Our Verdict
The HTC G2 is the heir to 2008 ’s much ballyhooed HTC G1 ( aka the “ Google Phone ” ) , the very first Android smartphone released in the United States . It ’s also the first T - Mobile phone built to take reward of the aircraft carrier ’s new , faster HSPA+ 3.5 gibibyte electronic internet ; it can handle theoretical throughput amphetamine of up to 14.4 megabits per bit . The G2 runs a New variant of Android ( 2.2 , or Froyo ) , feature a saucy figure with a pop - out physical QWERTY keyboard , has an 800MHz Snapdragon processor , and skylark a turgid and better - bet touchscreen . The phone has a destiny drop dead for it . A few cardinal shortcomings ca n’t be ignored , however .
Android in the Raw
HTC amaze with the raw Android operating system of rules for the G2 , which make the headphone feel less cluttered . For some user , such as hard - core societal networkers , specialized “ overlay ” software program ( see Motorola Blur , for instance ) can raise a telephone set ’s utility . But the G2 is more of a general - purpose smartphone , so I conceive that HTC and T - Mobile did well to let the gadget run on understructure Android 2.2 .
The portion of the G2 at right pops out to reveal the physical keyboard.
( This review center primarily on the G2 phone itself , hash out its Android 2.2 mobile operating system where appropriate . For a thoroughgoing look at Android 2.2 , see our full hands - on review of Froyo . )
The Pop - Out Keyboard
When you push gently with your thumb on the top part of the left over edge of the phone , the top one-half of the speech sound airlift up on three flexible joint and then do back down in a new position that expose the keyboard . After you rotate the headphone into landscape orientation , the keyboard is just below the touchscreen , and you could text and atomic number 99 - mail comfortably . I was a bit implicated about how far the two halves of the phone extend apart , but the operose plastic hinges connect the two have very little give and seem generally sturdy . If you were to drop the phone on the ground , I doubt those hinges would be the first thing to break from the shock .
The portion of the G2 at right pops out to reveal the physical keyboard.
When you bolt down out the physical keyboard , the screenland mechanically enters landscape painting mode . Smartphone keyboard are a immanent matter : One may work cracking for someone else but be a incubus for you , so it ’s a good idea to get a flavor for a keyboard before you buy . Having said that , there ’s nothing extravagant or complex about the G2 ’s keyboard . The key fruit ( square , with rounded corner ) seem well space ( about 1.2 mm apart ) , and their tops feel slenderly chamfer for easy location . You also get three great shortcut keys , which you’re able to programme to go instantly to message or piloting apps .
On - Screen Keyboard
When you ’re text messaging or using function , you might want to keep the physical keyboard veil , at which time you ’ll have to swear on the on - screen keyboard . I found it very hard to typecast accurately with the phone in portrait mode ( which force the keyboard into the narrow breadth of the screen ) , and not much easy with the phone in landscape mode . Thankfully you’re able to use theSwype functionalityto help in type , drag your fingerbreadth from letter to letter without break contact with the screen door . you’re able to also stir the microphone icon and dictate your text edition .
Design and Aesthetics
The portion of the G2 at proper tonic out to reveal the forcible keyboard . A prissy - looking brush - metal frame covers most of the top part of the headphone . The rest of the case has the hard , matte - bootleg credit card look on many HTC phones . The phone consider 6.5 ounces and feels strong , but not too heavy , in the mitt . It measures 4.68 inches tall by 2.37 inches wide of the mark , and is 0.55 column inch thick . On top are a power button and a standard 3 mm headphone jack .
The correct edge features a very helpful , dedicated button for operating the camera . press and hold the button puts the telephone in photographic camera style from any other mode . On the left over bound of the G2 , you ’ll get the book rocker and a standard mini - USB larboard . On the back are the 5 - megapixel camera lens ( with flash ) and a modest wicket covering the speaker . You ’ll find no second camera on the front of the phone for videoconferencing , however .
Just below the touch screen are four computer hardware button for navigation : Home ( brings you back to the Android rest home screen ) , Menu ( contextual , for operating apps ) , Back ( take back you to the late projection screen ) , and Search ( for searching the Web , as well as for digging through any substance stack away on the phone ) . The black-market , rounded - square button at the bottom of the headphone ’s front play alike to a touchpad on a laptop PC : you may slither your finger across it in any counselling to move through screen or message , and when you have navigated to a tie-in , picture , or release you want to use , you just iron down .
The Processor
The 800MHzQualcomm Snapdragonprocessor in the G2 is n’t as mesomorphic as the 1GHz processor in many other HTC phones . While activity such as moving through content - heavy World Wide Web Sir Frederick Handley Page , launching apps , and multitasking were n’t as lightning - tight as I ’ve get wind on some 1GHz phones , they seemed dashing enough to please all but the fussiest nomadic superuser .
Video playback is ordinarily a adept barometer of processor swiftness , too . Videos hive away on the G2 played back swimmingly , without hiccups . Even high-pitched - definition TV streamed from YouTube ( using the preinstalled app ) look reasonably proficient on the G2 ’s 3.7 - column inch WVGA screen with a download fastness above 2 megabits per second .
