T-mobile G1

[monki2k2]

Anyone managed to activate theirs yet? Released today and I sorely hope I'm not the only one with a dent in their wallet and a less than working phone. Took about an hour to even get the signal bars to show anything other than empty with a little "x". Now have signal, but no 3G indicator. Trying to activate is futile without a data connection... and it seems in no rush to make one either over 3G or 2G. Tried a hard reset and plugging into an internet connected laptop to no avail. Would appreciate any experience on this one chaps

[monki2k2]

Ok it was my mistake in the end. Just took a little longer than expected to activate my new sim on the T-mobile network. They weren't kidding when they say it can take upto 24 hours, thankfully I only had to wait about 15

[BaggyDave]

Glad I read this one, thought I had a bad sim for a minute :)

[Crazy Squirrel]

I ordered mine online and was told it would be delivered next day. Two days later i call to find royal mail dont have my flat number, even though it was on my email order confirmation as payment and delivery address. And also used by tmobile as a security question when i called. Apparently they will bill me for the first month, then refund when they get the phone back. I can them place a new order. So not happy :( will be writing a letter of complaint

[monki2k2]

Damn that sucks mate. I know bad experiences can leave a bitter taste when all you want to enjoy is that fresh gadget flavour flavour! :) I'm really enjoying my little G1 and I hope you do too... when royal mail get their arses into gear that is. Its not perfect and people react to it quite varyingly but I certainly think its a top piece of kit

[BaggyDave]

It is a great bit of kit the more you use it the more you realise how good it actually is

. . .

Saying that though the Battery life is poor but more than likely as I am not putting the thing down at the moment ! ! !

[Crazy Squirrel]

Cancelled my web order completelty and phoned round my local stores and managed to find one not too far with one last black one in stock. They seem to have got loads more white ones than black, guess white is more of a t-mobile handset colour. While i was there going through the signup someone else called the store and asked if they had any black ones too, sorry i got it! :P

So sitting here with it on charge waiting for it to activate. Just asked 02 for my pac code, just need to sort myself out a car charger another mini-usb lead for work, and are there any good cases out yet or coming soon?

[monki2k2]

Yeah the case it comes with is a bit bulky. Nice how it's lined to clean the screen when you put it away or pull it out. I used the included screen protector too, feels the same as a bare screen to me. Sad as this might be... I also took advantage of the free stickers. Just a few simple designs on the back to protect the rear surface a little. Not sure if it will help at all as I haven't plastered every square millimeter

[Crazy Squirrel]

Lol at the stickers, think ill pass myself :)
Posting this on my G1, i`m loving it so much of an improvement from my E65!
Put a few apps on so far, not too much that stands out in the store but hopefully some good things on the way.

[Crazy Squirrel]

Does the alarm not work when the phone is off?
I'm assume that off is actually really off and there is no need to remove the battery to prevent being tracked and monitored by various Government agenices :suspect::lol:

[nigel_williams]

How are you all finding your G1s? I'm tempted to get a new phone, on PAYG at the moment as not a huge mobile talker, mostly texts. So the £30 tariff with free phone and 700 minutes is probably a bit much.

Popped into my local T-Mobile shop and they said they can do it for £48 (£50 discount) then £20 a month which includes 100min & texts and the Web and Walk. Can you use them as a modem via USB to a laptop like Windows Mobile devices?

I've had a couple of Windows Mobile phones in the past and they all suffer with the usual MS bloatware and slowdown issues, so I'm wondering if Android is better?

[ArthurDent]

Just got one of these free on a £20 a month contract (100 mins & texts) with web & walk. Really neat piece of kit. :thumbs:

[nigel_williams]

I took the plunge also, had it a week now and very happy with it. Used the ShopSavvy app in Tesco yesterday to scan the barcode of a Sony digital photo frame and check online prices, very useful.

[ArthurDent]

I can already see a problem with this phone....


I just can't put the bloody thing down! :D

What apps have you guys got installed?

Mine so far include:

ShopSavvy
Compass
WeatherBug
Bubble
Pac-Man
ToggleWifi
Power Manager

[monki2k2]

It's a bit of a list I'm afraid, but I'm rocking:

AccuWeather
AndNav!
Android File Manager
Backgrounds and Wallpapers
Barcode Beasties
Barcode Scanner
Bonsai Blast
Bubble
Christmas Match
Compare Everywhere
Countdown Alarm++
CP Girls Spider
Dungeon Wonders
fBook
HulloMail
iNetwork Test
meebo
My Maps Editor
Note Pad
OI Shopping list
Orienteer
Picacross
Shazam
ShopSavvy
SMS Screen Alert Prefs
Solitaire
SpeedO
SpiraDefence
SplashPlay
Tunes Remote
TuneWiki
WeatherBug
WifiScan
WikiMobile

... phew, quite a selection

[nigel_williams]

Got quite a few of these already, the ones to show off are ShopSavvy for scanning barcodes and getting prices online, Shazam for listening to music and it tells you the artist/track, tunewiki to get lyrics of mp3s.

Been looking around for some community pages and found: http://www.androidapps.com/ and http://androidcommunity.com/

Some interesting updates coming in January when Google release the "Cupcake" stream. It will include an onscreen keyboard amongst other things. The ChompSMS app includes a pretty good keyboard when in portrait mode which gives feedback when you type.

[ArthurDent]

Blimey you guys have been busy. :D

I've just installed opera 4.2; not quite as smooth as the default g1 browser but it's a hell of a lot faster at rendering pages when you're surfing over 2G.

[Smash41]

I got this today and being a bit of a newbie in terms of TMobile and there data plans. Is there a difference between Web&Walk and Web&Walk Plus. I beleive looking I should be on the Plus version due to bieng on Flext. However looking at the bill section on the tMobile website it states just 'Free web 'n' walk'. I hope this makes sense!

[Max Maz]

Does anyone know if it's possible to get this without a contract? I'm with T-Mobile already but am not due for an upgrade until August 2009.

[ArthurDent]

Can be had for ~£450 from here: http://www.elitegadgets.com/GB/HTC-Google-G1-Sim-Free-Mobile-Phone-in-Black(1701).aspx?source=googlebase

Or on eBay (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=44) for ~£250-300.

[nigel_williams]

You could registering as an Android Developer and get one that way: http://code.google.com/android/dev-devices.html

$399 but not sure how much they are in the UK, or shipping times.

[searla]

So...., I'm shocked that these don't support Exchange for email?? That, and that alone has made me change my mind about getting one...

I know that it's just a case of "someone" developing an app to do this, but does anyone rough have idea when or if this will happen??

[ArthurDent]

It is apparently possible to sync with Exchange, but it's not free (~$30):

http://www.nitrodesk.com/dk_touchdownFeatures.aspx

[nigel_williams]

The Android Marketplace has been free up until now, but they will shortly being adding more commercial apps to buy. So I expect there will be solutions for Exchange should you want to buy it as Arthur has posted.

Personally I've had Windows Mobile handsets in the past and found them to be quite clunky and unreliable in comparison. My last handset had the push e-mail from Exchange, but I always found that the gmail imap was faster and more reliable anyway!

But saying that, I do agree with you in saying that the G1 needs to get more business like in order to make headway. Considering that the phone has only been on the market a few months, I've been quite impressed with the number of free and quality apps already available.

[voyager7]

Has anyone unlocked their G1 yet and if so was it done by a "market bloke" or yourself at home? Looking at getting one but only if it can be unlocked easily or cheaply!

Thanks

[nigel_williams]

Mine is on a T-Mobile contract, so I've no reason to unlock it. Might be worth looking at XDA developers as they often have tweaks to many smart phones.

[gunner]

I have been looking around for an unlock solution, but the best i could see was for about $22, no free soultion. Yet.

[gunner]

Ok, just paid £16 ish for an unlock code, lets see if this works..

Edit: 1 hour 30 to get the code, and by jove it works!

[RickyDVT]

I really want one of these phones, but im with O2 until September and I dont think I can just get out of it?

If I want to buy one on pay as you go, and unlock it, how does the internet work? Can I still use the net and download apps for free or will I need to "Top up" my credit in order to do this?

Cheers!

