Designed by hardware manufacturer HTC, the G1 is sturdy and well-designed, but it looks more utilitarian than the slim and somewhat sexy iPhone. The G1 has some features not found in the iPhone, the most notable of which are the slide-out keyboard and the replaceable battery. These two items make the phone thicker and not as sleek-looking as the iPhone.

The G1 is a rectangular black phone (also available in white and bronze) that is 4.6 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches (117 x 53 x 15 mm). It has rounded corners. As shown in Figure 4, instead of being completely flat, the G1 has a slight bend at the bottom. While this makes it feel a little more telephone like when talking, it takes away from the sleekness of the phone.

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Figure 4: Note the slight bend at the bottom of the phone.

As shown in Figure 5, the front of the G1 has a 3.2 inch, 320-by-480-pixel color touch screen display. Under the screen are five buttons plus a trackball. In the middle under the screen is the Menu button. Then left to right are the buttons are for accessing the phone system and/or accepting a call (when held down, this button will also bring up the voice calling), a Home screen button, a small scroll button, a button for going back to a previous screen, and a button for hanging up or turning the phone on and off. The Menu button is used to unlock the screen and to get additional choices for whatever is on the screen when it is pressed. For example if you press the home button when in the browser, you will get options to search, bookmark, refresh, and other web-related functions.

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Figure 5: The front of the G1.

To make a choice of something on the screen you can either touch the screen or use the scroll button. Although very small, the scroll button is accurate and easy to use. We found ourselves using it often. Sometimes it is easier to use the touch screen; sometimes it is easier to use the scroll. We felt that having both options greatly enhanced the usability of the phone.

The other thing that adds to the usability of the phone is the slide-out keyboard shown in Figure 6. When the keyboard is opened the screen automatically changes from the vertical to the horizontal position. The autorotation happens quickly and seamlessly. When in the horizontal position, the controls are still easily accessible. As you can also see in Figure 6, with the keyboard open, the buttons are positioned on the right. This may be better for a right-handed person, but most lefties will be able to adapt without much trouble.

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Figure 6: The slide-out keyboard.

The keys are small but well spaced and comfortable for thumb typing. Unfortunately, the small key markings and the lack of contrast between the gray key color and the transparent letters, make them very difficult to read. Although the keys have some back-lighting, it is not enough to improve the clarity. In fact, the key lighting is very poor. You can see some lighting on the center horizontal row, but the top and bottom rows seem to have little or no lighting. If you can thumb type with looking you will be okay, but if you need to actually see the labels on the keys, you will want to find another phone. When compared to the nicely labeled and lighted keys on many Blackberries, this keyboard is really lacking.

On the left side of the device you will find a volume control on the left, as shown in Figure 7. This isn’t just a master volume control, but it can change the sound level for the function you are using. Use it when in the music player and you can increase or decrease the volume of the music. When on a main screen, you can use the volume control to change the volume of the ringer. When on a call, use it to control the volume of the call. Each is changed independently, a very nice feature.

Figure 7 also shows the opening for the microSD card on the right. When the card is inserted and the door closed, it is barely visible. In fact, when we first received the unit, it took us some serious inspection to find the place to insert the card.  Neither the camera or the music player will work without a card installed. The G1 will handle microSD cards up to 8GB.

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Figure 7: The left side of the G1.

The bottom of the G1 has a small hole for the microphone is and the miniUSB port for charging the unit or attaching headphones. The port is covered by a plastic cover that remains attached to the phone so you don’t lose it.