The Hitchhiker's Guide to the G1 Google Phone, Post-Cupcake Edition
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T-Mobile G1 Phone with Google, White (T-Mobile)
Price: $49.99
List Price: $399.99 |
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T-Mobile G1 Phone with Google, Black (T-Mobile)
Price: $49.99
List Price: $399.99 |
Features: What works, what doesn't, and how to fix it
Headsets
Bluetooth headsets seem to work fine on the whole, and since update 1.5 stereo bluetooth is now supported via A2DP and AVCRP.
The wired headset that comes with the G1 gives good sound quality, but the limitation of the phone is that it doesn't have a regular headphone/earphone socket, so for wired accessories you have to buy those that are specifically designed to be compatible with the phone
However, US and some UK owners now receive a mini USB to 3.5mm adaptor with the G1 which allows them to use a regular headset or headphones.T-Mobile have failed to give a straight answer to repeated queries about how they dole out these adaptors, so it's a bit of a crapshoot whether you get one or not.
File Transfer
File transfer over the USB cable works fine, although the method has changed from the Quick Start guide that comes with the phone, which has confused some people (me included). When you plug the USB cable in, a prompt will come up on the G1's notifications area (the pulldown at the top of the screen), saying "USB Connected - select to copy files to/from your computer". Tap the message, and when the next box pops up on screen select "Mount". After that, your computer will see the G1's SD card as an external drive, just like a Flash drive.
Everything the phone has stored on your SD card is organised pretty clearly, and your digital photos are under the folder called "dcim". You can copy your music, photos etc. into any folder and the G1's software should find them.
File transfer over wifi is possible using the Android Market application aFile Lite. It's very easy to use and powerful, does the job nicely. See the relevent section in Part 2: Applications for more details.
There was word of Google including OBEX (file transfer over Bluetooth) in the 1.5 update, but it's failed to materialise. However, with cable and wifi options available most people shouldn't be too stuck, and OBEX can apparently be added later with a simple software update.
Synchronizing With Your Applications
The G1 is designed to synchronize seamlessly and continuously with Google's own solutions for calendar, contacts, email etc. Therefore there are unlikely to be direct solutions from Google to sync your G1 with your Windows, Linux or Mac desktop over Bluetooth or a cable.
However, there are a number of ways to sync Google's online services with your desktop, giving a two-stage solution. I'm not going to go into them here because I feel they're outside the scope of this article, but they're well documented on Google's own help pages and on the web. If you're really stuck, drop me a comment and I'll see if I can help.
Using Your G1 As a Modem ("Tethering")
Hooking up your G1 to a laptop or desktop computer, so the machine can access the phone'sinternet connection and effectively use it as a modem.
There are several applications in the Market which will allow you to do this, but only for rooted (cracked) phones. The only easy-to-use option so far is June Fabrics' PDAnet for Android. It's nice and easy to use, but unfortunately so far it requires Windows on the computer, and must be connected by cable. Bluetooth, Mac and Linux support may come in the future.
Audio Playback and Recording
At the moment Android can play audio in the following formats: AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MIDI, MP3, Ogg, WMA and WMV. Playback is pretty good and stable in my experience. See my separate post on applications for more information. Other formats may be added with future operating system updates, or new applications may expand that list.
The G1 can record audio, and many applications use the functionality.
Video Playback and Recording, and Flash
Right now the Android only supports video in MP4 format and from YouTube (not through the browser but through dedicated programs, which are actually grabbing MP4 versions of the YouTube videos), and it has to be in quite a restricted format. You can use any video converter compatible with the iPod Touch or iPhone to make videos which will play in Android - Videora is very good.
Other video formats will probably have to wait for an operating system update, although someone may figure out a way to add formats with an application.
Since the 1.5 update, Android now has its own video recorder, the Camcorder application. It's fast, easy to use and records good quality video. Previous third party video recording apps have had a major drain on the battery, hopefully the integrated version will be a little less heavy on the juice.
Macromedia have officially announced that they are working towards making Flash 10 available for smartphones, including Android-based devices like the G1. However, they are not making any commitment to timescale except to say that it will be out by the end of 2009.
BSQUARE have announced that they will be porting Flash to Android for "A global Tier 1 carrier". Here's hoping that means it'll be available on the T-Mobile G1. No word on the development/release schedule as yet.
