Google Phone Week in Review - Week 52 2008
With the word that the T-Mobile G1 has less than perfect battery life came several extended life batteries that offer 15-20 percent longer battery life. The 1400mAh batteries replace the standard 1150mAh that ships with the G1. One of the batteries we found is the same size as the regular battery without the need to get a modified back piece for the G1. There is a rumor flying around that T-Mobile is shipping extended life batteries with a modified back piece for the G1. This rumor sounds very unlikely to us, as T-Mobile won’t even send out the new in-line 3.5mm headset jacks.
A video surfaced showing the new on-screen QWERTY keyboard expected to be seen in the new “cupcake” update. From what can be seen the keyboard is very responsive and laid out very nicely. We just can’t wait to see test this keyboard out for ourselves. Garmin has gone and made an announcement that they will be releasing an Android-powered navigation system. Garmin is famous for their turn-by-turn navigation services.
This year (most) Google employees did not take home a Christmas bonus; instead they received a special “Dream Phone.” The unlocked G1 that employees received have a special “droid” design on the back I guess to sweeten the deal. Google was not able to work their legal magic in all countries. In the countries that were not able to get the G1, employees will receive the monetary value (about 0) of the G1. These countries include, India, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and the Ukraine.
The aTrackDog application helps users stay up to date with all of their downloaded applications. This application however is not without major flaws. This application does a lot more than they tell you; it collects very valuable data market intelligence from the users. Many developers push out beta updates that will trigger this application to give all users false information about updates.
We over at Android Community have announced the winners of our holiday giveaway. Congratulations to Message, Cycledroid, fstltna, Scythe, Adam Sowa and youngmack2k4 who will be taking home one of 6 Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth headsets. We have also dug up quite a gallery of hands on photos of the HKC Pearl. This handset runs both Windows Mobile and Google’s Android OS as a dual booting system. This handset has a touchscreen and scroll ball just as you would find on the T-Mobile G1.
To top off a week of great news we got a nice visual comparison of Lenovo’s new Android-powered OPhone and Apple’s famous iPhone and iPhone 3G. The OPhone measures in at 115.84 x 61.57 x 57.12.03mm, which is only 1mm larger than the original iPhone in all dimensions. The OPhone’s headphone jack is located at the bottom of the device rather than the top. Also the very similar standby/power button is located on the left side on the top rather than the right as the iPhone.