So while you G1 fans tinker and play and download Apps, take heed that today also marks the official launch of the Android marketplace. Not a whole lot here we didn’t already know, take notice however, the app selection is pretty minimal right now. All applications will be free throughout the remainder of the year and as Gizmodo points out, the big guns ie premier developers will hold off on releasing apps until they can get that money!
So for now enjoy the freebies as we can be assured that a multitude of developers will be still looking to make up for some lacking features. On-screen keyboard perhaps? I know that’s something many of you are clamoring for so hopefully that’s already on the burner somewhere.
On a similar note we’re around 8 hours into launch day, I’d love to hear some feedback in the comments from those who picked up phones today. Do you love it, hate it? Is it everything you wanted it to be? Will it replace a spouse? Are you incredibly thankful its not windows mobile (Viper that one is for you)?
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Or TMONEWS FORUM!!!
My G1 arrived two days ago, on the 20th. I’m in the dfw area and I’ve had about 24 hours of actual hands on experience. I have to say that although it’s shiny and pretty and all that, I’m quickly becoming bitterly disappointed.
EMAIL:
1. The phone refuses to notify me of new incoming email messages. I have two spop accounts set up, and although the “notify” and “check every 5 minutes” boxes are checked, the phone neither checks every 5 minutes nor notifies me when it does check and finds mail. Based on my mail server logs it manages to check in once an hour on average, and it doesn’t do this on any predictable schedule. To get my mail I need to open the mail app, and open my inbox, at which point it logs into the spop server and gets new messages. So far I have not been “notified” of a single email message
2. There is no way to manage more than one message at a time. I cannot select multiple messages for deletion or quickly perform any action on multiple emails.
3. I cannot copy text from one message into another.
4. I cannot select email addresses out of an email message and add them to my contacts.
The mail app needs serious usability work
Instant Messageing:
1. Four times in the last 24 hours I have gone to either YahooIM or AIM to find that the phone has logged me out.
2. Both the Yahoo and AIM apps aren’t synching with their respective servers. Users who are available appear as not available on the phone, AIM messages from the server that notify me for example, that I’m logged in multiple times do not appear on the phone.
3. The phone does not notify you when friends become available or log off. Other features that you’d find in any other IM program (pidgen, adium.. whatever) are absent here. I cannot, for example give my friends different notification sounds.
The reliability problems give the phone a kludgy feel when it comes to IM. I don’t know if people are getting my messages or vice versa, so I end up asking them if they got my message, sometimes they do sometimes they dont.
SMS:
Sms is much more reliable than the other communication options. The thread/chat interface is nice too. Since I’ve been using the phone all of my SMS messages have been delivered, and only one message that was sent to me has yet to arrive (sent 12 hours ago). Perhaps this is because sms is using the traditional cell phone networks instead of 3g? The phone notifies you of incoming SMS, but I can’t give different friends different ringtones.
WIFI
I can’t seem to get the phone to work with any of my wifi sources, (home, office, sprint EVDO+cradlepoint). The phone will connect to the AP, and has negotiated everything from WPA2-PSK to open security, and has been configured statically and dynamically via dhcp. Once connected to an AP it seems to not have any connectivity at all. Web pages give the built-in error page, the mail app throws connection errors etc..
Battery:
Real live battery time on the device is about 8 hours. If you are like me and need to have the device on your hip and operational at all times, plan ahead and keep a charger, or extra battery with you.
Overall:
It’s a pretty phone that isn’t working well. I think some of this has to do with tmo’s relatively new 3g network, and some of it has to do with the brand-new OS. I’m not sure what to say about the UI oversights, it should be far more feature-full than it is, IMO the actual functionality is beyond spartan. It’s great that it plays youtube and has a touch screen and all, but first and foremost the g1 is a communication tool for me, and right now my rock-solid sidekick is kicking it’s ass in terms of being able to talk to my co-workers and friends.
I’m loving the phone so far, its definately a change from my sidekick slide. I have a couple issues with it though. 1st AIM, there is no way to change my status and like create and away msg. Also there are times where none of my friends are online, even though im carrying a conversation with them. 2nd, my G1 has self restarted twice today. Not sure why, I doudt it was the battery or anything. The first time it happened I was attempting to im somebody and second time I was on the phone. I really hope it doesnt happen again because I would hate it if this is a regular thing. I dealt with it enough with my Slide, I dont wanna go thur it with the G1
I received my phone on the 21st the phone is great with some flaws but worth the wait. The battery life isn’t the best but I will deal with it youtube is better than when I had my unlocked PHON, keyboard takes a lil time to get use to overall great phone speakerphone is WAYYYYYYYYYYY beter than the IPHONE.
