Buying Thoughts: G1 or Magic?

Your phone contract just ran out, and you’re itching for a new toy. The time has come to get yourself a pretty new phone, with a stroke-able touchscreen, and a large variety of delicious user applications.

The iPhone fits these requirements but… for whatever (brilliant) reason, you don’t like it, and don’t want it. Instead, you’ve heard about this Android thing, and you want to give it a whirl. Fantastic, let’s take a quick look at your options.
The Android scene used to be all about the HTC Dream, or G1, it was essentially the only phone sporting the Android OS. Now things have changed. Where previously there was only one real choice for sating your ‘droid desires, now there are two, with more to come in a few months.

Less than a month ago, HTC released the Magic (also known as the G2), which despite the incredibly cheesy name is actually quite a slick little device. The form factor has been slimmed down from the Dream, the physical keyboard is no more, the hardware specifications increased, and it comes with the latest version of Android (Cupcake) built in. Nice.

Sounds like an automatic win, right? Well, yes and no. The decision between these two really comes down to budget, personal taste, and your intended usage of the device.

Although the Magic is the newer, sexier piece of plastic it can’t do everything the Dream is capable of.
In some (but not all) cases, this will be remedied given time. Point in case, before a few days ago, it was impossible to gain root access to the HTC Magic.

No physical keyboard. If you can’t cope with poking and prodding at a touchscreen every time you need to punch out some embarrassing drunken text, then you probably want to turn your eye back to the older G1. Some applications at this stage require a physical keyboard for input as well, not many, but some.

On top of this, if you’re buying a phone sans-contract, then the Magic is currently going on eBay (unlocked) anywhere between $600USD and $950USD. A substantial blow to the wallet, particularly when you can pick up an unlocked Dream/G1 for a couple hundred dollars less.

Now, all of this might sound like an attack on the new kid in town. It’s not though, the Magic is an incredibly viable choice – as long as you’re willing to spend the extra cash. Think of it as an upgrade, minus the keyboard, it can do just about everything the Dream can, and will do most of it better, a little of it worse. The system specification increases alone make it a worthy option, but add in the beautiful new form factor and improved battery life, and you’ve got a winner of a phone in your hands.

Are those really your only options though? At this time, pretty much. There are a few other (fairly unknown) Android capable handsets in the global market but they tend to be – and readers, correct me if I’m wrong – lacking in one way or another.
However, over the next few months and into the foreseeable future a slew of new devices are being released from a wide-range of quality phone manufacturers, but more on those later.

So, if neither of the HTC offerings tickle your phone-fancy, then just hold onto your cash for a little while longer, something is bound to come along that fills you with techno-lust and gives you access to the ever growing Android platform.