A one-stop guide for the T-Mobile G1 Graet Report cellphone, going for walks on Google’s Android cellular operating device. Android is an open supply mission designed mainly to make it easy for developers, experts, and novices to create programs that get the right of entry to each part of the phone’s hardware. “To ensure an amazing revel in with the T-Mobile G1 with Google, customers with these gadgets will get hold of an Over the Air (OTA) update to their gadgets between February 5 and February 15. This OTA will consist of new system enhancements and the potential to save pics or files to file by long-pressing an object, looking for device updates, and using the Google Voice Search feature. The OTA may even fix some of the troubles that are regarded. New G1 activations will receive the OTA up to 3 days after the carrier has been activated.”
This replaces to be quite lots as indexed above, including the capability to keep images and documents with a protracted press, solving a few minor bugs (none of which I’ve personally experienced, but which have been bothering different human beings), and adding Voice Search (which is pretty cool). It’s come to many clients in the US, but there may now not be much greater phrases of data about it, probably as it’s alternatively simple. There appear to be a few situations where Voice Search is becoming available inside the UK – apparently, it has trouble with our accent! This may delay or modify the UK launch.
If you do not want to watch for the frenzy from T-Mobile, a trick permits you to pressure the G1 to test for updates, courtesy of a poster at the Android Talk forums. You’ll need Any cut installed from the Market. Now, long-press in a clean display space, and choose Shortcut/Any cut/Activity/Device data. When you tap this shortcut, it will take you to a display with several thrilling system facts. Scroll all manners to the lowest; there may be a button to check for updates. If you click on it, it just says “CHECKIN_SUCCESS,” there’s no replacement.
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Coming Update – Cupcake
A first-rate update, or collection of updates, is coming in 2009 for the G1 and other Android phones. It comes from the development branch, Cupcake, and could encompass several fixes and improvements and upload various features for your phone. It should download directly to your G1 over the air and update without problems.
The professional Google role continues to be that it’s geared up while it’s equipped; however, it is focused on the primary region of 2009. We realize that a completely early version was released to application developers around January 16th. T-Mobile has taken word of the flood of emails and calls about the difficulty and is seeking to push this forward as quickly as feasible from their end.
Some predicted functions for this update are:
* Option to save pix and attachments from text messages
* Ability to duplicate and paste textual content within the browser
* Search-within-text for the browser
* Improved video support – video recording, better playback, and thumbnails
* Stereo Bluetooth help
* Onscreen keyboard so that you can type on the display screen as opposed to having to slide the keyboard open
* A discount in battery drain, mainly through greater efficient use of processing strength.
* Latitude, a geo-conscious touch machine
The tender keyboard is one of Cupcake’s most eagerly-awaited capabilities – the potential to go into text via an onscreen keyboard without opening the slide on the G1. This function is now provided through a third-celebration software – dotphone.Org’s Soft keyboard, which is available inside the market now. I’ll give extra details and a few records of how to use it (the capability isn’t obvious at once) in my 2d article on Applications.
Features: What works, what doesn’t, and the way to repair it
Headsets
Bluetooth headsets appear to paint the best, but the device does not yet guide stereo over Bluetooth, so any audio playback might be the handiest mono sound. This may be constant with the Cupcake update. The stressed headset that comes with the G1 offers the right sound first-rate, but the predicament of the phone is that it does not have an ordinary headphone/earphone socket, so for stressed add-ons, you have to shop for the ones that are specifically designed to be well suited with the phone.
However, the G1 now ships with an adapter in the US that lets you plug in a regular three in the US. With a 5mm headset. This isn’t the case within the UK, but T-Mobile has told me that if they receive enough feedback, they nicely alternate this policy and even deliver adaptors to current clients. If you’re a UK G1 customer, visit T-Mobile’s Contact Us page, scroll down to “send us an email,” and fill out the form to let T-Mobile understand that their clients want this accent! I was given a reaction to my shape, telling me that T-Mobile has no plans to modify the UK. They haven’t had sufficient grievance emails/calls to make this a problem – permit’s got on this, human beings!
File Transfer
Unfortunately, Android doesn’t support report transfer between a cellphone and a computer via Bluetooth. This will be added with the Cupcake update in mid-January. Because this selection is honestly missing from the underlying structure of the working gadget, it is almost impossible for anyone else to feature it (via a downloaded application, for example) until the update.
File transfer over the USB cable works satisfactorily, even though the technique has changed from the Quick Start manual that includes the phone, confusing some people (me covered). When you plug the USB cable in, a prompt will arise at the G1’s notifications place (the pulldown on the top of the screen), saying, “USB Connected – choose to duplicate files to/from your computer.” Tap the message, and when the subsequent field pops up on display, select “Mount.” After that, your laptop will see the G1’s SD card as an outside pressure, similar to Flash power. Everything the cellphone has stored in your SD card is organized pretty absolutely, and your virtual pictures are underneath the folder called “dim.” You can reproduce your tune, snapshots, and many others. It should be in any folder, and the G1’s software should find them.
