I had always heard that the iPhone didn’t have cut and paste, but because the phone is so sexy, I was going to buy one anyway.  I ended up going with a G1 despite the negative reviews and to my surprise the G1 seems pretty near perfect.  I’ve played with an iPhone (my sister owns one), but I had no idea that so many features were missing from it that have been in my G1 from the start.

Here’s a run down of the new features.  Cut and Paste.  Check.  Using landscape mode in apps other than the browser.  Check.  MMS.  Check.   Search.  Of course Google’s OS has search already, and there’s even a dedicated search button on the keyboard. Spotlight.  Got us there.  Shake to shuffle, got us there.  Note sync, got us there.  No G1 notes without a third party app.  Wi-fi  automatic login.  Seriously.  I don’t even notice the transition to wifi because its so seamless.  Stereo bluetooth support.  Got us there.  Youtube login.  Got us there. 

But wait.  Android is slated to be updated in April to include…Stereo Bluetooth, an on screen keyboard (to eliminate having to slide out the keyboard everytime you have to do something), intregrated video (recording and playback) without using a 3rd party app.  So basically, after the G1 update, Apple’s phone OS will essentially catch the phone up to where it should have been. 

Why did iPhone users not complain about these missing, crucial, features before?  A phone with a camera but no MMS.  Why?  I still would love to have an iPhone or iTouch and may get the latter, but I really can’t see myself buying a phone with basically no warranty, since it would have to be a jailbroken phone to work with T-Mobile.  The head start they have had with apps makes a huge difference.  As the iPhone comercials have said “there’s an app for that”.  While Android is catching up, and the paid apps have arrived to make apps more viable, but while there are some neat apps, there is a long way to catch up with Apple.

The sad thing for Apple is they essentially created markets for competitors by being exclusive to AT&T.  This means that people who wanted the new smart phone features had to either switch to AT&T, buy a hacked iPhone with no warranty/support from Apple, or wait for their carrier to come up with an alternative.  We now have the BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, G1 and rumblings of Microsoft making its move with either Windows 7.  Big fail by Apple.  By now, they could have done what Motorola did with the Razr.  They could have had everyone on every carrier using an iPhone. 

 I was sad to see Windows Mobile devices lose favor, but I am interested to see what they do with Windows Mobile 7.  One thing that Apple and Google forgot to integrate in their phone OS is the true PDA functionality of the Windows Mobile Devices.  I had the T-Mobile MDA for the last few years and I was shocked when I turned on the G1 to learn that there is no Office suite, or sync with Office.  Tasks, notes, To-do list and the ability to jump in and start out a word doc were definite productivity features I used.  Hopefully the App stores will bridge the gap.