The T-Mobile G2 Preview
by Vivek Gowri on October 7, 2010 12:29 PM EST
So, the son of G1 is now out and open for retail consumption, and it’s certainly an interesting device. This is one of the first high end GSM HTC Android devices in a while, so it’s been understandably hyped. The keyboard is another unique factor - this is HTC’s first Android device with a physical keyboard since the original G1, and the G2, along with the Samsung Epic 4G and Droid 2, is currently the one of the few high end Android devices with a physical keyboard.
| Physical Comparison | |||||||||
| Apple iPhone 4 | HTC EVO 4G | Samsung Epic 4G | Motorola Droid 2 | T-Mobile G2 | |||||
| Height | 115.2 mm (4.5") | 121.9 mm (4.8") | 124 mm (4.9") | 116.3 mm (4.6") | 119 mm (4.69") | ||||
| Width | 58.6 mm (2.31") | 66.0 mm (2.6") | 63.5 mm (2.5") | 60.5 mm (2.4") | 60.4 mm (2.38") | ||||
| Depth | 9.3 mm ( 0.37") | 12.7 mm (0.5") | 15.2 mm (0.6") | 13.7 mm (0.54") | 14.16 mm (0.56") | ||||
| Weight | 137 g (4.8 oz) | 170 g (6.0 oz) | 155 g (5.47 oz) | 169 g (5.9 oz) | 180 grams (6.35 oz) | ||||
| CPU | Apple A4 @ ~800 MHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 @ 1 GHz | Samsung Hummingbird @ 1 GHz | Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 @ 1 GHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 @ 800 MHz | ||||
| GPU | PowerVR SGX 535 | Adreno 200 | PowerVR SGX 540 | PowerVR SGX 530 | Adreno 205 | ||||
| RAM | 512MB LPDDR1 (?) | 512MB LPDDR1 | 512MB LPDDR1 | 512 MB LPDDR1 | 512 MB LPDDR1 | ||||
| NAND | 16GB or 32GB integrated | 8GB micro SD | 1 GB integrated, 16 GB microSD preinstalled | 8 GB integrated, preinstalled 8 GB microSD | 4 GB integrated, preinstalled 8 GB microSD | ||||
| Camera | 5MP with LED Flash + Front Facing Camera | 8MP with dual LED Flash + Front Facing Camera | 5 MP with LED Flash and autofocus | 5 MP with dual LED flash and autofocus | 5 MP with auto focus and LED flash | ||||
| Screen | 3.5" 640 x 960 IPS | 4.3" 480 x 800 | 4.0" 480 x 800 Super AMOLED | 3.7" 480 x 854 | 3.7" 480 x 800 Super LCD | ||||
| Battery | Integrated 5.254Whr | Removable 5.5Whr | Removable 5.55 Whr | Removable 5.2 Whr | Removable 4.81 Whr | ||||
The G2 comes with a Qualcomm MSM7230 SoC, an 800 MHz part based on the 2nd generation Snapdragon core. It’s now on a 45-nm manufacturing process (the original Snapdragon QSD8x50 parts are 65nm) and has an updated Adreno 205 GPU. Beyond the die-shrink, the CPU seems to be relatively unchanged compared to the first gen-Snapdragon, just running at an 800 MHz frequency. The lower clock speed is probably to keep power consumption and yield in check for Qualcomm's first 45nm SoC. The Adreno 205, on the other hand, seems to be a pretty big improvement over the previous generation Adreno 200. The 205 adds hardware acceleration for Flash, SVG vector graphics hardware acceleration, and significantly improves shader performance over the Adreno 200. Performance is expected to be far more competitive to the PowerVR SGX 530 and 540 than the Adreno 200 ever was. So even though it doesn’t break the magical 1GHz mark, the MSM7230 is still a very potent SoC, especially in a device that forgoes the burden of a custom UI layer on top of Android.
The MSM7230 in the G2 has support for 3GPP Release 7, which includes HSPA+ and Evolved EDGE support. The G2 supports HSDPA class 10 for a maximum theoretical downstream rate of 14.4 megabits/s, and HSUPA class 6 for a maximum theoretical upstream rate of 5.76 megabits/s. Qualcomm's MSM7x30 series SoC comes in another flavor - the MSM7630 - which packs HSPA+ support alongside CDMA voice and data.
Rounding out the other specs, we’ve got 512MB RAM (also part of the SoC), 4GB internal NAND with an 8GB microSD card preinstalled (more on this later), a 3.7” Super-LCD TFT display with an 800x480 resolution, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash, 720p video recording at 30fps, and a removeable 4.81 Wh (1300 mAh) battery. Oh, and one of the weirdest hinges out there right now.
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Trefugl - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
He says that the phones should have 4GB but his only has 2GB pretty plainly...I for one don't think that it is just "a pretty simple assembly line mixup"... that's one huge problem if their inventory system and QA guys are so messed up that they let allow more than a few batches of products to leave with half the NAND intended. People's heads would be rolling at every company that I've worked for if that happened! Maybe it would be understandable for Engineering units and prototypes, but not for full scale production.
phoenix79 - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
You seem to be missing something... They DO have a 4GB chip in themhttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=7...
Any google search will pop this up
Trefugl - Friday, October 8, 2010 - link
Thanks for the link. Interesting that it's not showing up in the OS.Would have been nice if you could have given some more detail the first time instead of essentially linking to lmgtfy.com. Seemed like a blunt attack on the article without even giving some direction to those of us readers who don't feel like wasting 5+ mins googling for info on a product that we're not going to purchase (and I would have to do this for every product I see an article on as well...).
clarketelecom - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
So, are you just interested in Physics or are you taking the class for engineering, material science etc.? Just wondering because I have a big interest in Physics, mainly theoretical and I'd like to make that interest more practical - is that a good textbook?Thanks.
designerfx - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
Anand, I hope you realize that the nexus one does not perform better than the epic on anything.I suggest you run a lagfix and then re-run the benchmarks as not a single phone in the lineup, including the new iphone, will not beat a single samsung phone at that point of the new galaxy lineup.
Likewise, the FPS are capped at 55 (rougly rounded to 56 in benchmarks). It's a known issue, and is the only reason the nexus had a higher benchmark score.
The graphics core on the samsung galaxy phones is actually faster than even the iphone, by a substantial margin.
designerfx - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
so either voodoo lagfix or ryanza, anything like that, and it's enough to put the samsung at the top of the charts.zxc367 - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
I hope you realize that it's not Anand writing this, its Vivek Gowri. Check the author next time. ;)designerfx - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
realized after the fact. why can't we edit our comments? zzz.silverblue - Friday, October 8, 2010 - link
It'd be nice to see all those devices in a head-to-head once they've all got Froyo installed. The Galaxy S phones are really being crippled by 2.1 in these tests.TareX - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - link
It's such a shame this phone has NO 2-WAY VIDEO CALLING in its future. My parents and friends live in a different continent and it would be nice to have the option to get in touch with them anytime, anywhere from a device that fits in my pocket.Also, I disagree with the author about the 3.7" sweetspot. I think the 4" size is the real sweetspot, with 4.3" being too big.