The Battery
The big failing of the G1 is battery life. Between the big screen, multiple wireless connections and heavy processor use from the constantly running background applications, the installed 1150mAh battery doesn't last long.
Managing your wireless features can help. The Power Manager application from the Market allows you to control bluetooth, wifi, GPS and cell location in one screen, and flip from 3G to 2G, all of which extend the charge on the battery.
The big drain is the 3G - the G1 wastes a lot of power searching for a 3G connection when one isn't available (hopefully this will be improved with the Cupcake release). I'd suggest turning it off when you're not actually browsing/downloading - your email etc. will still sync just fine, and if you get notified that, for example, a podcast is downloading in Podweasel, you can flip 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. It turns out that Li Ion batteries have internal electronics that keep track of their charge level, but sometimes need calibrating, and the G1's battery often doesn't ship ready-calibrated.
To calibrate your battery, let the G1 run all the way down, past the warning messages about low battery charge, until it turns itself off. You may need to turn it on again a couple of times - keep going until it won't power up at all. Then recharge to full and leave on charge for at least a couple more hours. You should find a significant improvement in battery life. This may need repeating every month or two, but don't do it too often as fully cycling the battery causes extra wear (mostly due to heat).
The only other option is to carry an extra battery to swap in when needed, or a higher-capacity battery. You can find the top-rated batteries in Part 4: Accessories.
The Camera
The G1 is fitted with a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, although unfortunately it doesn't have a flash. The onboard camera application has been drastically improved by the 1.5 update, and now has very fast focussing and a nicer interface. However, it still doesn't have all the features of third-party candidate SnapPhoto, which is available from the Android Market - see Part 2: Applications for more information.
About the author
Mark Hewitt is an English writer, foodie, cook, psychologist, techie and shaman. At the start of 2007 he sold or gave away almost all his possessions and hitch-hiked across North America for a year and a quarter, the purpose being (at least in part) to figure out why he would want to do such a thing. Right now he is mostly occupied with his new site, Day of X.
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Comments
great site ive been looking for a P-A-M app for weeks first place i was able to find it thanx alot
great info. I await this phone with mounting impatience.
3.5 headphone jack into USB (allowing any headphone) IS NOW shipping with T-Mobile UK G1, just unwrapped it
Hey Ben, thanks for the heads-up! I'll add it to the Hub in a minute.
Hi Ben. If you're still watching these comments, could you drop me an email through the "Contact Endgamer" link at the top right of the page? I can't get T-Mobile to confirm that they're shipping the adaptor with new G1s, they say they haven't heard about it, and I'd like to confirm some details with you. Much appreciated!
The "trick" to enable you to check for OTA updates might possibly get your phone updated a few hours ahead of the herd when the long awaited RC9 (or will it be 11, or IYFN (Insert Your Favourite Number)) become available. If you take a look at the bottom of the Device Info screen but resist the temptation to keep pressing the Check for Upgrade button, you will notice that your phone has checked in automatically quite recently anyway.
I'd be very interested to know what sort of things can usefully be typed into the Requested Build Type box just above the magic button. Any ideas?
Hey Antient - yeah, the checkin seems to happen pretty regularly anyway, it's more a placebo for the desparate or obsessive :) I don't know what else that field does - tried a few things but it made no difference at all. A developer might know, I suppose, but I suspect anything interesting it might do will be locked out.
I got hold of one of Google's press guys, and he says the UK OTA is "due very soon" and he'll mail me as soon as he knows more - my impression was it's currently with T-Mobile for final QA before release, which is promising.
Only just discovered your G1 hubs - nice work. Thanks for the news on Cupcake and please let me know as soon as you hear anything definitive from Google/T-Mobile.
Thanks for your comment, Sofasurfer. I've now heard back from t-mobile regarding the 3.5mm adaptor, bad news unfortunately. I still have to follow up with them about the OTA update.
As I type, 06:25 on March 4th, the RC9 update is downloading *slowly* to my phone (4Mb down and another 13Mb to go!). I can only get a 2G connection in my office. I'll post more when I have it installed. And yes, I did discover the upgrade by using the checkin "trick" :-)
Well, it's a kind of non-event! No voice anything, no Latitude. There are the expected minor tweaks to Market, so goodbye aTrackDog! But there's not much to get excited about, as far as I can see.
