Google Maps, YouTube, Web Browser
Google Maps
The Google Maps application has garnered some serious media hype since the HTC Dream was demonstrated with Google Maps Street View. Google Maps features functionality on-par with the desktop version of Google Maps, which says a lot. And, with the ability to zoom into street-level views with the Street View feature’s Compass Mode, Google Maps becomes an indispensable app. Compass Mode allows you to pan around the Street View window through G1 movements, as if the G1 was a window into Street View – it works by measuring directional-data from the G1’s integrated compass and accelerometers to detect which direction you are facing.
YouTube
The YouTube application brings the world of mobile-optimized YouTube videos to the T-Mobile G1. There are a lot of mobile optimized YouTube videos available from YouTube, but there are some less-popular videos that fail to make the cut. So, don’t go expecting to access all of YouTube video library on your G1, but chances are good that the video your friend is raving about is available right now on the G1.
Web Browser
The iPhone Safari browser, Opera Mobile/Mini, and the Android Web Browser are easily the three best mobile web browsers on the planet (as far as touch-based devices are concerned). With the Android web browser, webpages are rendered in their full HTML-glory. That means you see the webpage as it looks on the desktop.
Panning around webpage is a simple matter of dragging your finger around the screen. Zooming in and out is accomplished via the “+” and “-” zoom buttons – a little less intuitive and sleek than the iPhone Safari’s double-tap zoom method, but workable, nonetheless.
Scrolling through webpages is a joy, thanks to the Android OS’s smooth page rendering capabilities and the smooth capacitance-touchscreen. Just flick your finger across the screen and the webpage scrolls down smoothly proportionately to the speed of your “flick.”
Build Quality, Touchscreen and QWERTY Keyboard….