Hey, hey. This hack will probably make more than a few G1 owners giddy. Apparently someone got their hands on a leaked copy of a Motorola Cliq ROM, which just so happens to have all the stuff for Motorola’s custom Android build, MotoBlur, and has converted it for the G1. Don’t ask us where these files are or the install instructions for your G1. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this port probably doesn’t make the Motorola suits all that happy, but this is the joy of an open platform like Android. Get use to it.
G1
by Matt Burns on October 9, 2009
by Adam Marks on May 28, 2009
Bombarded with dozens of news sources and code-heavy web sites, mobile news browsing seems to be a daunting task at best. Even on Wi-Fi, some of the most powerful mobile phones take their sweet time rendering. Searching for a solid application that can handle aggregation of popular and trusted news sources can be just as tedious as actually reading news on a mobile phone. Tedium, however, may have come to an end for us Android users with the release of Handmark’s Express News. With 10,000-50,000 downloads, Express News has maintained a 4.5/5 score to an often-critical crowd. With all the buzz on this product, we figured it was time to give it a run.
by Adam Marks on May 23, 2009
A man once told me that I could not have my Cupcake and eat it too. He was obviously dead wrong. Today’s big buzz on the Android front is that the official OTA install package for Android 1.5 (lovingly known around the internets as ‘Cupcake’ update) is now available for direct download and manual patching. For those of us who have waited patiently for the official patch but just can’t wait another day for it to come over-the-air, it is our day of rejoicing. At long last, we get to sink our teeth in to that green sugar-coated muffin, complete with video recording, on-screen keyboard, an expanding library of widgets, and stereo bluetooth support (to name a few additions).
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by Adam Marks on May 22, 2009
The GPS Navigation system has become a utility that is essential to travel, whether it be daily commute or cross country excursion. Once seen a luxury, this now-necessity has been a sweeping success all around the globe, allowing the world’s atlases right at your fingertip with near surgical precision in tracking and guidance. TeleNav, established veteran of the GPS marketplace, has really taken the time to make a fully functioning turn-by-turn system for the Android platform. Availability is currently limited to the G1, though we assume they’ll branch out to other devices as Android grows.
by Matt Burns on May 5, 2009
Lookie, lookie. It seems that HTC’s next Android handset couldn’t avoid the geek paparazzi. We hear that this phone is the rumored HTC Hero and might get a release sometime in Q3 of this year, which sounds ’bout right if working handsets are already in the wild.
by Doug Aamoth on April 2, 2009
Bad news, you guys. Looks like after Google pulled all tethering apps from the Android Market, it had a change of heart and re-published them all. Problem is, the new terms of the tethering apps stipulate that they’ll only work for “all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US network.”
by Devin Coldewey on March 31, 2009
I just saw this app the other day, and now — it’s gone! How shocking! It looks like “Wifi tether for root users” was in violation of T-Mobile’s terms of service, and Google has shown its cards by removing it. No one really thought the Android Marketplace was going to be a Wild West of G1 apps, but it’s a little disappointing to see just how locked-down it really is.
The question raised is this: will apps have to comply with all carriers’ terms of service once Android is on AT&T, Sprint and the like? That could lead to a lot of confusion. At the moment it’s hard to say since only T-Mobile’s terms apply, but it had better get hashed out soon or developers are going to get antsy.
If you’re savvy, you can still get the app and code here.
by Devin Coldewey on February 23, 2009
It was only a matter of time. The controversial, and idiotic, iPhone app now has a brother from another mother on Android. That is to say, from a different developer looking for a little notoriety. The “I am Richer” app is now available, with a more reasonable price tag (a paltry $200) and a slightly Zelda-ish blue crystal.
by Matt Burns on February 16, 2009
If we are to believe this Vodafone ad (and who are we to doubt the Internet), the European carrier will be the exclusive provider of HTC’s next Android phone, the Magic. The phone does somewhat resemble early spy shots so we could be looking at the real deal, folks.
by Matt Burns on January 23, 2009
The T-Mobile G1 has an update in the works. When the firmware will be available to owners is the main question after most of the details leaked out of the kitchen. Cupcake, as it’s been dubbed, should improve the look and the feel of the OS. The buttons should pop a bit more, there is a new transition when opening and closing apps, but most importantly is the new virtual keyboard. That particular new feature doesn’t seem to provide much function in the physical keyboard-equipped G1, but hopefully the G2 or the upcoming Huawei handset will take full advantage of it. Early screenshots after the jump.
by Matt Burns on January 21, 2009
Isn’t funny how everytime you get your hands a super-duper secret phone or random gadget, the one camera nearby is your crappy camera phone? Funny. Anywho, supposedly what you see above, and after the link, is HTC’s next Android-powered phone dubbed the G2. According to Giz, it’s a touchscreen phone that lacks a physical keyboard and will likely find its way into T-Mobile’s stable. Real or fake? Your call.
