T-Mobile G-1. Nearly all the hype, all the excitement of the iPhone minus multi-touch (but with copy-paste, thankyouverymuch) and presented here in all its glory.

We at MobileWhack got hold of the HTC/Google G-1 mobile phone a couple of weeks ago thanks to the guys over at PureMobile. I have been playing with it during these few days and, while it falls a tad short of the iPhone, it’s an impressive first version that I suspect was intended more for the geeks out there than ordinary folks. After all, the geeks are the ones that wouldn’t mind carrying a bricky 5.6 oz phone as long as they get to show it off - you know what I mean.

I am very happy with the display: while slightly smaller than the iPhone’s, this is obviously the way of the future for phones and there’s no doubt about it.

Initial Setup
The Google phone requires a Google account before you can do anything - including activate the phone on T-Mobile. Since I wasn’t technically on their G-1 plan (which is a 3G/EDGE package with 400 messages/month), I could not, for some reason, activate the phone immediately, so I had to call in for support from T-Mobile. I didn’t realize the problem immediately and it took a couple of days before I had to give up. Once activated, you get to the main screen, which by default shows 4 icons: “Dialer”, “Contacts”, “Browser” and “Maps” - in that order. That sets the priorities just about right.

Importing contacts was simply flawless. I exported my Windows Address Book (which is where your iPhone/Nokia/BlackBerry contacts go if you don’t have Outlook or something like that on Windows) onto a file, uploaded it onto my newly created Google account and voila - within a short time all contacts were imported. As with any Google account, you get not only Gmail but a ton of other products like Calendar, Docs and so on.

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Tags: G1, Google Android, HTC, HTC, Reviews, T-Mobile, tmobile, touchscreen

We saw the Nokia N79 Mobile Phone way back in August 2008, when it was announced by Nokia. The phone got the FCC approval in October and was finally launched into the world markets.

Exterior

The Nokia N79 comes in a candybar form factor - which Nokia calls as Classic - weighing in at a mere 97 grams. The phone measures 110 x 49 x 15 mm, and I rarely notice it when it’s in my pocket - trust me, that’s lightweight! The phone features a standard 2.4″, QVGA display. There are dedicated camera buttons on the right side - for taking snapshots and zooming. The zoom button doubles up as volume control.

Package

One of the cool things about the N79’s package is that it comes with three different Xpress-on covers. The review unit was a canvas white N79 and that came with light sea blue, espresso brown and olive green covers. If you happen to purchase the seal gray one, you will get covers in espresso brown, coral red and white. The phone came with a 4GB memory card, which was quite sufficient to try out my collection of music and podcasts.

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Tags: bluetooth, cameraphone, Cell Phones, Nokia, Reviews, Reviews, web browser