Ricky

[nigel_williams]

I don't know if they are available on PAYG, but T-Mobile are fairly cheap for data and it's capped for a daily fee. G1 has wifi, so you could in theory use that to access the Android market and download apps.

If you can be patient, I would wait till September as there will probably be more handsets to choose from.

[gunner]

I am typing this from my G1, unlocked to three on their unlimited data package. Just search on google for unlocking, mine cost about £17 from a company in the USA.

[nigel_williams]

Found another nice app this week called My Collection. It uses the barcode scanner so you can make a list of your books, games and CD/DVDs easily. Scanned 43 DVDs so far, got about another 200 to go, so this might take some time...... But at least it will stop me buying duplicates as I have in the past!

[Smash41]

Can anyone tell me how to enable Picture Messaging? I have one to send but its remains as pending. Can't seem to find anywhere to change the settings.

[santobugito]

I've done a mini review of the G1 after 3 weeks of use.

http://seanliquorish.co.uk/blog/?p=18

Sean

[BaggyDave]

Going to try the 1600 mah battery see if it is any better for day to day use

[danielsesay]

Does anyone know what's the largest (GB) SD card it can take? The T-mobile says it's supplied with a 2GB SD card but doesn't say what's the largest you can use in it.

[nigel_williams]

After reading a few Android based forums, I tried conditioning my battery and it now gives 2 days power which is pretty decent. I have owned an MDA Compact (PPC) in the past and that generally managed about a day with the push e-mail enabled, so there is some equivalence.

All I did was run down the battery to 0 then re-charged it overnight. Did this for 3 days running and it now appears to last longer, but I'm not sure that it reads the charge correctly e.g. I switched it off with 25% showing, and when I started it the following morning (without re-charging) it said 70%.

Hopefully we will get the RC33 equivalent soon which adds some functionality like Latitude and also has a modified radio which many people have reported gives a better signal and improved battery life.

Mine is using the 8GB card supplied by T-Mobile, no idea if it will take 16GB cards though.

[ArthurDent]

The G2 (aka HTC Magic) has been officially announced: http://www.androidauthority.com/

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, saw that on the BBC this morning. Could be a nice phone as it's a bit slimmer and will probably appeal to more people, maybe a little less geeky?

But it will need to wait for Cupcake as it doesn't have a hardware keyboard. I have Chomp SMS and Steel installed on the G1 which both have on screen keyboards. They are good, but I think it would drive me nuts if I had to use them 100% of the time.

Still love the whole Android experience, very finger friendly and reliable after enduring WinMo for a while!

[ArthurDent]

Woke up this morning to find my G1 saying there was a system update available. :suspect:

Is this the Cupcake update?

Edit: Yes it is cupcake. According to the android community forums t-mobile starting rolling it out a few days ago. Firmware now says version 1.1 RC9.

[nigel_williams]

It's not cupcake unfortunately, I got the RC9 update on Monday night. There seems to be very little changes and shockingly Latitude isn't there (at least on mine anyway).

I've been looking on several Android forums and there does seem to be some confusion as to what is actually there, why we now have an EU rather than UK firmware and why the Germans (who got the same update) have Latitude in Google Maps!

[ArthurDent]

So it was a completely pointless update then?

Or is there a list of bug fixes / features that made it worthwhile?

[nigel_williams]

I haven't seen an official list of bug fixes or enhancements from T-Mobile/google so it's been down to users reporting differences at the moment.

But yeah, without Latitude on the "Flagship" Google phone, it does seem quite pointless so far.

[largeit]

Yeah defo not cupcake just rc9 which is mostly bug fixes. What it exactly fixes I'm not sure and I'm a t-mobile tech support agent and we were told about the update which was only made available to a 1000 randomly selected customers but not told what it fixes.

[nigel_williams]

Only 1,000? Maybe it just seems like more as I've been reading a couple of Android based forums and seen a lot of people saying they have it.

Strange thing is no-one seems to know why Latitude is being blocked in the UK on the G1 when it is available on other handsets. I've seen one user report it being there in the menu for a week, then it disappeared today!

It's quite disappointing when neither T-Mobile or Google tell us what the updates do or why Latitude is missing in the UK (the Germans have it on their handsets with the same firmware).

[ArthurDent]

Looks like the whole point of the update was to enable paid for apps on the Android Market:

udging from the rc33 US update, there won't be any cupcake elements, don't know of any battery improvements but I hope so. From what I gather however, the android market will be updated to allow for paid applications, the ability to report spam on comments left on the market, and google voice search. However, on the iphone version of voice search it apparently had problems understanding british accents, so I've heard a rumour that we might have to wait for google to iron it out abit. Best thing will be paid apps though, bit more incentive for companies to build us some decent apps, rather than a load of tip calculators. No idea when it'll be released but I can't imagine it'll be too long.

Source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=565c863fa326bd96&hl=en

[Wishy]

I've had a play with one in a T-Mobile shop and really liked the G1. Mainly because i want something which does GMail very well, has a keyboard and allows me to easily fill in a calander on my machine. Also it looks a good toy

So, how happy are people with their G1's? Any bugs which have caused issues? Keyboard hinges holding up ok? Hows the battery life in the real world?

[nigel_williams]

I've had mine since just before Christmas and still very happy with it. As you say, the gmail integration is excellent (as expected) and it has a lot of excellent free applications on the market. Keyboard and hinges are fine despite the regular snapping in/out so build quality is fine.

To be honest, my only real negative is the battery life, but to be fair my Windows mobile MDA had to be charged almost every day when it was using push e-mail also.

T-Mobile and Google seem to be conspiring at the moment, details of the recent update are non-existent and Latitude has not been enabled for UK users.

[Wishy]

That was one other question. Can i expect this version to get continued software updates (Cupcake, etc), or is it likely to be dropped the minute the G2 comes out?

[Crazy Squirrel]

Latitude appeared over the weekend for me.. got RC9 last week and couldn't see anything in maps, but when I opened up the map app at the weekend it gave me a message about Latitude and prompted me to sign up. I don't want it so i said no. Upon pressing the menu button the middle option on the bottom row was for Latitude.
Opened it again today though and its back to saying 'clear map'....

strange...

[nigel_williams]

I've read some similar stories on other forums, strange that it's there one moment and then disappears from the phone. So it seems to be a deliberate action by T-Mobile and/or Google.

In theory the G1 should get all the updates to Android as they are available, although T-Mobile UK seem to be very much slower than the US at rolling out updates. Not the G1 is available in a lot more markets it will be interesting to see what happens. The latest firmware says it's EU rather than UK, so that does suggest all european customers will at least get the same firmware.

[nigel_williams]

Just saw this story on Pocket Lint, maybe this is why Latitude isn't on the G1?

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/22817/23841/lib-dem-mps-moan-google-latitude.phtml

Who elects these clowns? No wait, they are Lib Dems..... nobody ;)

[ArthurDent]

Noticed today that there's an update for Power Manager that takes it from free to a trial version.

Obviously didn't update! ;)

[BaggyDave]

I Updated a fair few of the items (3rd party apps) I had and now i have lots of lovely spam thankyou Google for such a wonderful update ! ! !

[Crazy Squirrel]

Anyone tried buying any apps? How easy is the process?
I hear you can uninstall and get a refund within 24hrs or something? Is that true?

[nigel_williams]

Haven't tried buying any apps yet, but it's probably linked to the Google payment system.

I've only noticed the power manager so far, but I'm keeping the old free version too.

[Wishy]

Just bought the power util, 99c really isn't a lot!

Links in with google checkout, if you already have a card registered its little more than a few keypresses

[Evil Badoshix]

can anyone help me out here? my g1 refuses to dial the t-mobile customer services number '150'. Each time i dial, the call disconnects after a second. All other numbers, (mobiles & landlines) work ok.

I'm sure i'm missing something obvious here. Any advice much appreciated!

[ozric99]

Just bought a couple of these - one for me, one for mrs ozric. A fantastic device, and the only phone i've enjoyed using since my old nokia 6100. Keyboard is a bit crappy though.. Looking forward to the onscreen keyboard - hope that makes it to this model.

[BaggyDave]

can anyone help me out here? my g1 refuses to dial the t-mobile customer services number '150'. Each time i dial, the call disconnects after a second. All other numbers, (mobiles & landlines) work ok.

