G1 News

Courtesy of Android Authority, a hands-on impression of the new Sapphire 2.0 / T-Mobile G2, compared to the original G1.

As well as confirming the T-Mobile G2 pictures doing the rounds as real, here are the salient points picked out from the G2 feedback:

• The OS looks pretty much like that on the G1 (at the mo)
• The phone body itself looks nice, and has a smaller ‘chin’ than the G1 (yay!)
• It is solidly built, and quite a bit lighter than the G1
• The paint is a smooth and shiny pearly white color
• The button to the left of the trackball is the Home key, not a MyFaves key

• Auto-focus camera, but still no flash (told you!)
• Still no video (though again, this is pre-production software)
• It uses the same screen as the G1
• Auto-rotation works only for certain apps, like the browser.  No auto-rotate support for the home screen or main menu at this point
• Still no 3.5mm headphone jack (d’oh!)
• All the “iPhone lovers” seem to love the virtual keyboard
• The virtual keyboard works in both landscape and portrait modes

So…all pretty interesting. Is definitely an evolutionary rather than revolutionary leap, but that’s what a 2.0 is though, right? The good/bad conclusion that she reached after playing with the G2:

“…basically a G1 without the keyboard.”

Still awfully exciting to see the Android interface being beefed up with nice hardware!