t-mobile g1

A wallpaper app that steals your personal info, piracy controls coming to the Android Marketplace, and a look into the world of Android gaming. Plus, Jeff Bakalar shares an awesome tip on creating itineraries for Google Maps Navigation, and Jessica Dolcourt helps us pronounce the death of the Android phone that started it all.

Updated: The wallpaper app discussed in this episode has since been cleared of any wrong-doing by Google itself. More details on that here.

With all of the awesome Android phones on the market now, it's easy to forget the models that came before them. But today, we take a moment to remember the device that started it all, the T-Mobile G1, as it goes into retirement and finds its place in the tech history books.

After almost a two-year run, the G1 is no longer available for purchase from T-Mobile or other retail outlets, and of course, the decision makes sense. It's old and can't keep up with the newer models, but still, you can't ignore the significance of … Read more

As the number of apps and games continues to grow for Android, it's getting harder to keep on top of everything. Rather than trying out every title that enters the Android Market, I like to look for specific genres of apps.

For instance, I really enjoy casual games on my T-Mobile G1. I always find at least a few minutes of downtime throughout my day so I'm constantly trying to get a new high score or unlock a new puzzle. However, as much as I'd love to try out every brain game that's released, it's … Read more

If you weren't in The 404 live chat room this morning, you missed an insanely '80s dance party! It turned out to be a blast, so we're going to start doing it every Friday. Don't worry if you missed out this time, just be sure to check us out next Friday for more Starship, Outfield, Buggles, etc...

Last week we reported on a story about Pepsi's "Amp Up B4 You Score" iPhone app that offered "helpful" pickup lines targeted at a very specific type of girl. For example, if you choose the "political girl," the app offers several jokes about stimulus plans, global warming, etc...you can use your imagination to figure out the rest. Unfortunately, if you didn't download the app you're out of luck, because Pepsi removed the app from the iPhone store.

All this talk about iPhones brings us to the first big topic of the day: DROID. The TV commercials for the new Verizon phone running the Google Android OS mock the iPhone and its fans, making claims that Android's open architecture and physical keyboard will draw unsatisfied Apple fanboys to its camp, but we're hesitant to jump onboard after the G1 flopped.

If you're currently in the market for a new smartphone but can't decide between an Android phone, the iPhone, a BlackBerry, or Palm Pre, this is the perfect episode for you! For more Droid info, check out this episode of Dialed In, another awesome CNET podcast with Bonnie Cha, Kent German, Nicole Lee, and Jason Howell!

In sadder news, Hulu may finally start charging a fee to view its broadcast content online. After that cryptic extraterrestrial commercial that Hulu aired during the Super Bowl last year, we figured that a monthly fee would eventually come, but the site definitely needs to offer more incentives before we bite the bullet. If we decide to support the paid version, Hulu needs to offer the entire back catalog of every show in HD and improve the movie selection...if not, then users might be tempted to simply visit another not-so-legal site. Get it, Hulu? Now get to work.

Today's Beck's Beer Audio Draft is my (Justin's) choice and Jeff is pretty surprised because the band plays a fully orchestrated, instrumental-only version of popular video game music! The band is Konami Kukeiha Club, and it features the composers who worked on original Konami games like Gradius III and Contra.

In addition to releasing several original soundtracks (i.e. Silent Hill), the group also makes original music, and it's great for anything active: gym workouts, bike rides, long distance runs, anything that requires you to get pumped up! The two tracks of the day are "Beginning" and "Bloody Tears" off the album "Konami Battle the Best."

Have a supreme weekend everyone!

Just a couple of weeks after Google released its Android 1.6 SDK to developers, T-Mobile began its official roll out of Android 1.6 (aka Donut) to T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G owners on Thursday.

The update will be delivered to customers over the coming days, and though it's not considered to be a major upgrade to the operating system, Android 1.6 does bring a number of new features and enhancements and fixes a bug that would reboot the phone after dialing 911.

Highlights of Donut include:

Google released the latest Android software development kit this week so that developers could begin to test their applications for the looming Android 1.6 update. End users can expect to see the update as early as next month, but I went ahead and loaded an early version on my phone to preview the latest changes.

Possibly the most notable update is the new quick search box, which includes a redesigned search framework to make finding things on your phone easier than ever before. Users can search through apps, contacts, browser history, music, the Web, and more. The quick search … Read more

As the T-Mobile G1 restricts users from storing apps on a memory card, many owners have complained about low memory warnings after they install 40 to 50 apps. And now we're seeing developer complaints about the lack of space for the Android operating system itself.

Android software engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru recently wrote on the Google mailing list, "Where the situation is really tricky is that the system partition on the U.S. G1 was already filled to the brim with cupcake, and we were routinely flirting with build sizes that were a few dozen KB under the limit (… Read more

T-Mobile's second Google Android phone, the MyTouch 3G, lands in stores and online today. The all touch-screen device goes on sale 10 months after the G1 made its debut. We've already had the opportunity to give it a thorough shakedown, and we found a lot to like. The sleeker design, improved features, and user-friendly controls fix many of our complaints with its predecessor. Yes, it lacks a physical keyboard, but we didn't mind. Some complaints remain, of course, but the MyTouch convinces us that Android is ready for prime time.

To celebrate the event, T-Mobile is holding … Read more

Competition in the smartphone market is heating up this summer as one new hot smartphone after another hits the street. The latest is T-Mobile's next Google Android device, called the MyTouch 3G.

T-Mobile will announce the new smartphone Monday. It is the second smartphone the carrier has introduced that uses Google's open-source mobile operating system, Android. T-Mobile introduced the world's first Google Android phone, called the G1, last fall. And so far the company claims it has sold over 1 million devices.

The MyTouch 3G is manufactured by HTC and is essentially the same hardware design as the Google Ion, which is also known as the HTC Magic. The device was introduced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February and is now being sold by Vodafone in various markets around the world.

The Google Ion/HTC Magic has been described as thinner than the G1 and slightly smaller than Apple's iPhone.… Read more