Thanks for the report, Antient! Well, not everything we had hoped but at least there's some kind of closure ;)
I know this might not be quite the right forum, but I had a very odd experience with the G1 last night, and it may possibly be RC9 related. After being in my jacket pocket in a weak signal area for an hour or so my phone first decided it had no signal, then it found a signal and decided it was roaming and warned me about lack of data service because I do have data while roaming switched firmly off. Roaming? Well, I had crossed the border. From Sidcup in Kent to Caterham in Surrey! Before I could take a look at the phone status it lost the signal again, and the oddity never repeated itself. Weird, huh?
The T-Mobile G1 as shipped in the UK (mine arrived on 5th March) has an adapter for 3.5mm headphones. It is actually a lead, miniUSB to what looks like a Mic with button, and a 3.5mm socket.
Sadly it looks like I'll have to end up using this if I want music in my ear, rather than my pocket, as Bluetooth still isn't sorted :-(
i just gt the g1 bt it keeps turnin its self off does ne 1 no y dat is?
Maybe it's horrified by your spelling?
I would take it back to T-Mobile, sounds like it's got a bug. The only reason I can think for it turning itself off would be if you hadn't charged it up.
Well, now into Q2 and no sign of the much awaited Cupcake...
Did anyone see The Register yesterday?
I can't post the URL here, the editor seems to mangle it.
Just look for an article at www.theregister.co.uk on May 1st that talks about "T-Mobile Abandoning Blighty"
I wonder where this might leave UK G1 users in particular and T-Mobile customers in general? :-(
Well, It's not a total surprise - T-Mobile's always been poorly regarded in the UK (mostly because they underinvested in their towers - a lot of people I know wouldn't switch to them because reception is so poor compared to other networks). If they do pull out, I'm sure another network will take over their exclusive G1 deal, it's a pretty desirable product. And T-Mobile have to honour their contracts, so you're not going to just lose your G1's functionality all of a sudden.
This is really good information.
It's Wednesday 6th May, at 05:55am, and the Android 1.5 Update is downloading on my G1 as I type this message :-) It's 30.5Mb, and downloading painfully slowly -- I'm in a "not very good" signal area, my office. I don't want to move away from there, because I have always made sure firmware updates for whatever device happen when the device is on its charger, not relying on the battery during such a delicate and potentially dangerous operation. Download has completed -- it took just over 8 minutes, and is now installing. More news later, I guess!
Woohoo! Thankyou Antient, that really is good news!
+ 1
Don't know how long it took to download - it was waiting to be installed when I got out of the shower at 08:03
Also not sure exactly how much of the 'promise' has been bundled in this release. When's v2 due? ;-)
Damn, everyone's getting Cupcake but me! Still no sign on my G1...
First impressions. It looks slightly sexier. :-)
Quite a few applications are broken by this release. More or less all of Andrew Schwimmer's ToggleX suite no longer work. The one I miss most is ToggleBlu. It's now slightly more long winded to turn on bluetooth when I get into the car and turn it off when getting out. I used MissedCall to manage the flashing LED when bluetooth was on and/or active. That doesn't seem to work any more.
The motion sensor is disabled by default as regards automatic screen rotation. It can be set in the Sound & Display menu.
The Device Info screen no longer exists, it would seem. It was redundant for checking for OTAs, but did provide a lot of useful/interesting build information.
I panicked when I couldn't find the Pictures application. It has been renamed to Gallery. Phew!!!
The Market told me that some of my applications needed updating. I did that. Then I looked at its "My downloads" page. Most of my applications were showing as FREE rather than Installed. As a precaution I re-installed them all. It seems OK now!
Thanks for the update, mate. Sounds like the transition to 1.5 is going to be a little rocky - let's hope it's worth the hassle!
Market has just 'enabled' me to update 22 apps!
No real issues with this, however it's not actually getting new or updted apps most of the time - odd.
Antient - did you get prompted to update missedcall?
Poggle,
I don't recall being prompted to update it, and I'm leaning towards it being in the list that showed as FREE rather than Installed. I'll give it another go to see if I can get it working. I only use if for the flashing LED! :-)
One issue I did have was a wrestling match with getting the hands-free kit in my car and the phone to play nicely with each other as they had done just before the update. I eventually had to do a manual connect on the phone with the paired MY CAR device. Having done that once it seems to connect automatically and reliably now.
Totally unrelated to that, I've switched back to using the normal battery rather than the fat 2200mah one I bought. Does anyone know how much (if anything) battery life is supposed to be improved in 1.5?