I'm sure i'm missing something obvious here. Any advice much appreciated!

works fine for me if you just want an allowance check though text "AL" to 150 instead

[BaggyDave]

Just bought a couple of these - one for me, one for mrs ozric. A fantastic device, and the only phone i've enjoyed using since my old nokia 6100. Keyboard is a bit crappy though.. Looking forward to the onscreen keyboard - hope that makes it to this model.

I am finding the G1 much better now as more people I know have them, will be even better when the Android platform roles out to more people and phones. I do believe it will make a phone with this OS a must have.

[Evil Badoshix]

ah ok, look like the 150 issue was just a temporary blip.

besides that minor issue, I LOVE THIS PHONE! everything is easy and intuitive, there's no need to read the manual. Instant access to gmail & the bundled IM application is excellent.

Every few days I find a new app or feature. My latest is the ConnectBot ssh client which is really cool! :dork:

[grounded_dreams]

One thing that I miss from my old phone is the radio.
There are a few app, on the market which let you stream stations. But I want to listen to BBC radio. When I click on Listen Live is states I need to install REAL, downloaded it but when I went to install the .bin file it stated "File type bin not found". Tried this in the default browser, Steel and installing through ASTRO.

Any ideas?

[ArthurDent]

Has Latitude appeared on Google maps for anyone else?

I'm away on business and just turned my phone back on after a night out and have suddenly found this neat feature enabled on my phone.

[nigel_williams]

You're right, they have finally sneaked it out for the G1, I was using Maps last night and it definitely wasn't there then. I was wondering about this a few days ago, strange it's appeared now with the rumoured Cupcake update in the next few weeks.

Haven't been on any Android forums today, but I think I will go see what people are saying.

[Wishy]

Its magically enabled on mine

[ArthurDent]

And as almost as quickly it appeared, it disappeared! :razz:

[nigel_williams]

Same here, very disappointed with T-Mobile who are clearly blocking Latitude on the G1 for some unknown reason. Got a friend with a G1 so we were able to see each other yesterday, but it's failing to update today.

[Evil Badoshix]

thanks for posting your updates re: latitude. I've been trying to get this to work, but thought it was just me being stupid.

I double/triple checked my maps version (3.0), went online, got some pointless url sms'd to my phone.

How did you guys figure out it was installed? Was there a new 'latitude' entry in the google maps menu?

[nigel_williams]

Yes, that's basically it, there's no install, it just appeared on Wednesday when I opened Google Maps and is then an item in the Menu.

[nigel_williams]

More G1 news, T-Mobile UK have announced that Cupcake update will be available in May

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/23788/t-mobile-cupcake-update-confirmed-may.phtml

[ArthurDent]

More G1 news, T-Mobile UK have announced that Cupcake update will be available in May

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/23788/t-mobile-cupcake-update-confirmed-may.phtml

Oooh! That's interesting. :D

/goes and sits by G1 and awaits update

[ozric99]

http://www.androidauthority.com/index.php/2009/04/30/t-mobile-usa-and-uk-releasing-over-the-air-android-15-cupcake-firmware-update-now/

They're a day early :lol:

[nigel_williams]

For the last update I was about a week behind most people, so I expect it will be a similar rollout. Interesting that they have timed this to coincide with the Vodafone release of their Android handset, must be to ensure G1 early adopters are kept happy.

[BaggyDave]

For the last update I was about a week behind most people, so I expect it will be a similar rollout. Interesting that they have timed this to coincide with the Vodafone release of their Android handset, must be to ensure G1 early adopters are kept happy.

Personally the more people into the Android the better as it will fetch better applications and better investment on the hardware that it is run on. it is not polished by any amount but the potential is staggering.

[nigel_williams]

No update for me yet, got mine mid-December so I expect there are a fair few in front of me. Been looking at the various forums over the last few days and most that have Cupcake have rooted and flashed it themselves. Good news is that reviews are massively positive.

There was a post on androidforums earlier from a UK person getting the OTA update, so hopefully it will be rolled out this week.

[BaggyDave]

Mine updated just now going to take a look

On Firmware version 1.5

. . . oo dear hehe major upgrade of apps time :) lots of forced closures

[Wishy]

What apps have broken for people?

[nigel_williams]

My guess is there will be a lot of breakages over the next week or two as developers need to upgrade their apps to Cupcake, I'm not sure the market supports 2 versions of an app for the different versions of the OS.

Been checking my phone, but it says it's up to date,so not my time yet.

[nigel_williams]

Decided to be impatient and manually update to Cupcake using the official ROM. Very easy to do, although I was a bit nervous!

http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f7/official-cupcake-firmware-for-european-users-manual-install-guide-17145/

Seems to work OK, my old version of Power Manager gave a Force Close error (which is sort of expected) but I'll keep testing and report any issues if any.

[Wishy]

Broken apps
Power Manager (Latest paid for version)
Toggleblu

Good - onscreen keyboard is there, but i'd rather use the hardware keyboard for anything longer than an "ok" text
Connectbot still works nicely
Gadgets are there and seem nice enough
Browser feels a bit smoother
Text messaging indicates a user is on google, hence you could just googletalk them

Bad - Latitude still isn't enabled under google maps :( Why are they holding this back from us
Gadgets take up lots of room, and i feel it really, really really needs the option for more pages
Something weird is going on with marketplace, everything shows as not installed, despite them being installed. But they're easy to "Reinstall"
Feels more groggy on startup

[Evil Badoshix]

cheers for the link. Do you have any idea of how long the update took?

I've started mine - managed to get the screen with the phone and exclamation mark, but it's sat there for around 10 mins with not much happening.

[Evil Badoshix]

ah ok, my error. i renamed the file update.zip.zip

oops:doh:

[Wishy]

Oops.

Probably 10-15 minutes for the complete job from powering down the android. Most of the time there is a progress bar showing you whats happening.

[ArthurDent]

In view of the above comments I'm in no rush to upgrade. ;)

As it is everything is nice and stable, and I can live without the virtual keyboard.

[nigel_williams]

I expect apps to be fixed pretty quickly, so no major inconvenience. I'd say the gains from Cupcake far outweigh any minor app incompatibility.

This lack of Latitude does make me angry, it's a Google phone, so why are T-Mobile blocking it in this country (only)? Might give them a call tomorrow, see what they have to say.

[Crazy Squirrel]

Cupcake finally! I just got my OTA update, onscreen keyboard is nifty, few graphical and icon changes seem cool.

[ArthurDent]

Same here.

Broken apps....

Power Manager
Steel

[nigel_williams]

I was looking at the Steel author's website last night and he says in his blog that he hopes to get a cupcake version out shortly.

[Hoskas]

This lack of Latitude does make me angry, it's a Google phone, so why are T-Mobile blocking it in this country (only)? Might give them a call tomorrow, see what they have to say.

As i work for tmobile i know exactly what they'll say.


"whats that ?"

[ArthurDent]

I was looking at the Steel author's website last night and he says in his blog that he hopes to get a cupcake version out shortly.

Thanks for the update on Steel Nigel. :)

[Crazy Squirrel]

New awsome application on the market that lets you use iPlayer on the G1!!!
Doesn't work with T-Mobile-UK 3g at the moment due to some port blocking but it works great over wifi, might work with other networks! It's called BeebPlayer and is free!
Been waiting for this since day one!!!

[Smash41]

New awsome application on the market that lets you use iPlayer on the G1!!!
Doesn't work with T-Mobile-UK 3g at the moment due to some port blocking but it works great over wifi, might work with other networks! It's called BeebPlayer and is free!
Been waiting for this since day one!!!

I downloaded this a while ago and can never get it to work over 3G or Wifi. Its pretty useful that the live channels work though!

[Crazy Squirrel]

Seems that the bbc have blocked beebplayer from viewing the recorded programmes now, not sure why live still works but better than nothing. Darn bbc :(


Edit: Beeb player now showing recorded programmes again, the dev is trying to find out exactly what's happening.

[ozric99]

Gah, still no 1.5 update for mine yet :(

[ArthurDent]

Another cool, and definitely a bit :dork: app is Google Sky Map. :D

[nigel_williams]

Gah, still no 1.5 update for mine yet :(

It's very easy to do the update manually rather than waiting, just download the update and copy to the device. Instructions are in one of my earlier posts.

