T-Mobile G1 with Google (Android Phone)

The G1 screen is very bright–a little too bright in a dark room, I found. But the brightness is easily changeable via the touch-screen controls. Photo: T-Mobile

When the user slides the screen out to expose the keyboard, the screen switches to landscape view. Photo: T-Mobile

Users can navigate the device, place calls or check e-mail using the buttons and trackball, switching to landscape only when needing to type something.

The G1 employs a somewhat unusual USB-EXT connector for power, sync and the headset–so you will need an adapter to use your current headset or headphones.

The G1 box includes a case, power adapter, USB sync cable and USB headset. I found the earbuds on the headset to be even bigger and more uncomfortable than stock iPhone earbuds.

The MicroSD slot, which supports cards of up to 8GB, is surprising hard to open.

With its 3.0-megapixel camera, the G1 takes good-quality still photos. And the built-in software let me do some edits–resizing, rotating and cropping, for instance. Photo: T-Mobile

The G1 is chock-full of hooks into Google services. For instance, users can trigger a Web search right from the main screen. Photo: T-Mobile

In the maps applications, users can switch between standard, traffic, satellite and street views.