24 Hours with the Android Dev Phone 1™

Posted on December 18, 2008 by schwa
  • Unboxing so not porn worthy. Developer unit came in a plain white cardboard box.
  • Initially thought it was smaller than my iPhone 3G. Then I realised I have a 3rd-party case on my 3G. I’d forgotten how slim the iPhone really was. G1 feels like a brick in comparison.
  • Slightly rubberised feel to it is good.
  • OMG NEW PHONE SMELL! (After about 18 hours the smell has all but gone)
  • Getting the rear case on to insert the battery and SIM card is a major pain.
  • The Mini USB and MicroSD covers are almost impossible to open if you have no fingernails.
  • Mini USB for charging and syncing is a huge win. I hate the iPhone/iPod USB cable with a passion.
  • No mini headphone jack – headphone has a mini USB plug on the end. WTF people?
  • I was led to believe the phone would feel cheap and poorly made. While it isn’t iPhone quality it feels pretty sturdy considering it has a flip screen.
  • AC Adaptor is just a generic brick. Apple spoils us with their industrial design.
  • Activation didn’t work out of the box. I failed to find a cardboard insert with the phone describing how to configure the phone’s APN for activation (did google it myself though).
  • Once activated it somehow managed to fetch all my contacts. Which surprised me because I didn’t think I stored any contact information on Google. Need to investigate.
  • The camera is so much better than the iPhone’s camera it is not even funny.
  • Built-in digital compass is really nice.
  • Hate hate hate hate the keyboard. At least it is backlit. I like the “fire and forget” autocompletion on the iPhone. I love having a keyboard while the screen is in portrait mode.
  • I hate flipping out that damned keyboard every 2 minutes.
  • 90% of the time when I flip out the keyboard I accidentally mash the volume control by mistake.
  • Volume controls are too soft and will be too prone to being accidentally mashed anyway.
  • Not found any use of multitouch yet – but doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
  • Only found a single app using the accelerometer (3rd party Texas Hold’em game). Every other app bases screen orientation on whether or not the keyboard is flipped out.
  • Turning off the G1 is silly – 4 or 5 steps
  • Dedicated camera button is silly again – and not re-mappable AFAICT.
  • Too many icons in the status bar. I don’t know what 1/2 of them mean.
  • There are just 3 installed widgets – not found a category in the store to find new widgets.
  • I like their “finder” more than the iphones. But both seem underdeveloped.
  • The browser is shit. You really get used to the double tap and multitouch features of Mobile Safari. I don’t use Mobile Safari too much (preferring dedicated apps) but it towers over the Android browser.
  • The E-mail app is functional – but plain. Cannot swipe to delete mail. To delete mail you seem to have to read it first. Ick.
  • In E-mail “message mode” so much screen real estate is taken up with buttons. This is the best Google can do?
  • Composing e-mail is plain. Again hating the keyboard.
  • Built-in calculator is so incredibly shit. This is definitely a huge 3rd party opportunity (whether it is intentional or not is another matter).
  • So far the flipout keyboard (and lack of onscreen keyboard) is the single biggest problem.
  • Vibrator is really cheap feel. dont know how to explain it.
  • Camera seems to have some kind of autofocus, while pointing it it clicks and refocuses, could be software I guess.
  • installing an app warns you about what features it uses: e.g. camera, your location, network, your contact info etc. Which is REALLY nice.
  • Dumb! Doesn’t have GPS turned on by default. Have to dig down silly menu system to find it. You would think the Maps app would prompt for it.
  • Barcode scanning works well with G1 (3rd party app). Would be impossible with iPhone.

That’s all I have for now. More coming.

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  • I read somewhere that there's no Android Marketplace on the dev phone, but it seems that you managed to get 3rd-party apps. Was my previous read inaccurate or are you using a different way to obtain 3rd-party apps?
  • Geniusdog254
    I believe the market is on there however all the apps are available on certain websites to download & install manually. Search modmygphone.com for more info. Hope this helps!
  • lainey
    Okay. Where did you get this phone? Is it from Apple? Is it a new phone they are making or just something you can use to develop software on to not trash your other phone?
  • Your contacts may have been synced to Google from Address Book, or by syncing your iPhone with iTunes.

    (I'm not in OS X right now, unfortunately, so I can't say exactly where the preferences to enable the syncing are, but I think the one in Address Book is in its Preferences somewhere, and I think the iTunes/iPhone one is on the "Info" tab of the iPhone section in iTunes.)
  • Kerri
    # No mini headphone jack - headphone has a mini USB plug on the end. WTF people?

    This is the single and most important reason that I won't use the phone as a music/media device. Yeah there's an adapter. But it's enough of a pain in the ass that I'll just still use my iPod, thanks.


    # I hate flipping out that damned keyboard every 2 minutes.

    I generally just flip the keyboard out when I start using the phone, and use it mostly in landscape mode. I don't flip back and forth. Seems to help.


    # Not found any use of multitouch yet - but doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

    It isn't there.


    # Turning off the G1 is silly - 4 or 5 steps

    Hold power button, then a confirmation tap, then another confirmation tap.


    # Too many icons in the status bar. I don’t know what 1/2 of them mean.

    You will very soon. IMHO the status bar is the killer app for the G1, once you get used to it. All messaging is created equal. I don't care if it's email, phone, SMS, Twitter, whatever, someone's trying to get in touch with me? That's how I know. All in one place, not scattered about various applications divided by and tied to various protocols.


    # There are just 3 installed widgets - not found a category in the store to find new widgets.

    What do you mean "widgets"? How would a "widget" differ from an "app"?


    # The E-mail app is functional - but plain. Cannot swipe to delete mail. To delete mail you seem to have to read it first. Ick.

    Tap and hold on the message, then hit Delete. I am longing for batch delete, though. And some people have reported problems with IMAP mail not actually being deleted from the server, YMMV.


    # Dumb! Doesn’t have GPS turned on by default. Have to dig down silly menu system to find it. You would think the Maps app would prompt for it.

    The battery life in the G1 is horrifically bad enough without the GPS -- turning it on out of the box might actually open a wormhole. But using AnyCut allows you to put an icon for almost any function/app on your desktop. I created a button called "Toggle GPS" which opens right up to the GPS on/off setting, which I can then turn on or off as desired. AnyCut is awesome. It also allows you to put one-touch dialing icons on your desktop. On the right-hand one-third of my desktop, I have icons for my four most-called numbers, which will dial them straight from the desktop with one tap. HANDY.

    Also, hold-green-phone-button-to-activate-voice-dial is pretty sweet.

    Also also, I recommend taking a look at PowerManager, which will help with battery life.
  • threebytesfull
    I’m puzzled by the hole in the screen; coffee money receptacle? Pocket lint collector? Makes it feel flimsy. Can’t see the USB cover thing lasting very long either.

    As well as the dev G1, I’ve got a white one. Strangely, this feels very different to type on - the white one has a matte (fake?) metallic keyboard surround while the black phone and the dev G1 both have shiny black plastic one. The shiny one always feels sticky (even when it isn’t) because it collects visible fingerprints etc.

    WiFi reception is useless - unless I’ve just got two bad examples!

    Android Market: currently horrible - no screenshots. Feels like choosing apps from the classified ads in the local newspaper :) I like the features warning, though.

    Have you tried the ApiDemos app in the SDK? I was pleasantly surprised at the graphics in particular - makes you wonder how the stuff in the market doesn’t look better!
  • Hole in the screen? Waaa?
  • threebytesfull
    Slide screen open, examine right-hand edge in landscape orientation. Didn’t initially notice on the dark phones, but it’s quite obvious on the white one! :)
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