Although the processor in the G2 is n’t exactly a selling tip , I would n’t call it a negative , either .
Basic Apps Set
You ’ll determine a basic solidification of apps preloaded on the G2 , many of which are Google offering . Among them are Google Voice , Google Maps with Places and Navigation , Google Goggles , and Google Earth . You ’ll also find the Facebook and YouTube apps , along with Quick Office , which lets you create or take in Word and Excel docs , as well as view PowerPoint presentation and PDFs .
Voice Quality Disappoints
I was disappointed with the quality of the spokesperson calls I placed with the G2 . The results were surprising , because in my recent run of HTC ’s new Windows Phone 7 handset , the Surround ( AT&T ) , I get a line excellent sound from the speaker , as well as full - bodied vocal quality and impressive noise cancellation from the microphone . With the G2 , I could hear the caller on the other remainder understandably enough , but I would have liked a bit more volume from the loudspeaker system when making call outside . The G2 also does n’t cancel out background noise nearly as well as the Surround does . The person I called say that she could clearly hear the noise and traffic around my part when I called her from the sidewalk along a residential street .
It ’s hard to say whether these problems resulted from the G2 itself or the T - Mobile voice connection it count on . I could get no voice or data service from within my flat in the middle of San Francisco ; and even when I pass outside to place calls , the signal seemed weak and I try a lot of dropouts . My experience making and receive calls in San Francisco during my modified fourth dimension with the phone was enough to make me hesitant to buy one .
Camera Performance Underwhelms
likewise mystifying was the performance of the G2 ’s 5 - megapixel camera comparative to the functioning of the HTC Surround ’s camera ( which is the same sizing ) . The stills and video that the Surround created had a pungency and rest that put them a cut above the stills and telecasting I ’ve take with my EVO 4G. The stills and video I sprout with the G2 were not telling . With the tv camera in auto mode , the still shot I consider looked washed out , dark , and a mo bleary . The G2 ’s video was not as light and liquid as that of the HTC Surround , either : The G2 ’s video look about the same as the footage I ’ve captured with my EVO 4G – not terrible , but nothing near the pellucidity of high - definition video .
Connection speeding : tight but uneven
T - Mobile says it will have 100 cities raise to the faster HSPA+ service by the ending of the year . Although that might look good on paper , such stats do n’t get at how much of the area of those cities – or the percentage of the population – the military service will actually attain . For case , T - Mobile has bend on HSPA+ service in San Francisco , but its straight availability around the metropolis seems limited – and even in area where the service is understandably uncommitted , its carrying into action is inconsistent .
I tested pep pill on the G2 in roughly ten districts of San Francisco , and found the “ 4G - like ” speeds of T - Mobile ’s HSPA+ web ( 4 to 6 mbps on downloads and 1 to 2 mbps on uploads ) in roughly half of them . I line up fast connection speed at various spots along Van Ness Avenue , a major street that veer across much of the 7 - by-7 - Roman mile peninsula , but I could find no such speeds in the arena around the PCWorld offices south of Market Street , nor at Civic Center , nor anywhere in the city ’s prominent Mission District .
I discover high HSPA+ speed in the Castro , Duboce Triangle , Divisadero , Noe Valley , and Fillmore neighborhoods , but my tests in these area were just as potential as not to reverse out typical 3 G download speeds in the country of 300 to 800 kilobits per second .
I also detect the divine service to be extremely variable depend on the time of solar day . In some shoes where I had recorded download speeds above 4 mbps , I could n’t get speed of even 0.5 mbps at roughly the same time the next Clarence Day . Wireless speed are always varying , but I ca n’t facilitate thinking that the T - Mobile HSPA+ service here has some capacity issues .
dubiousness About Battery lifespan
T - Mobile says the G2 ’s battery will power 6.5 hours of continuous public lecture time , and up to 17.5 twenty-four hour period of standby time . At the closing of my tests , the shelling had gone without a charge for 12 hours , and it had 67 percent of its charge left . accord to the osmium , only about 37 percentage of that barrage fire usage was from running the OS , running apps , and powering the screen . The rest of the battery electrical capacity go toward the phone ’s idle or cellular phone understudy modes . If the telephone set consumed that much juice for idle and standby in 12 hour , could the battery really last for 17.5 days in standby style ? Since I could n’t run formal trial , I ca n’t say for certain , but I have my doubts .
All in all I had no problem with the design and spirit of the phone , and I ’m encouraged by its execution on the HSPA+ mesh . But several things might make me hesitate before bribe the G2 . I was let down with the voice quality , underwhelmed by the camera , and skeptical of the barrage fire life sentence . Perhaps above all , the T - Mobile 3 G and 3.5 chiliad mesh should stay a cardinal concern to anyone buying a T - Mobile speech sound . Although the carrier , HTC , and Google have done a lovely job on the G2 itself , all that splendour might promptly fade if your phone call sound high-risk and your web connexion speeds are slow and irregular .
Pricing and Availability
As of October 29 , 2010 , the G2 is useable from T - Mobile ’s retail and on-line stores for $ 200 ( after a $ 50 mail service - in rebate ) with a two - year voice and data point contract . Without a contract , the earpiece trade for $ 500 .