Antient (and hopefully Mark has his update by the time he reads this!).
I have missedcall - mainly for the flashing LED, but also set to remind me with a sound every 30 mins after I've missed a call. It bombed out after the update. I went to Market twice - on the second visit it prompted me with "updates" for another 15 odd apps - missedcall was one of them. I 'installed' it (reinstalled it) and it's fine now.
I've noticed bluetooth is playing up after the upgrade - may try a rediscovery, hadn't thought of that, cheers.
YES! It's finally downloading! Started just after I got up this morning. I think they delayed mine because I said nasty things about their release policy :) Report when I have it.
Good show!
Looking forward to your thoughts.
I completely uninstalled MissedCall and re-installed it. I'm not close to the car to test, but when I simply enable bluetooth, I get no flashing LED. That used to work, but doesn't now. I'll see if anything happens when it connects in the car later.
I think I've found my first irritation.
Left phone on last night, not on charge - almost dead this morning. Put on charge at 08:30, it's still on charge and only up to 86% as I type this (12:50). I'm guessing there's some kind of software controlled charging - which is possibly trying to better condition the battery (?) - but it's a lot slower than before.
Interesting. I'm recalibrating my battery right now for a proper runtime test of Cupcake - finally managed to get it discharged about half three by running all the wireless features and playing audio for over an hour :) Should be able to give a solid figure on battery life sometime tomorrow (or later, if it really is improved!)
good!
Alright guys, my initial impressions are up at http://www.silverknife.co.uk/tech/2009/05/g1androi
One thing is really bothering me. I use AnyCut a lot to put shortcuts to Activity functions on to the Home screen. Most of the time it works perfectly. I find it particularly useful to be able to access the "Data Synchronization" function quickly and directly from Home. It worked fine on the previous version of Android. On 1.5, the shortcut is created OK, and works absolutely perfectly -- until I power cycle the phone, when it mysteriously vanishes. So far this is the only vanishing shortcut I have found; everything else stays on the Home screens over multiple reboots. Can someone try this and see if it is the same for them?
Hey Antient - yep, I can confirm this. Added the shortcut, rebooted and it was gone. I'd get in touch with the Anycut folks, this may be a known bug or one that will clear up with their next update; they're bound to have a few Cupcake-related bugs to fix with a whole new operating system to integrate.
My post-Cupcake battery life test is now up: http://www.silverknife.co.uk/tech/2009/05/g1androi
If you're strapped for time, here's the summary: Bollocks.
"If you're strapped for time, here's the summary: Bollocks."
I'm not sure I'd be as complimentary. Fully charged this morning at 08.00hrs, currently (13.10hrs) showing 46%
Well, I had my doubts as to how much they could cut down battery drain, considering the real problem is the big screen and wireless connections. Ho hum...
Now updated post-Cupcake!
This morning a "security update" to Android 1.5 came OTA. No clue what it fixes, obviously! That would be "too much information" :-)
I just did the manual cupcake update 1.5...i notice now that when i connect the usb from my phone to my computer the "mount" option is no longer there so now i cant connect my G1 to my computer anymore..I've been playing around looking for a setting to fix it and haven't found anything...has anyone been able to fix this? my friend is having the same problem...
Hi Alex. I take it you're in the US? Unfortunately a manual update has the potential to do unpredictable stuff to your G1, depending on what version of the firmware you downloaded. You'd be better to look on the Android forums, or just google your problem to see if there's a known bug...
Video recording with cupcake was supposed to support 3gp and mp4 - I can only get it to record in 3gp. Any ideas how to record in mp4?
Hi John. As far as I know, the capacity to record mp4 is now part of the operating system but the Android official "camcorder" doesn't support it (yet).
However, Android7 have a free application called "Video recorder/Video Camera" which is in the Market, and you can then download another app called "Android7 Video Converter" which will supposedly convert the videos into MP4. I say supposedly because it keeps crashing on mine, but I think that's because of a separate issue :) Give it a try anyway, and drop us a comment if it works as others may be looking for the same thing.
Hi guys. As you've probably gathered the G1 stuff is mostly on the back burner, apart from answering comments here, but come and check out my new humour blog http://www.dayofx.com if you get the time!
jmichaels59 says:
10 months ago
Nice hub, lots of good info! I am looing foward to getting one, and keeping up with "updates" on your hub.
Tanks..Mike