No Flash player on the Google G1

After posting my video of my first experience of touching the Google G1, I went back and looked at it again.

This time I got to have a go on the keyboard and it worked quite well, a little small for me and I did hit the wrong key now and again and all I was doing was entering search terms into Google.

According to the rep I spoke to there is no Flash player on the Google G1.

This surprised me, however the problem arose due to the cost of providing a player on the phone.

I decided then to try out YouTube and see what happens, and what you get is a similar experience to the iPhone in that the phone downloads the video and plays it outside the browser in the media player. The quality was similar to the experience on the iPhone (well the iPod touch).

I also got a photo of the Google G1 next to the iPod touch.

No Flash player on the Google G1

One of the quotes that I like about the differences between the iPhone and the Nokia N95 came from quoted by Josie Fraser. EDIT: original blog post from which the quote came and Ian’s blog posting which references it.

You use the iPhone to consume content whilst you use the Nokia N95 if you want to create content.

This I agree with owning both an iPod touch and the Nokia N95.

If I want to watch video, listen to audio, see photographs or browse the web, the iPod touch wins out every time. There is no camera and no microphone so almost impossible to create original content – though the iPhone does have a (still) camera and a microphone.

Whereas on the Nokia N95, the browsing experience is painful unless you are using mobile sites. Video works as does audio, but as it doesn’t interface with iPhoto, images have to be organised manually on the phone. However in creating content, the N95 wins out, great camera for both stills and video. Third party applications allow you to get those images and films out onto the web, I use Shozu, Qik and Seesmic to do this.

So what has this got to do with the Google G1?

Well I am wondering if the Google G1 could be the first phone which is good at both creating content and consuming content.

Experiences so far show that content consumption works well on the G1, certainly viewing video and browsing the web was pretty nice and easy to do.

I did use the camera, but did not have a chance to create some content, but as the platform is relatively open I suspect we will see third party applications such as Shozu and Qik very soon.

Looking forward to getting one (if possible).

Overall I am still impressed with the phone.

7 thoughts on “No Flash player on the Google G1”

  1. I can probably find out something about the G1 & Flash – however, I was wondering, does the G1 do MMS? Might seem a bit of a silly question, but on T-Mobile (which the G1 will be offered on), MMS from abroad are cheaper than SMS, so it might be a relevant query…
    Oh, and the blog post linked here gives a link to the original quote on the N95 vs. iPhone ethos…
    Thanks for the nice posts on this, my N95 T-Mobile 18 months is up in November… hmmm…

  2. Hi there James – great to get this kind of information on the G1 – thanks. I do think as far as the consume vs create goes that the iPhone with its extra features over a 1st gen iPod touch is pretty good at creating as well. Just my opinion!

  3. Hi James I’m not sure that the lack of Flash matters on this phone, unless its Flash lite. One of the disadvantages of Full Flash is it can be pretty power hungry and on a small device its going to the hit the battery life, which lets face it isn’t going to be high on a users list of questions to ask but will matter when they try to use it. Lets not forget the iPhone is Flash free. I can’t remember where (probably on some spec list) but I think the Nokia 5800 will do full Flash. I am going to be interested to see that up against the Google Phone as I think its a more direct competitor than the iphone – just my musings.

  4. why not just use windows mobile. t-mobile and google robbed people by getting them to invest in a phone without full capabilities. i will never buy an htc, t-mobile or google product again.

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