The T-Mobile (News - Alert) G1 is good to go! Based on an initial user experience evaluation of the T-mobile customers should be pleased with the overall phone setup experience. The T-Mobile team focused on the user experience of setting up the G1 for existing T-Mobile customers.

 

T-Mobile phone was put through three evaluations by the User Centric team. The first used an existing account and did not evaluate activating a new service. The second and third evaluated setting up a Gmail account through the phone in addition to using an existing account, a Gmail account is required for set up of the G1.

 

The manual setup of the phone was quick taking less than ten minutes to get the phone ready to be powered on. Printed materials and accessories were easily found, but setup was easy enough to do without. One drawback found was difficulty opening the battery cover. Also, the phone was not labeled for the microSD card that was hidden inside the phone.

 

Overall, the out-of-box experience was satisfying. The setup was easy and clear, even if the user has a Gmail account or not.

 

User Centric will also be examining the user experience of the Android (News - Alert) Market and web browsing on the G1 for the remaining evaluations in this series. Future plans also include a usability study to evaluate the overall user experience of the phone.

 

User Centric is a consulting firm that focuses on improving user experience. Their projects involve handhelds, web sites, software, medical devices, print, packaging, and telephony services. Services include user research, user interface design consulting, information architecture, usability testing, user interface evaluations, eye tracking, and online surveys.