[Wishy]

I should add toggleblu and power manager are now fixed.

Only other issue i've spotted was problems syncing my car handsfree. A quick re-pair and its working fine now, so nothing to worry about.

[Evil Badoshix]

Another cool, and definitely a bit :dork: app is Google Sky Map. :D

i was checking this out last night - such an awesome bit of software. making use of the onboard gps, date & time, compass & accelerometer.

I've been showing it off to the peeps in the office today & its gone down a storm!

[ozric99]

It's very easy to do the update manually rather than waiting, just download the update and copy to the device. Instructions are in one of my earlier posts.

Thanks, I saw that but it's the european update. I don't have a european phone - what difference that makes I don't know. I'd rather wait another week than brick this thing. I don't need the update that badly ;)

[nigel_williams]

There's an app called GPS Status 2 which is quite nice. It shows a sky map of the position of the GPS satellites, signal strength, magnetic field, altitude etc.

Tried asking the people in the T-Mobile shop about Latitude, blanks stares as expected. So I e-mailed them last night and got a response saying:

"Google hasn't released an update for the latitude update for G1 phone. This is the reason we don't have the update yet.

I can't tell you right now, if it will be released by us in the future."

So a shockingly bad and inaccurate response (as expected). Sent a reply a few minutes ago explaining why they are wrong,RC9 included Google Maps v3 as does Cupcake, so it is definitely being blocked by someone. Also mentioned it worked for 24 hours last month, so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

[Crazy Squirrel]

Anyone seen the new flixster app? Saw it here:
http://www.betanews.com/article/Studentdeveloped-Flixster-app-comes-to-Android/1242341538
And saw some comments on other movie apps mentioning it, but I can find it in the market to be able to download.......

Edit: Called 'Movies by Flixster':
http://www.intomobile.com/2009/05/14/flixster-worth-a-look-in-the-android-marketplace.html/flixster-android6/
Defo not on my market though..... :(

[nigel_williams]

I had a call from T-Mobile last night, and guess what, they are utterly clueless. They did concede that I was right about the updates including Latitude but could not offer any explanation for why it is not enabled on UK G1 phones.

Does anyone have the Vodafone android handset yet? Does Latitude work on this?

[bumfrog]

I had a call from T-Mobile last night, and guess what, they are utterly clueless. They did concede that I was right about the updates including Latitude but could not offer any explanation for why it is not enabled on UK G1 phones.

Does anyone have the Vodafone android handset yet? Does Latitude work on this?

looky here for an answer from google.....

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=38d03d1454943bc5&hl=en

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, I've seen that before, but I don't believe a word of it. You can get Latitude on other handsets on T-Mobile, so why should the G1 be excluded. It also works on other UK operators, so again, what's the problem, what is this code of conduct?

[bumfrog]

Yeah, I've seen that before, but I don't believe a word of it. You can get Latitude on other handsets on T-Mobile, so why should the G1 be excluded. It also works on other UK operators, so again, what's the problem, what is this code of conduct?

dunno, makes perfect sense to me that with a new phone os that operators and google want to make sure everything is right for it working fine on Android and the uk phone networks. I mean there would be hell to pay if google/t-mobile released it and it all went titsup.

All the other handsets are running tried and tested os's.

[nigel_williams]

I see your point, but Latitude on G1 is available in the US and Germany, maybe other countries by now.

[bumfrog]

I see your point, but Latitude on G1 is available in the US and Germany, maybe other countries by now.

totally Irrelevant really as they are different countries with their own cellular regulations and do doubt different laws/interworking contracts between suppliers.

In the uk It's probably something silly like that the other mobile suppliers didn't like t-mobile having an exclusive so were refusing to offer inter-operability between the networks.

I'm guessing that as more and more of the networks start supplying android phones then latitude will appear as if by magic!

if people want it that bad, just root your phone and install the update that will give you it.

[nigel_williams]

It is relevant since the Magic on Vodafone in the UK runs Latitude on Android. So it's just T-Mobile UK blocking it on the G1 handset only.

It did work for 1 day last month, so it's installed and can work, just being blocked with no reasonable explanation.

I am aware of the JF firmwares, rooting etc, and did condier it, but that wouldn't solve the problem as I don't expect my friends to do the same "risky" firmware update.

[bumfrog]

It is relevant since the Magic on Vodafone in the UK runs Latitude on Android. So it's just T-Mobile UK blocking it on the G1 handset only.

well one can hope that they reply to this...

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=5a8fb6fbf4afe183&hl=en

Saw another post that was saying about the fact that latitude is part of the os on andriod phones that phone companies are making sure they have themselves covered on the privacy laws (as it's part of the os, it's the suppliers issue, not the user in this case), which wouldn't apply if it was a different phone and put on ad hoc, or so i gather.

[nigel_williams]

Seems to be an ongoing discussion there, Google say it's a code of conduct issue. Seems to discriminate between 3rd party apps being OK for location sharing as it involves a user's conscious decision to install, but OS included app like Latitude will fall foul.....

Unless of course you are Vodafone and release a new handset with it enabled. So assuming all UK operators have signed up to this code of conduct, who is wrong? Should Vodafone also disable Latitude until it is resolved? Or is it just a smokescreen?

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=38d03d1454943bc5&fid=38d03d1454943bc5000469402dbf9ce3&hl=en

[Hoskas]

Is anyone else having trouble logging into google docs to edit my online spreadsheet since the cupcake update ?

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, I've had the same problem, same applies to Picasa for the photos I uploaded from the phone.

[Wishy]

anybody noticed on the dialer application there is no way to stop it producing the annoying touchtone noises, even in silent?

[Crazy Squirrel]

anybody noticed on the dialer application there is no way to stop it producing the annoying touchtone noises, even in silent?
Settings > sound & display > audible touch tones?

Does everyone else get annoying navigation on these forums with their g1? I.e click a link and it kinda first refreshes the page ur on. When posting, at least on quick reply it gets a duplicate post error

Still can't find the flixster app

[nigel_williams]

Is anyone else having trouble logging into google docs to edit my online spreadsheet since the cupcake update ?

I've been responding to a thread about this on Google as it stops me accessing both Picasa and Google Docs. Seems that someone at Google is listening and has responded:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=086c4e3fb066a1d0&hl=en

[bumfrog]

Seems to be an ongoing discussion there, Google say it's a code of conduct issue. Seems to discriminate between 3rd party apps being OK for location sharing as it involves a user's conscious decision to install, but OS included app like Latitude will fall foul.....

Unless of course you are Vodafone and release a new handset with it enabled. So assuming all UK operators have signed up to this code of conduct, who is wrong? Should Vodafone also disable Latitude until it is resolved? Or is it just a smokescreen?

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=38d03d1454943bc5&fid=38d03d1454943bc5000469402dbf9ce3&hl=en

just to add to the latitude mystery, reading on a lot of the boards it appears that any G1 (not magic) + a UK sim (any provider) = no latitude!

[nigel_williams]

I think the firmware is set to block using the MCC which is mobile country code, so yes it is quite deliberate to block any UK sim in a G1.

[ArthurDent]

I'm having problems logging into Google docs and Picasa as well. I keep getting a Google help page telling me how to clear my cookies. :?:

[nigel_williams]

Funnily enough, I had the same issue, but that's what you have to do to make it to work! Clearing the cookies did the trick.

[Crazy Squirrel]

Got a new OTA firmware update this morning, was already on 1.5

Now:
Firmware: 1.5
BaseBand: 62.50S.20.17U_2.22.19.26I
Kernel: 2.6.27-00393-g6607056 san@sandroid#1
Build: CRB43

Before I was annoyed that I wasn't getting firmware updates even though the US had got them, or just because of promises/rumours i.e. cupcake taking longer... Now i'm kinda happy i'm gettign firmware updates I wasn't expecting but at a bit of a loss to discovering what's new in them.

[nigel_williams]

I just got the same update, the more info says it's a security update from Google but that's all.

Mine was updated using the manual method of copying the update.zip to the phone, so it's good to know everything is OK and I will get future updates.

This might explain why the Cupcake release was delayed by a week in the US if they found a security issue. Think I'll check out some forums and see what people are saying about it.

