Comments on: 24 Hours with the Android Dev Phone 1™

By: AndreyM

AndreyM — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:15:09 +0000

I would say that there are too many points!

By: lelo elise

lelo elise — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:04:48 +0000

thanks for the post

By: Andrey

Andrey — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:18:45 +0000

After so much information about Android Dev Phone 1 I can't imagine what you can write some more!

By: Geniusdog254

Geniusdog254 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:45:25 +0000

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!

By: jedimdan

jedimdan — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:23:39 +0000

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?

By: lainey

lainey — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:15:54 +0000

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?

By: Evan DiBiase

Evan DiBiase — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:31:57 +0000

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.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:14:20 +0000

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.

By: threebytesfull

threebytesfull — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:08:44 +0000

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! :)

By: schwa

schwa — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:01:19 +0000

Hole in the screen? Waaa?