T-Mobile G1 Cell Phone Review - Messaging

The G1 can handle a bunch of email accounts, but has 2 separate email applications to handle them, and they each have different levels of functionality. IM capability is there, but so are the per-IM message charges from T-Mobile, depending on the account you use. The G1's SMS and MMS functionality and ease of use are fantastic, and the only thing it doesn't do in this area is smiley face emoticons.

Supported Email Services (8.0)
Out of the box, the G1 supports a Gmail account, which will be the primary account with which the phone will sync its contacts and calendar applications, and up to 5 other email accounts. We check supported email services by setting up some test email accounts on the phone, and the G1 automatically set up our test AOL and Yahoo accounts without needing us to enter any server settings, and it works with both POP and IMAP protocols. The G1 is quite email-capable, and earns the full amount of possible points here.

Push Email (1.0)
Push email means that new messages are automatically "pushed" to your device as soon as they hit your email server, and neither you, nor your device, needs to do anything to go get them. This is a valuable option for many business users who need their emails ASAP rather than waiting for their device to go fetch them from the server on a set schedule. The G1 is capable of push email, though only for the primary Gmail account you enter or create when you first set up the phone. All other accounts you set up on the G1 are fetch-only, and you can choose the fetch frequency for each account between never and 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The G1 can support up to 6 email accounts, one of which is the Gmail account specified or created during the device's set-up when it's first turned on. Having multiple email accounts is not uncommon for many users who like to separate personal and business-related emails, and with so many good free email services out there, we appreciate a phone that can handle a number of them at once.

Setting up a new email account

HTML and Attachments (2.5)
We send HTML emails and test attachments to an email account set up on the phone to see how the device handles them. The G1 has 2 native email applications, one for the primary Gmail account, and another for other accounts. Each email application handles attachments differently.

As expected in a phone using an operating system created by Google, the Gmail email application allowed more options when it came to attachments. Here, you are able to view and/or download JPG files, view Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and Word documents, though it did not display our test PowerPoint document correctly. It did not offer any options to do anything with our test Zip file. When sent an HTML email, it displayed the embedded images as a separate attachment in some cases, and did display them, though not completely or correctly, in others, so there's no consistently complete view of HTML emails as you'd find on the iPhone 3G.

How attachments appear in the Gmail application

Attachments in the Email application is a different story entirely - here, you can only choose to open or save JPG files, and nothing can be done with any other type of attachment.

How attachments appear in the Email application

The G1 probably appeals most to those who rely heavily on their Gmail accounts given its tight integration with the Google apps, but those who don't get the short end of the stick in this area. We award half the points we normally would to the G1 because of this disparity in the handling of attachments between Gmail and other email accounts.

Email Customizations (1.0)
Some phone email applications allow you to adjust how messages are shown in your inbox, or change the fonts or colors. Here again, the G1 offers different customization options between the Gmail and Email applications. In the Gmail app, you can create a signature to be attached to outgoing emails. This option is not available in the Email application. Neither application allows you to change the font or font colors.

Given the difference in customization options between the Gmail and Email applications, the G1 earns only half the points we would normally award in this area.

Time to a New Email Message (6.85)
To see how easy it is to create a new email message, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a new email message dialogue comes up. On the G1, this took 2.92 seconds on average, making it just a hair faster than the iPhone 3G, but a little slower than the Sidekick LX and Nokia E71. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Email Usability (5.0)
Each email application makes getting to individual messages easy, since they're presented in a list format in the selected mailbox or folder that can be easily selected by tapping on the screen or using the trackball. When creating a new email message, email addresses saved in Contacts will auto-complete when you start typing the Contact's name, and adding Cc or Bcc addresses can be done using the Menu key. Attachments can be added to new emails as well, unlike the iPhone 3G that can only send one picture at a time via email directly from the photo album application.

An email inbox in the Email application

Switching between fields is as easy as scrolling with the trackball or tapping on the screen. Emails are shown in chronological order starting with the most recent at the top in every mailbox in both email applications, and they cannot be sorted any other way.

A new email in the Gmail application

Our only issue with email usability on the G1 is the fact that it has 2 email applications to separate your Gmail account from any other accounts you may have. It's cumbersome and unnecessary to have to back completely out of one app if you need to get to an account in the other. Separate mailboxes for each email account in a single app are completely understandable and quite common, but more than one email application is not. We award the G1 fewer points in this area because of this.

Instant Messaging (2.0)
The G1 has a native IM application, and it can automatically set up AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger accounts, in addition to the GTalk IM account it automatically sets up for you once you do the initial device set-up. T-Mobile charges for each IM sent and received using AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger accounts just like a text message, and they are only included if you sign up for an Unlimited plan. IM's sent using the GTalk account count as internet access/data and are not charged as text messages. We normally don't award points for IM capability when carriers charge for each incoming and outgoing message as if they are text messages, but we award partial points to the G1 since at least one IM account is not treated this way.

IM account set-up and selection

MMS Support (10.0)
The G1 is capable of sending and receiving multimedia messages, which are text messages with a photo, video, or audio file attached. A multimedia message alway starts out first as a text message, and pressing the Menu button offers the option to include an attachment, where you can choose between an existing picture, taking a picture with the camera, an audio file, recording audio on the spot to attach, or a slideshow. Easy integration with stored media and the ability to capture new media to attach to an MMS is great, and the G1 earns full points here.

Adding attachments to an MMS

SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
Some phones automatically translate certain punctuation and letter combinations into graphic images, often called emoticons or smiley faces. Unfortunately, the G1 is not one of these, translating neither received nor sent emoticons via SMS into graphic images, and it earns no points here.

SMS/MMS Ease of Use (10.0)
SMS and MMS messages share an inbox, which is preferred to avoid the need to switch between different applications to view or send messages to a contact. Messages are shown in a list format chronologically, which cannot be changed, and multiple messages with a single contact are shown in a threaded conversation view, making it easy to remember an ongoing conversation that takes place over time. All of this combined with the G1's strong MMS capability, the G1 does everything we like here to make creating and viewing SMS and MMS messages easy, earning it the best score among all of our comparison phones.

Threaded SMS view

Time to a New SMS Message (4.09)
To see how easy it is to create a new SMS message, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a new SMS dialogue is up. On the G1, we timed only until the new SMS dialogue appeared, not including the time required to slide it open to reveal the keyboard, which would be necessary to actually type an SMS after the new SMS dialogue appears since there is no on-screen keyboard.

New SMS dialogue

This took the G1 an average of 2.45 seconds, putting it in the middle of the pack among our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

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