Cell Phone Comparison: Motorola Droid vs. T-Mobile G1
The Motorola Droid is making a cannonball-sized splash in the smartphone pool, but let’s not forget who was here first. The T-Mobile G1 hit the scenes as the Android phone everyone was talking about last year, and if you hold the two smartphones two side-by-side, they almost look like cousins. Becuase of this, many current T-Mobile G1 owners may be considering making the upgrade to a Motorola Droid. If this sounds like you, then this cell phone comparison is for you.
Similarities
Let’s first talk about the similarities between the Motorola Droid and the T-Mobile G1. They’re both slider phones, they’re both rockin’ the Android and they both have full QWERTY physical keyboards and touchscreens. Both phones have 3G support, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. That’s where the similarities kind of drop off.
Key differences
Now, the differences.
Key features for the Motorola Droid:
- Android 2.0 “Eclair”
- Verizon Wireless
- 5-megapixel camera
- LED flash
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Directional pad
Contrast that to the T-Mobile G1:
- Android 1.5 (after update) “Cupcake”
- T-Mobile
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- No flash
- USB port for headphones
- Trackball
Those differences hardly need explaining. Under the hood, though, the Motorola Droid has a much faster processor that is an improvement upon the sometimes sluggish T-Mobile G1. The Droid is only slightly smaller than the G-1, though the Motorola phone is a good deal boxier.
One thing to note about the navigation is that the directional pad on the Droid (which takes the place of the G-1’s trackball) is only accessible when you slide the phone open. Because of this, the Droid is much more screen than buttons when it’s shut.
Keyboard
However, not everything about the Droid is better. For one, the G-1’s keyboard is more expansive (5 rows of keys instead of 4). To punch in numbers on the Droid, you’ll have to reach for the ALT key. What is more bothersome, perhaps, is that there are no gaps between the keys on the Droid, as there is on the G-1. That extra space, as well as the ergonomic roundness of the G-1 keys, helps cut back on typos quite a bit. Some users report annoyance with the backspace key on the Droid, too, which is right about the ENTER key.
Cables and Connectors
Motorola also made a strange judgment call and gave the Droid a Micro B cable (a conector so obscure that many mistkake it for a proprietary cable) that’s used for syncing. This can be a huge pain if you happen to misplace that cord, especially since it’s vital to charging the phone (even with the wall charger). The T-Mobile G-1, on the other hand, takes the standard mini-USB, which, if you lose it, can easily be swapped out for any cable that works for your camera, external hard drive or virtually any other USB device.
Android 2.0
The biggest advantage for the Motorola Droid, as we mentioned before, is that it comes with Android 2.0 (Eclair), which opens the doors to many nifty apps (such as turn-by-turn navigation). However, rumors are swirling that T-Mobile G-1 will get the Android 2.0 update somtime down the road. A similar update for the HTC Droid Eris, which ships with Android 1.5, has already been confirmed.
We recommend considering all of your choices – Motorola Droid is certainly the one that’s been getting the most attention lately, but there are other Android phones out there (such as the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero, which we’ll take a look at in a later post). Not to mention other platforms, such as Windows Mobile 6.5 and webOS that, while not nearly as newfangled, are still very solid operating systems (with a fine selection of Google apps available to boot).
You’ll also want to consider whether you want to be with Verizon or T-Mobile. Both are very strong companies (stronger than AT&T, in most opinions) but the coverage you’ll get largely depends on where you live. Verizon tends to be a wee bit more expensive than T-Mobile, too (not to mention that the Droid itself costs far more than the T-Mobile G-1).
Related posts:
- Cell Phone Comparison: Motorola Droid vs. Motorola Devour
- The Motorola Droid is Here! New Phones at Cell-Phone-Plans.net
- The Motorola Devour and Droid Get Their End of Life Notification
- Cell phone comparison: HTC Droid Eris vs. HTC Hero (both with Google Android)
- Going Global: Motorola’s Droid 2 Global Compared With The Original Droid 2
- Verizon, Motorola to Launch Droid Pro for Business Users
- Cell Phone Comparison: iPhone vs. Android Phones
- Motorola Forewarns That Their Cell Phone Unit Will Post Q1 Loss
- Motorola Atrix 4G and Droid Bionic Plotting a Dual-Core Course
- Droid Fans, Rejoice! Google to Acquire Motorola’s Cell Phone Division