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by Matt Burns on January 19, 2009
T-Mobile is set to bring the G1 to more even more counties. Germany and Poland will be the first counties outside of the US and England to receive the Android-based phone with a launch of February 2nd, 2009. Eventually though, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Austria will all have the phone from the region’s T-Mobile branch. Pricing for every region, except Germany, haven’t been announced yet. Germans, however, will be able to pick up the G1 for 1 Euro with a two year contract.
All of this is pretty mundane expect for a statement from T-Mobile’s Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan. Click through for the utter lie.
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by Devin Coldewey on January 12, 2009
We saw a Pink Floyd-themed G1 multi-touch video a little while back, but it wasn’t very illuminating. This one is much more in-depth, and the (Canadian?) narrator reminds me myself, so it was relaxing as well. Plus, his page explains in minute detail what’s going on and what we can expect from the device.
by Devin Coldewey on January 1, 2009
RemoteDroid allows you to use the touchscreen and keyboard of your G1 as inputs for your PC. I’m trying to think of a situation in which this would be handy and not just cool, but I can’t. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s totally awesome. Actually, it could be useful for a home theater PC setup, or for making people think your computer is haunted.
You’ll need to install the “server” on your Windows machine, and then of course the app on your G1. After that you’re only limited by your imagination. And some other stuff, probably.
[via Engadget]
by Matt Burns on December 22, 2008
2009 is set to be Google’s Androids big year with more and more manufacturers jumping on the open-source platform. Garmin has at least one smartphone slated for the second-half of ‘09 release and with perhaps more on the way.
We’re still too far away from the launch for exact details. There is a chance that the mobile might not see a Stateside release as the tidbit doesn’t mention that side of the Pacific at all. This comes Tony An, Garmin’s Asia Pacific Marketing Director,
Garmin will launch Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, in the Taiwan market in the second quarter of 2009, An noted. Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced
Chances are though, the device will be available here in Garmin’s home country – hopefully. Perhaps, 2009 will be a big year for Garmin as well. We would love to see more mobile devices from the firm with their industry-leading GPS support, something the G1 is notoriously lacking.
by Greg Kumparak on December 9, 2008
Curious as to why Sony Ericsson (and 13 others) might have hopped on board with the Open Handset Alliance? Take a look at the November numbers of HTC, the folks behind the only Android handset currently on the market, and it all becomes clear.
by Erick Schonfeld on December 8, 2008
Google is now formatting AdWords text and image ads for Android and iPhone mobile browsers. The ads can include mobile-only calls to action, and can be created from standard Google ads run on the Web. The ads will also work on other phones with full HTML browsers in the future as they become available. (Both the iPhone and the Android G1 have full browsers based on Webkit).
By sticking with full HTML browser phones, the links in the ads can continue to point to regular Web pages and still work in a mobile context. Advertisers can also run one single campaign across the Web and advanced mobile phones, and see where they get the best response.
More at the Google Mobile blog.
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by Devin Coldewey on November 23, 2008
Caution: Pink Floyd blasting as soon as you hit “play”
I’m pumped about this because I just got a G1. This video shows a pretty basic paint program tracking two inputs at once — it’s pretty hacked together but it clearly works okay. We knew it was possible technically, now we see it’s possible practically, and hopefully soon we’ll see it supported officially.
by Greg Kumparak on November 18, 2008
After yesterdays announcement that Adobe was working on Flash for both Windows Mobile and Android, we mentioned that a brief demonstration of Flash running on the G1 was shown. Don’t believe it? The proof is in the pudding. The delicious streaming video pudding.
While there are a few apparent framerate stutters, this is by all indications a work in progress for Adobe. The element was embedded on a bare page, without any other elements whatsoever – not exactly how they’re generally served. This is presumably to ensure that this not-yet-optimized version of Flash had as many resources as possible for the demo, but hopefully the final version will be able to handle more than standalone SWF files.
[I4UNews via AndroidForums]
by Justin Blenkle on November 17, 2008
Whenever the G1 vs iPhone debate gets underway, iPhone purists are quick to flag the G1’s lack of multi-touch input support. Turns out, it might just be able to handle it after all -on the hardware end, at least. Whilst tearing his G1’s workings apart line-by-line, a crafty coder going by RyeBrye came across an interesting artifact. It seems the driver for the Synaptics touchscreen has some code commented out; after recompiling the kernel with said code back in, he was able to track two finger presses at once.
So if the hardware supports it, why no multi-touch on the G1? Patents, presumably. While this in no way actually enables to you to do any kind of multi-touch funnin’ immediately (nothing made for the G1 is currently coded for use with multi-touch, afterall), it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Though we probably won’t see any official support for multi-touch on the G1 any time soon, someone with a bit of spare time to tinker will probably figure out a way to make use of it before too long.
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