There are many things about Nokia phones I like. Moving from one Nokia device to another is always seamless and requires minimal effort. You just need to learn it once and you are set. Nokia builds very good phones, there are expanding into the entertainment with the Nokia N series and the corporate with the E series. My parents for instance have no problem changing phones as long as they do not have to relearn using it.

I was so happy when the G1 phone from T-Mobile was released. The G1 is a milestone for open source; it runs Android, which is a mobile OS sponsored by The Open Handset Alliance, which includes Google, Motorola, LG, Sprint, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and others. There are tons of reviews for the G1 and they are mixed. However, this is not a “review” of the G1 per se. What I want to do is describe the difference in user experience between the G1 and E71 in regards to the device as a phone.

I’ve been using the G1 for about a month now. I got it from the UK with T-Mobile UK. I am really enjoying it and except for the fact that it doesn’t have support for Arabic (yet). I unlocked my G1 and am currently using it in the UAE with Etisalat. In the UK, I usually use it with T-Mobile UK. I did not install any software from outside the Android market.

Several things I want to point while using the G1:

• When you look-up a contact, you cannot send that contact to another contact or a phone number easily. I view this as a limitation. In any Nokia phone, a user is able to choose a contact and send it to another contact or number as a “business card” through sms, mms, bluetooth, or email.
• A user needs to move between the touch screen and the physical buttons quite frequently and for trivial uses; to go back to a previous screen for instance or to edit a contact. To edit a contact a user clicks on the touch screen to get to the contact and then have to press the menu button to reach “edit”.
• I still have to figure out how to silence the ringer when I receive a call. In a Nokia phone, you just press the “end” button once to silence it, and twice to reject the call.

EDIT: found out that you press the volume control to silence the ringer, which is quite weird.

• After a while of it being on, the performance goes down: scrolling is not as smooth as when you first turn it on and the frequency of phone calls the does not go through goes up. It is important to point out that in the past, Nokia phones I used had the same problem, but it decreased significantly with the E71.
• Battery life is average at best, even with most of the unnecessary things turned off. I always have my bluetooth turned on (in hidden mode) because I have it paired with my car and I’m in my car most of the time.
• Talking about bluetooth, the G1 has yet to fail connecting to my car where is was frequent with the E71 and other Nokia Phones (E90 and 6500 Classic). However, it refuses to send or recieve anything from other phones, especially contact information.

When reading this, keep in mind that the G1 has a firmware of 1.0 whereas the Nokia E71 OS (S60) is quite mature. I am sure that there will be great software and updates for the G1 to come.