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My G1
It has nearly been a month of using my G1, and I'm still quite happy with it. Installing the Zagg InvisiblShield was a pain (taking roughly an hour and 45 min). The end result is quite nice (Full set of photos on
flickr). Battery life remains decent, and the apps continue to impress. Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.
-- Brian [
2009-06-04 07:50]
After one week of using/playing around with my G1, I'm finding that it keeps getting better. The apps are great, and I'm finding new ones every day. I've finally found an excellent use for the trackball - the web browser. Scrolling through to individual pages becomes incredibly precise and easy. I left the plastic protector that came with the phone on the screen as a temporary scratch-resistant measure.
I opted to purchase the Zagg InvisibleShield full body kit and will attempt to install it with all the patience I used for my
WiiMod. Judging from the reviews I found Zagg is one of three main types of skins currently available for the G1. The other two options are the RealCoolSkins and the BodyGuardz. Doing some preliminary research, the RCS and BG are made from a 3M product, whereas the Zagg is its own proprietary formula for its skin. The biggest complaint across the board is how difficult it is to properly install. As one reviewer put it, "You need the patience of a kindergarten teacher, and the hands of a surgeon."
I haven't begun developing anything for the android, but my first project may be some sort of rdesktop port. That's the one thing I've found that the android fails miserably in that regard. Or rather, the marketplace fails. There's one app currently available for a fee, but evidently it has issues with computer input. If it were free to try, I'd be more likely to snag it and give it a go. (But I suppose I feel that way about a lot of things).
-- Brian [
2009-05-19 11:19]
After using my G1 for two days, I've come to realize a few things:
- The battery isn't *that* bad. My old phone could go a day or two without being charged, but it also didn't have any features other than calling/texting. The additional wireless, GPS, etc makes sense for shorter battery life.
- Side note: The percentage left seems rather odd. I've seen it hit 10% and still go for hours.
- The Developer's version is *incredibly* easy to upgrade to a non-signed rom. I'm currently running Jesusfreke's 1.5 and loving it.
- There's a ton of apps... but I'm not so pleased with the default sms functionality. It splits up texts into conversations - which would be good except I often have one work-related text blast out to all my coworkers. Individual responses get confusing. Which leads me into my main bitch...
- No SMS to Contact Groups. This is a pretty big deal to me. As I said, I'll often send out a page to my department (5 numbers) - and currently there's two ways of doing this. Adding each individual number to the message everytime, or I can use the TextEasy app which can bulk add contacts. Come on Android, give me an I.T. Group that I can send a message to, and any replies get shuffled under there.
- And another thing... I haven't figured out yet how to save SMS conversations - something that would be particularly helpful in my line of work.
- The touch screen is excellent and very responsive. I've noticed that I can do relatively well with the on-screen keyboard that's added with the Cupcake 1.5 upgrade.
- The physical keyboard works well. Keys are relatively easy to press. Not having any prior experience with a QWERTY phone keyboard I can't say if it's better or worse than other keyboards.
- Favorite Apps (All free mind you):
- Barcode Scanner: Supports 1D and 2D (QR) barcodes, can search on Froogle for 1D barcode results.
- ConnectBot: SSH client for Android. Allows me to remote into my home computer/website and mess around on the go.
- Various Soundboards: Who doesn't want to hear Butters say "Oh Hamburgers" at any point in the day?
- Ringdroid: Incredibly useful for taking MP3s and converting to ringtones.
- Shake Awake: Essential tool for "waking up" the screen during a phone call. Without it, the dial pad is useless during a call.
- Shazam: Same app as for the iPhone - lets you identify music based on sound.
- ShopSavvy: In some ways and improvement to the Barcode Scanner's product search. ShopSavvy also includes Amazon search, and will eventually have localized results as well.
- Text Easy: As stated above, this app is the only way I can easily bulk text people.
- Toggle Settings: Turns on/off various features (GPS, WiFi, etc) based upon profiles and user-defined rules. Helpful for quickly enabling/disabling GPS without crawling through the menus.
- ToggleWifi: A stripped down version of Toggle Settings, this only Toggles Wifi, as well as displays an icon if wireless is enabled, but the phone isn't connected to anything.
- Twidroid: The best *free* twitter app I've messed around with. Configurable alerts, but I'm missing the ability to group users and be alerted when only they update.
Coming soon... my thoughts on getting screen/body protection, and a one week review.
-- Brian [
2009-05-13 08:17]
Unboxing
-- Brian, [
2009-05-11 13:15]
I get my G1 today! Expect a few unboxing photos soon, along with a review of some sort.
More later....
-- Brian, [
2009-05-11 10:45]