[Wishy]

[Edit] Speak of the devil. Talk about insistant, asked me three times while i were in the middle of reading email

[Hoskas]

I've been responding to a thread about this on Google as it stops me accessing both Picasa and Google Docs. Seems that someone at Google is listening and has responded:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=086c4e3fb066a1d0&hl=en

Strangley i just saw this now. but after the "security" update today all is now well and working.

Bizarre.

[ArthurDent]

Received the security update here too this evening.

[nigel_williams]

I installed Toggle Settings after reading about it on Android and Me http://www.androidandme.com/2009/05/guides/creating-custom-rules-with-toggle-settings-for-android/

Very nice app for changing the wireless, GPS, Bluetooth etc setting quickly and making your own profiles. What attracted me was the ability to setup rules to switch the profile, so I now have my phone switch to aircraft mode at 1am and back on again at 9am. So now the phone will not disturb me when e-mails arrive overnight as well as conserving power.

[Wishy]

Anybody found any non-googlemaps based mapping?

Going up on dartmoor in a few weeks, i won't get data but gps is obviously is good to go.

Thats not to say I can't use a map and compass, but i have gadgets to be used!

[nigel_williams]

Just had an e-mail from the Google forums, seems Latitude may be back....

Go to Market, search for Google Maps and install. Now when you open Maps, it says Join Latitude (again).

Wonder if this is deliberate or whether T-Mobile will start blocking again?

[BaggyDave]

Ouch found out tonight I am now locked out of Google Apps as it is content locked nice timing as Customer Servives is now closed . . . They are so going to get a piece of my mind for doing this all of a sudden with no warning !!!

[ArthurDent]

Nice one Nigel - thanks for that. :D

[Crazy Squirrel]

Yep Google Maps 3.1 seems to have lattitude back in and it's now been on my phone for 24hours (with reboots) and hasn't vanished.

My top 5 apps at the moment:
1) Google Search by voice - surprisingly accurate voice to text web/map searching! I was thinking, someone should do something that takes voice to text, runs it though a translator, then uses the text to voice library to say the translated text. Kinda like startrek's universal translator - just less accurate (which could be funny) and with a little delay.
2) Beebplayer - iplayer live/last week tv streams for wifi/vodaphone & three 3g. Also now live radio streaming.
3) Abduction! - Funky little platform jumping game
4) Movies by Flixster - Finally in the UK, movie reviews, trailers and cinema times. Would be good if you could log into flixster though
5) Touchdown - Exchange activesync, $25 to buy but free 5 day trial and after that you can still receive email (that's all i do).

[grounded_dreams]

2) Beebplayer - iplayer live/last week tv streams for wifi/vodaphone & three 3g. Also now live radio streaming.

Shame that the radio section doesn't seem to work on G3, only on Wifi

[Wishy]

My top 5

1) Connectbot - ssh to home, run centerIM, ftp stuff places, do cool stuff
2) GKCD - XKCD rocks
3) IPCalc - Cos its one less thing to remember
4) My Maps editor
5) Doom - Cos whats cooler than a phone with doom on it?

[nigel_williams]

Tough to name a top 5, but these are the apps I use regularly

1. Steel, better browser than the built in one, though the gap has narrowed since Cupcake
2. Buddymob, just started using this as a single client for Facebook, Twitter and GTalk. Also had a Latitude type function, but I'm inclined to use Latitude now.
3. MovieFinder, gives the times of movies at my local cinema
4. JS Weather, desktop widget giving weather forecast
5. aTrackdog, still prefer this to built in app update manager

GPS Status 2 is good for finding location and GPS Status, Google Place directory/Qype. Skymap for identifying stars, when I can see them ;) Twidroid is a good Twitter client.

[Smash41]

Does anyone know what happens to paid apps if you lose your phone. Is it tied to your google checkout account and therefore re-download them again for free?

[ArthurDent]

Anyone else having performance issues with Power Manager (trial version) installed?

Scrolling / page transitions went from being smooth to being very jerky. Uninstalled and everything back to normal.

[loftus]

Does anyone know what happens to paid apps if you lose your phone. Is it tied to your google checkout account and therefore re-download them again for free?

I have a HTC Magic and had to factory reset the phone. I was able to re-download my paid apps for no further charge. When the phone was reset all the apps I had downloaded were in the "My Downloads" section of the market.

[ArthurDent]

Anyone else on here had an OTA update recently?

Seems that very few people have received this latest update, and no-one over at Android Community seems to know exactly what the update did other than change the build number.

In "About Phone" the Build number now says CRC1.

[BaggyDave]

Yep had the update no idea what it was though

[nigel_williams]

I had the update also, not noticed any changes.

Had a play with the Voice Search (Google), it works really well.

[Wishy]

It said security fix when i pulled up the "more info"... Guess its just fixed an undisclosed issue then.

[ArthurDent]

Guess I won't be getting any more of these OTA updates. :D

I rooted my phone and installed the latest CyanogenMod rom. Very nice it is too.

Rooting isn't for the faint hearted though - there were a few moments where I thought I'd bricked the damn thing!

[Hoskas]

got the latest "security update" on monday.

Phone has been a nightmare since. constant signal loss. Web n walk not working at lease half the time. 3 crashes when attempting to make calls. Battery life halved.(been using a third party 2300 mAh one.

Anyone else having the same problems ?

[nigel_williams]

I haven't had any issues with mine, well certainly none as drastic as you describe. The only app that has given me trouble lately is the Steel browser which sometimes needs a Force Close.

[ArthurDent]

Wish I'd rooted this thing ages ago. Loving the cyano roms, esp with the multi-touch functionality in the stock browser. :D

[adencool]

just got one of these off ebay.

so far seams like a good phone, (can i say iphone esq, without the price)

but i having real problems with the battery, at most i seam to be getting 18 hours out of it, without really using it

this morning i was checking some emails etc (5-10 mins) and the battery dropped from 35% to 21%.

is this normal? how do people cope with this?

[nigel_williams]

Battery life is poor on the G1 with the e-mail sync running (which is the whole point of having one). I've found that running in GPRS mode, the battery lasts longer, so I only switch to 3G if I am using Google Maps or something else data hungry.

There seems to be a lot of press on the speculation that the G1 won't be able to cope with future Android OS updates due to the small flash memory. Not entirely happy with that, but let's see what happens before beating down the door of the local T-Mobile shop!

Came across this today, an app to Root your phone so you can easily install custom builds. Haven't tried this myself, but this might be a future solution for Android builds:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cfskzfjOMgc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cfskzfjOMgc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[ArthurDent]

Custom builds is definitely the way to go. With the cyanogen builds we're already getting snippets of donut mixed into cupcake. :D

[Wishy]

Custom builds is definitely the way to go. With the cyanogen builds we're already getting snippets of donut mixed into cupcake. :D

That looks good to me. I've just ordered a 8gb Class 6 card for it.

Have you seen a decent guide for installation?

[ArthurDent]

I followed the instructions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=442480

And I found this really useful too: http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/TableOfContents

I'd recommend using Cyano's Recovery Image instead of the default one recommended in the rooting instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=523558

I'd also make sure you've got the radio update installed as well. You'll need 2.22.19.26I - but you won't be able to install this until you've rooted. This installs from the recovery console, and there are instructions on how to do this on the code.google site.

If you get stuck with basic stuff just ask here; for anything else you'll have to trawl through the not very n00b friendly xda forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=448).

[Wishy]

Thanks for your help. 7DayShop.com (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=18) has dispatched the MicroSD card (I want more spare, and once i start doing this, i guess i'm fairly tied to keeping the same SD card in), so once that's arrived, I'll give it a go.

[Bubble]

Came across this today, an app to Root your phone so you can easily install custom builds. Haven't tried this myself, but this might be a future solution for Android builds:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cfskzfjOMgc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cfskzfjOMgc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


This won't let you root a G1 with any of the latest builds, ie my G1 is Build RC33 and it won't work at all(google plugged all the security issues that let you root)...but, not so much of a loss, seems relatively simple to root it by downgrading to an older build ie RC7 and then trying this program out again :)

Will do it over the weekend if I get a chance, let you know how I get on, really looking forward to having a play around with all these ROMs that are floating about, especially Cyanogens :D

[Wishy]

I'm sort of half way through now.