to Tournstone
The Bronze device is a much nicer phone IMO, I am a Tmo employee and most people are looking more toward it after seeing the black’s “cheap look”. Also iphone may be coming out with a 32gb phone but i mean come on…who the hell really needs that much memory on a phone. “The lack of exchange support is inexcusable “, well yeah but give it time, being its open source, these next few days are going to be exciting because of all of the great programs people will be creating, (Exchange E-mail, Stereo BT, Video), of course since this is the first gen phone with first gen software and im sure a new update with any major concerns will be fixed, tmobile, google, and HTC can’t afford not to. And as far as dragging out the keyboard to send a txt, an on-screen keyboard will be soon available. You should be you in the “Hater” group because andriod is the way to go!!! lol
I’ve had the phone since last thursday switching from a Blackberry Curve and Dash and I have had zero issues. Yes we know the battery could be better but its a data phone, get over it. Also people may look at the keyboard and ask why there is a piece in their way to txt, its shaped like a banana to help contour with your hand and the reason its there is because without it HTC would have to rely on the flimsy Wing/Tilt like slider for the keypad, which no one wants. I got used to it in a couple of a days and couldn’t be happier. I am a Outlook exchange user and I can patiently wait for the update, android community is already creating it as we speak.
man just more complaining. it can stay like that forver dude i agree the battery does stink, but your just pointing out the flaws. nothing good about the phone and as far as the wifi use wep that wpa is a pain in the you know what. my psp wont even connect to wpa so its not just the phone and seriously how many phones allow you(besides windows mobile)to copy and paste from one message to another or have fast message switching. the things your complaining about are minor and sound fixable through updates just like a nice lunix system supposed to do. when windows mobile first came out it had mad problems and little programs, now look at windows mobile buggy as heck. way buggier than adroid and now look. aaaaahhh bliss! htc touchflo is a real sweet interface running on a buggy interface that we have to use cab files to install. at least we get a market we can download from. dude all im saying is whats all the complains for this phone isn’t even 2 months old and you dont want to give it a chance.
This phone is amazing and I gotta agree with everyone that most of all these issues can and will be fixed with wonders of open source. Rock on guys and glad I could join the ranks of satisfied users.
So many bad reviews on the phone I’m dying for my g1 to come in so i can be the judge on it
maybe everyone should check out this thread in the forums http://forums.tmonews.com/index.php?topic=3977.40
Overall I’m pleased with the phone. As a former Sidekick user, I’m already accustomed to a flip open keyboard. I must say the SK feels more balanced in my hand typing than the G1. It’s probably due to the presence of the buttons on the right(bottom) side. Also, I’d like one click delete from the keyboard. I also get lots of sms messages from twitter and currently the G1 shows all messages from the same shortcode as one threaded list. I have to delete all the messages in the thread. I’d like to be able to delete individual sms messages in the future. It would also be nice to sort the incoming sms messages so that the most recent is at the top, rather than the bottom, and have an option that prevents the thread from always scrolling when a new message arrives.
@dave
No bull you gotta give it another day and add some apps from market place
The google update coming out is called rc28. These phones have rc19.
It will be fixed.
@macho
No way man this thing is great. I ain’t just saying that.
I would not trade it for anything out there. Period.
@dave if you gonna wear it at worek and need more battery until patches can
Assist, you nees to turn of wifi and 3g for power saving. When not using those,
A s s i s t
I agree with my boy T1 and kevman the phone bashing is just to soon i know there’s a lot of cool things this phone can do and yeah there’s minor issues but those can be fix with an OTA and lets face it there’s no perfect phone even the OMightly iphone has its issues
I said the other day that i wanted to get my phone and judge it for myself, and my review is in and i love it. I like the apps and i am slowly figuring things out. maybe i dont have as many problems because i dont use im but this is a great phone that will get better tomorrow with the update!! If u personally dont like it, return it and get what ever u fancy. for me, I love my G1
word way more stable than windows mobile. i love the interface and a new toy. enjoy it!
not bashing windows mobile i love that os too but i have to take a break for a while til the wing 2 gets here
listen xda has a android rom with a onscren keyboard in it as soon as i find the factory rom for the g1 im in there.
ok look
my first pc was a tandy trs 80
i have been working with pc’s and all operating systems for a long time
all i want to say is this thing is very powereful
ui is great once you know it and the way everything is blended is remarkable to say the least
and this is a phone the size of bar of soap
its incredible what its able to do.all I am saying is no matter how twchnical you are you ARE leaening a new OS not just using a phone
I’m done good night all
I love my G1! It has it`s issues but it`s a overall win. Typing from it right now!
Note to readers:
Any comments that are not productive in any fashion, too negative, insulting, annoying, or inappropriate will not be approved.
Lets keep the comments positive and productive. Thanks
The TmoNews Team
Hey fyi to all. Most of day yesterday I was using wifi. Well I notice when using wifi in settings it says no data connection. Only in edge or 3g and wifi turned off does it say data connection is there. So when I took it off wifi is when I think my market place updated as it then said it had data connection. Maybe this why some of you have not updated yet.
Oh and no errors on any web page when wifi turned off! Hmmmmmmmm.
I think I am onto something here.
FYI:
VIDEO PLAYER NOW IN APP STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PAC MAN NOW IN APP STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haters go suck it. 1 day after launch and they already put out some interseting items that takes 2 seconds to d’l and install. NICE.
