T-Mobile G1 might be the world’s first Android phone, but it’s far from perfect. Underneath that revolutionary shell are some dirty little secrets. Come and take a peek under the G1’s shell at some of the not so nice surprises waiting inside.
Headphone heartache
Amazon will let the G1 download music from its MP3 store, but the phone doesn’t have a standard 3.5mm headphone socket. That means you’ll need to use a special adapter to plug headphones into the phone’s USB socket. And that adapter won’t be available until some time after the phone launches.
Tethering trouble
T-Mobile says the G1 won’t act as a tethering device to help your laptop hop on the internet. That’s bad news, especially considering most other mobiles handle the task with ease. Nokia even has a tethering application included in its software suite for PCs.
Bad news for Bluetooth
The G1’s manufacturers have confirmed the phone will not support stereo Bluetooth… or any other kind of advanced wireless for that matter. The only Bluetooth accessories it’ll support straight out of the box are wireless headsets and hands-free kits. There’ll be no support for wireless keyboards, file transfer or any other Bluetooth skills.
Data limit
T-Mobile plans to impose some pretty stringent data caps on its “unlimited” web access packages. The network’s small print states the G1 will be limited to downloading just 1GB of data each month. Users who step over that limit will have their download speeds cut dramatically. Ouch!
UPDATE: T-Mobile has now dropped the 1GB data limit, but still reserves the right to cut download speeds for anyone who “abuses” the network.
Syncing feeling
Unlike the iPhone, which backs itself up whenever its connected to a desktop computer running iTunes, there’s no companion software with the G1. That means if your phone conks out, is stolen or lost, you’ll be stuffed. All your data will disappear with it, except server-side stuff like Gmail and Google contacts, of course.
