While the G1’s main screen isn’t quite as eye-popping as the iPhone’s,
the Android-powered display is surprisingly responsive—a quick flick
of your fingertip opened a windowshade of applications, while tapping the
status bar at the top of the screen instantly revealed e-mail, SMS, and
voice-mail alerts. Indeed, tapping and scrolling around the G1’s
various menus is a seamless pleasure, akin to what you’d expect from
an iPhone. And while leading iPhone competitors like the Samsung Instinct always felt a bit sluggish to me, the G1’s peppy interface responded quickly to my every touch.

Of
course, you’ll get the most out of the G1 if you’re using Google’s
suite of online applications, all of which sync automatically the
moment you sign in. The push Gmail client features threaded messaging,
just like you’d expect online, and you can star messages, organize them
with filters, and even conduct Google searches within the e-mail client
itself. You can also use the client to check your POP and IMAP
accounts—no full-on Exchange syncing, but as I mentioned in an earlier
post, third-party developers are free to create their own Exchange
syncing apps for Android.

The
G1’s dialer and contact list immediately grabs all your online Google
calendar info and contacts—and for those with IM accounts, the G1 will
indicate which of your contacts happen to be signed in for chat, an
“online presence” feature familiar to anyone with a Helio phone. As
with the iPhone, you can flick your contact list with a finger,
spinning it roulette-style. WOOT!