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GAMES & GADGETS

CAN GOOGLE'S G1 BEAT ITS SMARTPHONE RIVALS?

FIRST ATTEMPT: The T-Mobile G1 is Google's first mobile phone

Thursday October 30,2008

By Emily Garnham for express.co.uk

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GOOGLE’S first mobile phone has hit the high street - but despite the hype some say the handset “lacks the inherent ‘cool’ factor.

In the run up to Christmas EMILY GARNHAM asks the experts how the T-Mobile G1 will fare against fierce competition from its smartphone rivals.

Years after business types went crazy for the Blackberry, other flash, multifunctional handsets are finally hitting the shelves.

Google hopes the G1 will take a bite out of the Apple iPhone, but with Orange, LG and Nokia all tapping into the smartphone market experts say consumers shouldn’t be too hasty.

Ernest Doku of mobile phone comparison site Omio.com, advises checking out all the competition before buying.

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"The mobile phone market is moving faster than ever right now, and it's all too easy to rush out and buy the latest uber-cool, hi-tech handset without checking what's on the horizon.

"With the Blackberry Storm and Orange Touch HD also arriving in the next fortnight or so, my advice is to wait and see what these phones are like before you splash your cash on the Google G1.

Ernest advises heading in store to test drive several smartphones.

“Check out the features and, while it may seem obvious, actually hold the phones to your ear to see how comfortable they are. It's not always the phone with the most gadgets that is the best in terms of usability and everyday use.”

Observers worry that Google’s cutting edge Android technology is a Trojan Horse – a risky means to enter a fiercely competitive market.

Launching this entirely new mobile phone operating system is like Microsoft first launching Windows, and it may have some teething problems.

But we'll soon see whether Google has the might to take a chunk out of Apple.

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