Synchronizing With Your Applications
The G1 is designed to synchronize seamlessly and constantly with Google’s answers for the calendar, contacts, e-mail, and many others. Therefore, Google will not have direct solutions to sync your G1 with your Windows, Linux, or Mac laptop over Bluetooth or a cable. However, there are some ways to sync Google’s online services with your computer, giving a -degree solution. I’m no longer going to enter them here because I sense they’re out of doors the scope of this text, but they’re properly documented on Google’s help pages and the web.
Using Your G1 As a Modem (“Tethering”)
Hooking up your G1 to a PC or computing device PC so that the system can get the right of entry to the smartphone’s internet connection: Again, this is not supported simultaneously via the running machine. However, a workaround allows you to do it if you do not mind tweaking some settings. “Tetherbot” through Graham – a guide to tethering your G1 as a USB modem. Note: The simplest way to point Firefox to the proxy is to put in the Foxyproxy plugin. It’s experimental and complex, but now it has proved viable, and someone will be confident enough to make a friendlier, smooth-to-use solution quickly. When there may be one, I’ll put it up properly.
June Fabrics is in the early stages of developing a tethering solution for Android telephones, and an Android model of WMWifiRouter is also being improved. Both can be industrial (however inexpensive) solutions to the trouble and (if they work like each company’s preceding releases) will effectively turn your G1 into a wifi hotspot without needing another software program set up, making them like-minded with any computing device running system.
Audio Playback and Recording
Android can play audio within the following codecs: AAC, AAC, AMR-NB, MIDI, MP3, Ogg, WMA, and WMV. Playback is pretty proper and stable in my revel. See my next put-upon packages for greater information. Other codecs can be introduced with destiny operating system updates, or new applications may expand that list.
The G1 can record audio; a few packages already use the functionality. Video Playback and Recording, and Flash. Currently, Android only supports video in MP4 format and from YouTube (no longer via the browser but through devoted programs, which are grabbing MP4 versions of YouTube films), and it has to be in a restricted format. You can use any video converter compatible with the iPod Touch or iPhone to make videos that allow you to play on Android – Videora is very good.
Other video formats will probably look ahead to replacing a running machine, even though a person might also figure out how to add codecs with software. Flash support is coming quickly, with Adobe promising to operate carefully with the Android team. We could even have Flash in January. When it comes out, I’ll allow you to recognize it! Although Android would not officially assist with video recording, third-party software now offers this feature. This is precisely why an open-source telephone is an exciting proposition – the capability for unofficial 0.33 birthday party tasks to fill the gaps within the to-be-had functions!
Dotphone.Org’s Video Recorder/Video Camera, now available in the marketplace, records video to the SD card and plays it backk with a few performances. It’s still in beta and touch flak, but it works pretty nicely for me— although it will drain the battery in minutes.
The Battery
The big failing of the G1 is battery existence. Between the massive display, multiple wireless connections, and heavy processor use from the continuously going-for-walks heritage applications, the set-up of an 1150mAh battery would not be long. A current phrase from T-Mobile is that they’ve no plans to launch a stepped-forward battery for the G1 in the UK. Some G1 users within the US were shipped substitute batteries – an internal memo has reputedly instructed their helpline advisors to accomplish that in reaction to lawsuits – which boom battery existence by 22% without increasing the telephone scale.
If you are a UK G1 owner, I advise you to go to T-Mobile’s Contact Us page, scroll down to “ship us an email,” and fill in the shape to allow T-Mobile to understand that their clients need this service. With enough customers pitching in, we can call for a better device for our money. Managing your wi-fi functions can assist. The Power Manager application from the Market permits you to control Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS, and the mobile area in a single display and flip from 3G to 2G, extending the charge at the battery.
The large drain is the 3G – the G1 wastes a lot of energy searching for a 3G connection while one isn’t available (optimistically, this could be improved with the Cupcake release). I’d propose turning it off when you’re no longer truly browsing/downloading – your electronic mail and so on. It Will sync just fine, and if you get notified that, for example, a podcast is downloading in Podweasel, you may turn it on. This added almost 50% to my battery life immediately.
Many users can also improve things by calibrating the G1’s lithium-ion battery. Li-Ion batteries seem to have inner electronics that maintain song in their charge stage, but they occasionally want to calibrate. The G1’s battery frequently does not deliver ready-calibrated. Let the G1 run down to calibrate your battery, beyond the caution messages about low battery fees, until it turns itself off. You can also want to show it once more a couple of times – preserve going till it might not produce energy up in any respect. Then recharge to full and depart on charge for at least a pair more hours. You have to find a massive improvement in battery life. However, this may need to be repeated every month, or it should not be done too regularly, as cycling the battery causes greater wear (mainly due to heat).
The Camera
The G1 is equipped with a 3.2-megapixel autofocus digital camera, although sadly, it doesn’t have a flash. The onboard digital camera software is presently quite constrained, although it is expected to improve with the Cupcake update. A much better digital camera app is SnapPhoto, available on the Android Marke—see my subsequent article on packages for more statistics.