I pop Cyano's Recovery Image on using the prescribed commands, when i reboot its there and i can do backups and all that useful stuff.
When i reboot again, its gone and its back to the default one.

Any thoughts?

[ArthurDent]

Hmmm....

Have you tried:

"flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img"

[Wishy]

XDA Developers sorted it - actually fairly helpful, they can't write a guide for toffee! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=523558&page=140 for others...

Cyanogen working nicely though!

[Wishy]

Cyanogen v4 is a hell of a lot faster than my standard ROM and comes with a nice selection of extra toys ;)

Worth the effort i think

[unrealnils]

have the option of getting this or the new g2 cheap on t mobile.

i wanted to know whats the main diffrences??

is the g2 much better??

i like the idea of the g1 having a physical keyboard over using the stylus to type (on screen keybaord)

[nigel_williams]

They've started to rollout 1.6 to some phones. no idea if this is UK yet:

http://androidandme.com/2009/10/carriers/t-mobile-news/android-1-6-ota-confirmed/

[ArthurDent]

Already got 1.6 by flashing Cyanogens final release before Google slapped the cease and desist on him.

[Wishy]

Already got 1.6 by flashing Cyanogens final release before Google slapped the cease and desist on him.

Unless your running the Alpha, its only part doughnut. And the alpha wasn't stable for me.

Give it a few weeks and i suspect we'll see more Cyanogen mods, just with a slightly more convoluted upgrade process

[nigel_williams]

I thought that it had been resolved amicably so to speak? Google say no to their own stuff like YouTube and Maps, but Cyanogen can release a bare bones Android ROM instead?

Will be interesting to see when we get it in the UK. We got 1.5 before the US (for a change), but I expect that was a one off!

[nigel_williams]

Seems that the US is getting the Donut 1.6 upgrade OTA at the moment. I managed to find the update.zip file on xda-developers but it won't load on my UK G1, so we will need to wait for the official upgrade.

There's a guide here anyway: http://androidandme.com/2009/10/beginners/guides/how-to-manually-install-the-official-t-mobile-android-1-6-on-your-g1/

[Matt.Wild]

If I master reset and IMEI unlocked phone, I presume it will stay unlocked?

[nigel_williams]

I would expect it will, although I'm not 100% sure. Might be best posting a question on XDA Developers forum or maybe the T-Mobile UK Forums?

[stupendo]

If I master reset and IMEI unlocked phone, I presume it will stay unlocked?

I presume you mean a network locked phone? Yes it should stay unlocked.

[nigel_williams]

Anyone tried flashing to the latest Cyanogen with Donut? Considering this now as TMob are dragging their feet and I think the performance benefits will be worthwhile.

Lately my G1 has started to lag badly, get the feeling it's an app with a bad memory leak or something.

[Smash41]

Any news on when the update will hit our UK handsets?

[nigel_williams]

Not that I've found. There were even some stories on one forum that T-Mobile UK said there were no updates coming for the G1, but I put that down to incompetence.

If it's not here by the weekend, I'm going to root and load cyanogen.

[nigel_williams]

Maybe I will wait till Monday, found this: http://www.fonehome.co.uk/2009/10/android-donut-update-for-htc-magic-rolls-out-october-19/#more-2517

[nigel_williams]

Seems they have started rolling out donut in the UK, there are reports on androidcommunity and the TMob forums.

[Wishy]

Still running Cyan 4.04, so I'm sort of half doughnut at the moment. Haven't had any time to look at the new Cyan mods.

[nigel_williams]

Still no sign of donut on TMob and Voda networks. Small number reported updates late last week, but maybe part of a very small test group.

I'll give it a few more days anyway, I can always try Cyanogen later.

[ArthurDent]

Since I've already got root access to my G1 I loaded the US T-Mobile OTA Donut from XDA forums.

Very nice it is too.

Here's a screenie of the new market from my G1:

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3312/markety.png

[nigel_williams]

Looks nice, just found a post on XDA developers with a link to the Donut update. It's 14MB zip file, so I think I might try that rather than waiting for TMob. It is now being rolled out, a couple of people have reported updates today as well as Vodafone users last night on their forums.

Link is here if anyone is interested: http://android.clients.google.com/updates/kila_eu/signed-kila_eu-DRC92-from-CRC37.a7b90b4e.zip

Don't understand why carriers don't just publish the URL to save the strain on their networks.

[BaggyDave]

Mine was updated yesterday, then spent a while updating the rest of it

[nigel_williams]

Mine was updated yesterday, then spent a while updating the rest of it

There have been a lot of app updates for Donut. Question now is whether 2.0 will fit on the G1, I'm hoping Cyanogen will come to our rescue or TMobile write a decent migration option.

[ArthurDent]

The ROM and SDK for 2.0 are out, but Cyanogen says they're useless to him - he needs the source code. Only a matter of time me thinks. :D

[Smash41]

Anyone else having issues getting onto T-Mobile Web/3G. Havent been able to get a connection for 2 days?

[ArthurDent]

All fine here Smash41

[nigel_williams]

Fine here also, been reading a few news sites and updating apps this morning.

[Smash41]

Strange one as I hadn't done anything irregular or installed any new apps.
Anyway a factory reset sorted it out.

[nigel_williams]

That is odd, have to say my G1 has been extremely reliable. It's only ever crashed once, and that was nearly a year ago on the original OS. Since Cupcake and now Donut, there has never been a problem with the phone itself.

[ArthurDent]

drocap2 is a great free screen capture app for those with root access.

[ArthurDent]

Code drop for 2.0 (Eclair) has happened and Cyanogen has all bar sound and video codecs working. Can't wait. :D

[Evil Badoshix]

Has anyone tried to install google navigation on their G1 yet?

I just stumbled upon the thread over at xda-dev, the process doesnt appear to be well documented. I might give it a go tonight if I feel brave enough :)

[ArthurDent]

Have binned manup's 2.1 (aka Eclair) on my G1.

It was getting very laggy, so it had to go.

Now trying wesgarner's WG-Build 2.6

[ArthurDent]

Just reporting back to say WG-Build Y-2.6 (CFS/Ramhack) is one of the best I've used to date. Very slick with hardly any lag. :D

[Wishy]

Has anybody looked at the new Elair mods? (Currently running CM 4.x, IE doughnut with Eclair apps). Is the G1 "Man enough"?

Cyanogen has a Nexus One and I feel the interest has moved to newer handsets.

[nigel_williams]

Looks like Cyanogen is gearing up for a new G1 release based on 2.x - there's a video here showing it in action:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3HVBVlAui3s&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3HVBVlAui3s&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

[Smash41]

Looks like Cyanogen is gearing up for a new G1 release based on 2.x - there's a video here showing it in action:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3HVBVlAui3s&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3HVBVlAui3s&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

How do I go about installing this? Still stuck on 1.6 and can't see T-Mobile updating it!

[nigel_williams]

This particular version isn't available yet, but previous version can be downloaded from his website: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/forum/2-htc-dream-htc-magic/?

There are guides there to follow, and on XDA Developers forum. It's actually quite easy to do.

In terms of Android 2.x, it's fairly unlikely that T-Mobile will ever release 2.x for the G1, the hardware is just too old.

[ArthurDent]

CM5 is working damn well for me here on my G1.

Only glitches I've noticed so far are the camera screen scrambling when you take a picture (pics look fine though), and several lags on returning to the home screen from various apps.

On the whole though it's a very good 2.1 rom.

[nigel_williams]

You're brave! But it does look very nice so I expect I will be doing it over the weekend once some of the bugs are ironed out.

Need to read up on the Danger bootloader, wait for someone to document the process so I can follow. Got another 3 weeks to wait till I can get an upgrade, so I might as well have a play with this new release.

[ArthurDent]

Have you decided what you're going to upgrade to?

I was looking at either the N1 or Desire, but then so is every man and his dog!

[ArthurDent]

This might help with the death spl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Oht-Ez3dk

[nigel_williams]

Desire is probably number one, just because it's available on all the networks, except there's no stock. I'm with T-Mobile, and while pricing was good on release, it's now probably the most expensive. Which means either the networks are price fixing, or it's artificially high since they can't fulfil orders. But I'm keeping an eye on all the deals/cashbacks etc so I am well armed when I call them mid-May to see what upgrades they will offer me.

