Introduction

With a high-quality capacitive touch screen and the much anticipated open source Android Operating System from Google, the G1 phone currently offered by T-Mobile holds a lot of promise to change the way people use mobile phones.

This handset, manufactured by HTC, is the first phone with Google's open-source Android OS and despite the generally impressive hardware -- a touch screen that responds smoothly and quickly, a full QWERTY keyboard -- many people will purchase this phone because the Android software.
The G1 is probably most appealing to users who want to tinker with applications and explore the phone's possibilities, whereas average consumers and businesspeople who want a more proven smartphone might be better off for now with Apple's iPhone 3G or a Windows Mobile device.
The main reason is that third-party applications for the Android OS are just starting to take off and while developers are providing solutions for shortcomings on the phone, such as the lack of support for a Microsoft Exchange Server, the applications are new and some users might not want to deal with early hiccups.
Even with the G1 Android phone's shortcomings, notably a camera that fails to measure up to the Apple iPhone 3G, its potential to become a powerful mobile mini-computer is very exciting.

Introduction

The LG VX8360 is a bit like its predecessor, the VX8350, with a facelift. The camera quality -- 1.3-megapixel -- on both phones is the same. Each phone has access to email, instant messaging, and enhanced, multimedia and short text messaging services. Their gray and silver coating and rectangular shape are about the same too. Users of the VX8360's previous models may not see much difference in this phone at all on first blush. If they look closely, though, they will see a few improvements.

The VX8360, for one, looks better. Its main screen has better image quality, going from 256K-colors and 170 x 220 px resolution on the VX8350 to 262K colors and 240 x 320 px resolution on the VX8360.
Its sheen black face and matte gray and silver finish with discreet external music keys and a well-sized external screen give the VX8360 a more modern and professional finish than similar models that came before it.
The phone lasts longer without a charge, too -- about 90 minutes longer while in use and more than 400 hours longer on standby.
The old VX8350 only uses Mobile Web 2.0, which constricts where users can gain access to the Web to service areas in the United States. The new VX8360 connects to the Internet through any nearby Wi-Fi network, which makes it easier -- and cheaper -- to access the Internet all over the world.
It has a bold set of Internet features for a lightweight clamshell and maintains a reputation as a noteworthy music downloading and playing device. But a lack of memory storage and a corresponding need to buy a memory card in order to take the phone's entertainment features to their full potential could steer some shoppers to a different phone.