On youtube they plently of good reviews for the g1 and andriod os
People are complaining about things that the phone can actually do…pick up your book and read. People are so use to ripping a phone out the box and knowing how to use it. This isn’t one of those phones.
The phone CAN COPY AND PASTE! Menu+c and then Menu+v…try it…I did…it works.
The LX wasn’t always able to copy and paste but with the OTA it is now. So believe me…the little flaws will be fixed with this phone and purchase an extended life battery. Try callibrating the battery as well, this definitely helps. Let th battery drain until it dies…then charge it back up…even after it says it’s complete…keep charging. Did mine for about 12hrs.
New phones are not perfect when they release…just like that d*mn iphone. Sorry to say but we’re sort of like crash test dummies…why do you think stores have such a limited amount available??? How would it look to sell a ton of these phones that still have issues only to have impatient people beating down Tmo’s door to return it.
Yes AIM and Yahoo are off their rocker right now…idk whats goin on with us getting kicked off, but it needs to be fixed fast…I can barely have a decent conversation.
Its a google phone. Has anyone tried google talk?
I’m in love wit this phone….the functions is awesome…BUT the battery life sucks.. it only charges for a max. of an hour.. and the youtube is kinda blurry.. but the applications and games works great… I love PACman and shopsavvvy..
I’m still waiting for my g1 to come but did anyone recived there update and if so what did the update do it as far as making the os better?
i wonder how well the videos on youtube look does anybody know does it have a clear video or is it choppy?
video player is out on the app store.
With video player does that mean you can install your own videos ? And is it free?
I’m having an issue with my backlight. The phone is great, etc. etc. but for some reason, the backlight doesn’t always work. It comes and goes. Anyone else experiencing this problem?
Google Talk is great.
I love, I love it, I love it!!!!. Here’s what I need to make me love it even more: an app that will stream radio, file manager, task manager, turn-by-turn navigation and a way to remove pre-installed features that I don’t use (like IM and Amazon). I’m sure all of that will come out soon and I’ll be a happy camper (not that I’m not right now).
Oh yeah, I would like an mini-usb adapter so I can charge the phone and stream some music at the same time. I’ll be patiently waiting….
@magentaglasses i thought the g1 already with a gps turn by turn application
I love the G1. I agree that it does have it’s shortcomings, however I think what it offers more than makes up for what it lacks. The hardware is perhaps a little bulky, but it is a very practical design I think. Android is simply outstanding. The OS has limitless possibilities through the app store. Previous to the G1 I had an N95 and an E71, both amazing devices but I’m taking the G1 over them.
@ kevman yea ive tried google talk its jut like the rest of the instant messengers in the phone but its got a cool gooogle watermark in the background. by the way users and admins does anyone know what time that ota update supposed to come.
just created a video folder on my storage card and dumped a bunch of mpeg videos in the g1 and the video player is playing it and the accelerometer is flipping when i turn the screen
will more and more things come out on the app store for free???
@T1 how is the quality if the video when you play it as well as the youtube video quality?? Holla back bro
can someone please help me… i am downloading applications and im downloading images for my wall paper online .. i have a 8gb memory card.. and when i download anything it saves to my phone memory not to my card.. if any one can pleasee helpp
@ t1
How do. You. Get that. Accelerometer to. Work. With. The. Screen closed and. Not open.
@macho the video player quality is better than some of the videos on youtube. But the youtube part depends on the user quality when it was added but sweet it is.
@will when I added the vid and played it. Just turn the phone in the proper directions and you’ll se the flip orientation start happening.
Tell ya one thing this phone is one of the greatest phones I’ve ever owned and the apps are like crack man ya need to try wikitune off the meat rack and macho you’ gonna love it
Jon make sure your memory card is fotmatted as fat or fat32 ntfs won’t work and create a picture folder on the card and about the apps and internal storage you can’t do anything about marketplace downloads right now but 3rd party can go on memory card. Have fun kid
Thnx T1 lol. Now. I. Need. Some. Vid’s
Good looking T1….what’s wikitunes? And what the cool applications they have so far …you got me hyped lol i can’t wait now lol
@t1 how do u get the accelerometer to work?
Mine died 10 minutes after I turned it on. Neither charger nor USB cable would take. Called up customer service, told that there are no replacement units available, and neither are replacement batteries. Local store (Mountain View, CA) was even less helpful. Was advised to call after November 11. Sent the unit back.
Disappointed,
/D
Wow david that sucks sorry dude
yea that stinks man bad. i was thinking about that today too. but the accelerometer works by turning the phone vertically or horizontally just make sure the chin is to the right. and macho wikitude is a travel guide app it uses the cam and other hardware to give you info (even pics automatically)about your current location. its pretty nice.
@t1
What 3rd party apps are safe? What website? Nice!!!!
You got that thing pimped don’t you?
That app shazaam is unreal too
You try it? I mean it tells you the name of song someone is singing…