 2-3days…
I thought the multi-touch was due to some really stoopid “patents” by apple.
The headphone jack is a bummer, yes, but that in no way sinks the whole phone, jeez….
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot WIRED? What gives?
The article is an obviously lame publicity stunt. They trash the G1 and the iPhone, and WE post responses to it that generate web traffic for Wired Mag. The best thing we can do is ignore this.
Next up, Wired Magazine will announce that they are suspending publication so that they can rush to Cupertino & Santa Clara to help fix this smartphone crisis.