Nexus One is on Vodafone now, but again at silly prices. I'm not a big enough user to warrant buying the handset outright.

My main issue with the Desire is it's locked down, and they're making it difficult to root. Given HTC are dragging their heels with the Hero, it's still on 1.5, I would be very unhappy with that slow delayed rollout if I was on a HTC handset that cannot be rooted.

[nigel_williams]

I think I need to get my head around this whole upgrade process again. I have the RA-dream-v1.5.2 installed and can run Nand Backups to the SD Card. I had a quick look at this new build pre-requisites and I do have the latest Radio installed.

Bit of a stupid question, but if I run a Nand Backup, flash the Danger SPL then the CM 5 beta, will the Nand backup let me restore everything to the phone i.e. apps, contacts etc? I also partitioned the SD Card when I did the last CM build, so I have some cache and apps2sd.

[ArthurDent]

Should be ok. I've done loads of nandroid + SD ext backups and never had any problems restoring, even after reformatting the SD.

[nigel_williams]

OK, well hopefully there will be another beta or maybe a release over the weekend. I'll wait for that then see how brave I'm feeling!

[ArthurDent]

OK, well hopefully there will be another beta or maybe a release over the weekend. I'll wait for that then see how brave I'm feeling!

CM5 test2 is out, but I'd hold back judging by all the issues folks are having over at XDA.

Having said that Htcclay has put out a very nice CM5 variant called SuperBad: http://www.androidspin.com/2010/05/02/rom-htcclay-superbadcm5-v1-0g-for-t-mobile-g1t-mobile-3g/

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, I read a few reports before going out this evening, I think that waiting a few more days is a good idea. My upgrade date is the 19th of this month, but I don't know if T-Mobile have stock or realistic pricing on the Desire, so I may need to wait longer.

[ArthurDent]

My contract is up on 27th, but I'm leaning more toward the N1. The Desire looks great but I have concerns about HTC's track record with regards to android updates. Aren't they a bit slow? Whereas the N1 is likely to get far more regular updates.

[nigel_williams]

Totally agree, it's all very well having a nice new shiny phone with the latest software now, but in 6 months time when HTC still haven't rolled out 2.2 to the handsets, I'd be rather miffed. Given the CM upgrades for Nexus, it would be a good idea to stay with Google hardware if you like to tinker with the phone.

It's a pity the Nexus is on Vodafone only, nothing against Vodafone, but competition is a good thing. Not spotted any great deals yet, it's still stupidly prices at 30 quid plus, but maybe in another 2 weeks there will be some better offers from the 3rd party companies?

[nigel_williams]

My G1 has started giving me an error: Damaged SD Card. It seems to be working OK, but it is a little worrying.

Still waiting for a reasonable version of Cyanogen Mod to try, seems to be test4 now so maybe a reformat and install of 2.1 will sort me out?

[ArthurDent]

It should do, I assume you're using RA recovery? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=566669

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, I have the RA recovery installed. Trying to remember what else I did, think I have a swap partition and one for apps (apps2sd). So it should be NAND+Ext, Wipe, Install CM and then restore if I understand the process correctly.

Since I've got one more week on this contract, I'm wondering if it's worth playing around now! Wonder if T-Mobile have got any stock of the Desire yet?

[ArthurDent]

Now this is tempting...

Voda are doing the N1 for £99 with 1Gb of data, 250 texts, 75 mins talktime, for £25 a month over 24 months.

Hmm....

and is £51 cheaper than their Desire offering.

[nigel_williams]

That's not a bad deal, though I'm a little reluctant to sign up for 24 months. The battery on my G1 has pretty much given up within the 18 month timescale. There are some cashbacks available for Vodafone new contracts out there as well.

Also, Vodafone recently have announced what seems to be a hard limit of 500MB (although buying online gives you 1GB). I think 1GB is a reasonable amount for a smartphone like this, 500MB is a little low, and you may risk getting billed 5 quid more for breaching it.

[ArthurDent]

The gadget freak in me is very tempted to go for this.

[ArthurDent]

T-mobile are also doing the Desire:

24 months / £15 a month / 300mins / 300texts / unlimited data / £194.99 for the phone = £555 in total

That's on the E2Save (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=213) website.

[nigel_williams]

I'm going to speak to T-Mobile middle of next week, see what they can offer as an upgrade. I've been assured that upgrade pricing is far more competitive than what the website says.... pricing there is artificially high due to supply/demand problems.

Also going to check out Nexus One in Vodafone shop, see if it's been branded or mostly unmolested.

[nigel_williams]

I've just been speaking to T-Mobile, their upgrade dept was useless, couldn't offer me anything. So I called back and spoke to retentions. They said prices are high because of stock shortages, but they expect them to drop next week as they now have stock.

Anyway, best he could offer was free phone, 24 months at £24.50 for 300 min, Unlimited texts and data. Not great, so I will wait a few more days as they advised.

[BaggyDave]

I've just been speaking to T-Mobile, their upgrade dept was useless, couldn't offer me anything. So I called back and spoke to retentions. They said prices are high because of stock shortages, but they expect them to drop next week as they now have stock.

Anyway, best he could offer was free phone, 24 months at £24.50 for 300 min, Unlimited texts and data. Not great, so I will wait a few more days as they advised.

I got the same for £20 a month, but Royal Mail lost the phone, I skipped the unlimited texts though and swapped it to unlimited calls to other T-Mobile Phones which does not effect the 300 mimnutes ( and still got 300 txt's )

90% of the calls I make are to other T-Mobile phones though so made sense

Just hope I get the phone sometime soon :mad:

[ArthurDent]

@nigel_williams

I've got Amon-RA v1.5.2 installed - don't see the need to update to the newest version.

I do all my updates using Amon-RA.

Before updating to Danger SPL make sure you have the latest radio - 2.22.23.02

Then install Danger - guides on xda.

Backup using Nandroid, and then copy the nandrid folder to your pc. Wipe everything, repair the sd-ext (found in the partition section of recovery) and then flash the CM5 test7 and Gapps files.

Reboot - job done.

[nigel_williams]

OK, I think that's the version of Amon-Ra I have installed, so I will leave it if it's compatible.

I have the 2.22.23.02 installed already, so I should be set to go. Will read a few of the guides while watching the football :)

[nigel_williams]

OK, it's working I think! Followed the guide here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=684101 and the instructions on CyanogenMod page.

The thing is, I did a wipe, but not the SD Card, didn't do the repair the sd-ext you mentioned either.

But Android 2.1 seems to be there and working, most of my apps are working as well, so not sure if I need to do the nandroid restore now?

[ArthurDent]

Nah, forget the Nandroid. Nandroid gives you a complete system wide backup image of the operating system on your phone - almost like a disc image if you like. You only tend to use the nandroid backup if you don't like the rom you just flashed and want to quickly get back to where you were before you wiped and installed a new rom.

I've used nandroid a couple of times - bit of a rom whore really. Some of the HTCclay roms are really great, but I've also been trying out some of the 2.1 roms that have been really laggy - so nandroid is great for restoring a previous working rom on your phone.

[Wishy]

Hows performance under the cyanogen 2.1 brew?

[ArthurDent]

Hows performance under the cyanogen 2.1 brew?

Very very good. Not noticed any lagginess normally associated with 2.1 roms.

Battery life is good too. :D

[nigel_williams]

My battery is very tired, I only get about 4-5 hours out of it so it will be interesting to see if this 2.1 build is any better.

Did you try the JItFix in the link above?

[ArthurDent]

No, didn't do anything beyond installing the rom.

[nigel_williams]

OK, might give it a try anyway, see what happens.

Just need to understand something about Nandroid. The simple backup takes a snapshot of the Android System, and if you use +Ext that does partitions on the SD Card? So if I am using apps2sd, I should do this to ensure they are backed up as well?

So when upgrading like this, the Danger SPL has re-partitioned the internal memory of the phone and thus trashed the old 1.6 based system. I could of course restore from Nandroid which will then restore data to the new partitions.

