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G1 great phone, with some issues...G1 great phone, with some issues...Posted Jan 10, 2009 8:33 UTC (Sat) by ktanzer (guest, #6073)Parent article: The Android Dev Phone 1
My observations are based on using the locked-down T-Mobile G1 for the last few weeks.
The default battery situation is terrible. The charge will last all day, if you don't use it much as a computer. But then again, that's the point and fun of having this thing. It's OK for your computer to run out of charge, but it stinks that your phone is dead too. The higher capacity batteries probably help some, but the external power pack is the way to go. It holds about 3-phone charges worth of juice, and is pretty small.
Attachment handling. There's a beta PDF reader (that expires), and no MS-Doc viewer. Viewing ability for these documents seems indispensable for a smart phone. Also, you can't attach files to emails (only certain types, like photos). Plus, file uploads are disabled in the web browser (Are uploads and attachments limited on the unlocked Dev?)
The telephone and SMS aren't tied together as neatly as they should be, nor are the emails and contact systems.
You can get a shell, but you don't seem to have permission to do a whole lot. It seems to be real Linux, although I'll defer to those with unlocked root access! It's nice to have a VNC viewer, although for that and the shell I haven't figured out how to generate certain vital keystrokes, like control keys and arrows. A precompiled, easy-to-install VNC server would be a nice thing to have as well.
The GPS is extremely finicky. It often fails to establish a location, or takes a long time to do so.
The camera can be very slow and hard to focus, and there's no zoom or control over it.
There's supposedly a software update coming out very soon ("cupcake") that will add an on-screen keyboard, and generally make things better. Despite my complaints, it's really a cool phone, and I think it will get better over time.
Whether this phone is great or not, it portends well for even better devices to come. I think smart phones will become the realization of the Tricorder from Star Trek....
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G1 great phone, with some issues... Posted Jan 10, 2009 12:28 UTC (Sat) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]
I saw people with both locked and unlocked G1s (I think technically the unlocked phone isn't a G1 but whatever) using an application which deliberately imitates the tricorder, including probably unauthorised use of real Star Trek noises. It mostly does random useless stuff, but a few of the things it measures are based on the sensors in the device, like orientation and position.
The actual battery included in the device is just physically too small to get the job done IMO. I was very surprised when I saw how tiny it was. Obviously there's a lot of electronics packed inside the case, but it seems like they need to find more room to store power, urgently. I'm used to my ancient Nokia, which goes for about a week between charges, and that's on a battery which is now almost ten years old, but it's physically twice as large as the one inside a G1.
G1 great phone, with some issues... (battery) Posted Jan 10, 2009 14:59 UTC (Sat) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] FWIW, my (now) more extended experience is that I can get about three days out of the battery. That's with moderate phone use, moderate GPS use, and with wifi and bluetooth turned on. The thing that really seems to kill the battery is anything involving fast video. Messing around on Youtube or playing arcade games draws down the battery quickly.
G1 great phone, with some issues... (battery) Posted Jan 10, 2009 20:15 UTC (Sat) by ktanzer (guest, #6073) [Link]
I guess I use mine too much, because I was lucky to make it through the day without running out of charge (before getting the external power pack). I've read that using 3G rally chews through the battery.
According to this article, Tmobile is going to send out new batteries (for free!), that will either add 20% to capacity, or double capacity. The latter would be most welcome!
http://www.googleandblog.com/g1-battery-replacement-from-...
G1 great phone, with some issues... Posted Jan 22, 2009 23:00 UTC (Thu) by marcmerlin (subscriber, #50273) [Link]
About battery usage, runtime can vary between about 6 hours to 2 weeks depending on radio and GPS usage.
A few tips I can give you: 1) disable 3G when you don't need it, it sucks a lot more batteries than 2G 2) if you have a huge gmail inbox folder, do not sync it on your phone, that will keep using radios and drain your batteries: set gmail sync days to 0 days so that it syncs on demand or not at all. 3) GPS drains the batteries. Some 3rd party applications leave the GPS on or use it quite a bit. I'd recommend against using those. 4) some other 3rd party apps keep the phone awake and prevent the CPU from going to sleep. This will drain your batteries too 5) Reboot your phone (to reset awake counter), go to settings/about phone/status and scroll to bottom. Leave your phone overnight unplugged from a charger and watch the awake time. I should be in the 5-10% range. If it's not, you have a problem with one or more applications waking up the phone too much or keeping it awake.
Android battery life can be good enough (2 days for me with normal use, including gps/google maps, a few phone calls and occasional note taking), but it's easy for it to go into suck range and hard to see which application is to blame.
Hope this helps,
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