Just noticed that although all my apps are still there, the update manager for the market is getting a little confused. It just said 9 updates available, but when I open the market, none of them show as Update Available. Might need to go through them and "re-install".

[ArthurDent]

Yup, Nandroid +ext backs up the system image and your ext partition on the sd card (your apps).

Despite having DangerSPL repartition the internal phone memory you shouldn't have a problem performing a Nandroid restore.

I can almost guarantee that you'll never go back to the standard 1.6 rom - you might try other 1.6 roms but the original sucks the big one compared to all the others out there. And I think you'll become a bit of a rom whore once you get more confident flashing new roms. I've lost count of the number of roms I've tried. :D

The best roms are from Cyanogen and HTCclay.

Some of the Sense roms are nice but they're lag central compared to the standard roms.

[nigel_williams]

That does make sense, I am an IT person but it's making sense of the terminology that takes the time! So when going from 1.6 to 2.1, there's not really a way (with Nandroid) to maintain the installed apps? I suppose there must be 3rd party apps for backing up your config and moving it to a new "OS".

With the limitations of the G1, I expect this is the end of the road.... but it's been a good journey :) I'm quite happy not having Sense installed, I expect it will be quite laggy as you say.

I think Cyanogen and the team do an incredible job, I'm amazed that people from HTC, LG, Sony etc are not beating down their doors! We might get ROMS out more quickly!

Typically, the day after I install, they release 5.0.7 on Dream : http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/topic/3908-cyanogenmod-5-for-dreammagic-mean-lean-pastry-machine-v507-05252010/

[ArthurDent]

Know how you feel. I installed test7 on Sunday!

Looks like Cyan changed quite a lot: http://github.com/cyanogen/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/eclair/CHANGELOG

Off-topic - on my way back to the car this afternoon (after giving blood) I dropped into Phones4U. Best deal they could do on the N1 was £30 for 24 months (free phone). Still like the idea of the HTC HD2 with android, but that's not available yet. :(

[nigel_williams]

Hopefully Cyanogen will be sorting out the CM Updater, at least that's what his Twitter feed says. He's done a release for Droid and N1 as well.

Charged my G1 earlier, took it off at 4pm and went to Tesco then gym, it was at 45% after 3 hours! Think I'll let it run through a few cycles to calibrate, it's actually not much different to the last CM 1.6 build as I think the battery is worn out.

N1 pricing has no competition, and Vodafone isn't exactly the cheapest network. Will PM you the deals I've spotted.

[ArthurDent]

Love spreadsheets me - did this one with the Phones4U pricing:

http://www.ubuntu-pics.de/bild/70419/selection_001_c2CIHc.png

Comparing buying the phone and having a sim-only deal Vs a contract with Voda.

EDIT: For clarity - that's buying the N1 from Google or UK based eBay seller.

[nigel_williams]

How sad are we, I did the same thing on Google Docs as there are so many deals for the Desire and it's hard to visualise unless you tot up the total costs! Even through the 3rd party internet suppliers, it seems Vodafone don't shift much from their standard pricing.

See my PM, it might save you some more money on Vodafone contracts.

[ArthurDent]

Just seen your PM.

Good saving to be had there - will defo look into that. :D

Thanks!

[nigel_williams]

It can be a little hit and miss, clear your cache first and it works better, I've had to manually submit occasionally but not had problems getting money due.

[nigel_williams]

4 hours and 30 minutes and my battery is down to 5% That's with the phone being idle on GPRS with gmail and Twitter (20 minute interval) updates running only.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a Nexus, doesn't look like Desire is going to be in stock anywhere soon anyway!

[Wishy]

Might be worth spending a couple of quid swapping out the battery

[nigel_williams]

Might be worth spending a couple of quid swapping out the battery

Yeah, I've considered that, but I'm still dithering over an upgrade so not sure it's worth it. I have a portable charger, one of those kensington things that can top me up if I'm out all day.

[ArthurDent]

Thought I'd post this here rather than clog up the Desire thread....

Upgrade time and this is what t-mobile are offering me:

http://www.ubuntu-pics.de/bild/71513/selection_002_J7fcx4.png

Doesn't look like they're overly keen on retaining my business! :lol:

[nigel_williams]

It's quite shocking really for an industry that regularly moans about the churn of customers..... is it any wonder when they give you such bad deals when you've been a loyal customer for the last 18 months or so?

What I don't understand is if you go to the 3rd party resellers, you can get better deals on the same network.

[nigel_williams]

BTW, I had a look on the Cyanogen forum last night and found there was a thread on battery drain, so I'm not alone. It recommends going to Spare Parts and setting the End button action to Sleep. So it looks as though the phone was staying awake all the time after clicking the End/Power button despite the display being off.

Seems to be running much better now, down to 90% after 1 hour but I did make a 15 minute call. Not great, but much better than it has been lately.

[ArthurDent]

Glad to hear it's a lot better.

I'm going to phone t-mobile retentions tomorrow to see what they can offer me, or I'm off to voda with the Galaxy S if I can still get the 12 month contract with e2save.

[nigel_williams]

It's a bit weird, tonight it was down to 75% after 4 hours, and that was after doing some surfing while in the gym for 20 minutes (on a bike).

Samsung does look like a nice phone, again it Vodafone only so far, so if you can get a cash back deal with e2save it might be OK.

Let us know how you get on with T-Mobile, I had no luck earlier this week.

[ArthurDent]

Will do. :thumbs:

But in all honesty they've only got one phone, the Desire, that I'm interested in, and if they're not interested in retaining my business I'm off. I know where I'm not wanted! :D

[nigel_williams]

Yeah, I know what you mean as another "valued" customer.

Had a quick look for deals on the Galaxy S last night, seems to be comparable if not slightly better than the Desire, so maybe Samsung handset prices are lower? Hopefully the handset will be available by end of next week, which is probably earlier than the next batch of Desires!

Just tried switching the G1 back on and battery was dead... strange. It was at 44% at about 2am when I switched it to aircraft mode, so I don't understand why it can burn through that much battery while idle?

[ArthurDent]

Mine die in the middle of the night, but the battery was still in the green zone when I turned off the sync feature via the power control widget. I've set mine to "sleep" now as well when I hit the end action button - see how it goes.

[ArthurDent]

:nuts:

Just phoned up and asked for my PAC and was given it straight away, no questions asked!

That just confirms to me that they're not interested in the slightest in keeping my business. :lol:

Bye bye t-mobile! :wave:

[nigel_williams]

I think they are fighting a losing battle with their bizarre pricing structure for the Desire. The guy I spoke to earlier this week was really quite negative, it's only because they said my PAC was going to cost me money (as my end date is really mid-June) that I didn't get it then and there.

[ArthurDent]

Went for the Samsung Galaxy S, £109.99 up front and £35 a month on a 12 month contract with Voda.

Thinking was, if I don't like the phone I should have no problems moving it on after 12 months, and if I do like it I can drop onto a sim only deal and save some dosh. :D

Edit: Oh, and to soften the blow I can trade my G1 in and e2save will give me £71 for it.

[nigel_williams]

That's not bad for a top end phone on a 12 month contract. So that's £35 x 12 + £110 so £530 for the year with 100 min, 500 text and 500MB. Should be easy to sell 12 months from now, looks like it's built to last.

[nigel_williams]

This is bizarre, been looking at deals with redemptions etc Working out total costs for the handset and line rental etc, seems I can get Desire with 600 min & 500 text, data for only £15 more than the 100 min/txt deal. Of course that depends on redemption/cashback working.

[nigel_williams]

Does anyone know how to wipe a G1 of my personal data? A friend wants to buy the phone, so I tried the Privacy->Factory data reset. This resets the phone, but when it re-starts, my gmail settings are still there.... I was expecting the phone to return to the original first time setup wizard, or something similar.

Phone is running the latest Cyanogen 5.0.8.

[ArthurDent]

Try going into recovery and wiping dalvik-cache and sd-ext and reboot.

[nigel_williams]

Try going into recovery and wiping dalvik-cache and sd-ext and reboot.

Thanks, should have looked there earlier, too many beers last night :)

I actually tried the Factory reset in recovery, that seems to have worked well. On reboot, I now get the startup wizard I was expecting. Best call my friend and let her know I can give her the phone now.