[Unboxing?] My new G1 just arrived in the mail...

[BeigeBoxer]

First time poster. Love the potential of the Android platform but I am skeptical about the design of the HTC phone and early adopter technology. Would love to develop some good enterprise-quality apps for this guy, though.

Hopefully I can become a strong contributor to the community.

Anyway, my new G1 just got here. Should I open it or hawk it on Ebay and use the funds for a CrackBerry, or maybe an iPhone...? I could always go get a sidekick and pretend to be a teenager again...

[drfunk1986]

open it and unleash the power of the G1!!!! I'mz taken over the world as we speak.

[Billy Sacco]

Well you have 14 days to decide. I love my g phone I would give it a try and see how you like it.

[BeigeBoxer]

Package arrived via UPS. Here it is next to my TMo Shadow (the most garbage POS phone I've ever owned!)



Phone comes in an attractive package that prominently advertises the Google marriage, for now at least, to T-Mo. Inside the cover is the sealed phone package and two cards. One is an ad for phone accessories that shows a USB power supply for $30, an ugly snap-on shell for $30, an 8GB microSD card for $80 and a USB car charger for $30.



Looks like any existing USB chargers should work with this phone.

Second card has a space to write down your Google username and password (can't wait for some idiot's nudie pics to get out because of this) and tips for making your battery last longer

1. On the Home screen press the Menu key
2. Touch Settings and select any of the following to conserve battery life:
-Sound and Display: decrease screen brightness and screen timeout
-Data Sync: Disable automatic sync BB: and lose my push Gmail and Calendar? WTF did I buy the phone for?!
-Location: Turn off GPS when not in use
-Wireless: Turn off bluetooth and wifi when not in use

The location thing kind of bites. Aren't they really pushing those aps that let you know where your friends are at for collaboration? Turning off WiFi and Bluetooth are obvious steps with smartphones. That app that lets you change user profiles based on your location could be real useful here.

Next: Unboxing and first boot.

[MobileMan]

Wow thanks for the details of whats inside the box. LOL Keep the phone and go DL some apps and have fun. Do you have 3G in your area?

[GasBot]

First time poster. Love the potential of the Android platform but I am skeptical about the design of the HTC phone and early adopter technology. Would love to develop some good enterprise-quality apps for this guy, though.

Hopefully I can become a strong contributor to the community.

Anyway, my new G1 just got here. Should I open it or hawk it on Ebay and use the funds for a CrackBerry, or maybe an iPhone...? I could always go get a sidekick and pretend to be a teenager again...

So basically you want to develop apps for android and contribute to the community, but you think you should dump the phone on eBay? Doesn't make sense.

[BeigeBoxer]

Phone comes with standard accessories: wall charger, usb cord, ****ty looking earbuds, battery, neoprene sleeve manuals in English and Spanish, and a quickstart in English.




The sleeve might actually be useful. Its more compact than I expected.

The phone is still ugly but it feels sturdy enough. I dont seem to have any problems with odd squeaks or crooked screens. How can I tell what version my hardware is? RC#?

The back cover was tricky to take off. You have to open the phone to QWERTY mode then pull the tab at the left side. I really had to tug to liberate it but it came off ok.


Phone boots to a G! screen and then an Android screen

[BeigeBoxer]

So basically you want to develop apps for android and contribute to the community, but you think you should dump the phone on eBay? Doesn't make sense.

I was being sarcastic. Of course I'm going to keep the phone!

Wow thanks for the details of whats inside the box. LOL Keep the phone and go DL some apps and have fun. Do you have 3G in your area?

Yeah I'm a bit slow typing here. I want this thread to include my first impressions and serve as a reference to those of us getting G1s on the 24th. No G3 in Pgh yet but here's hoping!

[BeigeBoxer]

After an intro screen they ask you to make a google account or link one to the phone.

Don't understand why they can't have a profile editor here that lets you pick which account to use each time you boot.

They tell me setup may take 5 minutes. But its a snap... onward!


Considering I don't have 3G I'm amazed at how fast I'm already seeing new emails and my contacts are downloading.

I wonder if I can separate my contacts on the phone from my Gmail contacts? Can I associate my phone with a new email? Now that I have this functionality I want to clean up my address book. Also, I dont want Google putting everyone I reply to into my phone book. Can I stop autosync or make it one way (phone to Google)?

[BeigeBoxer]

So my first stop is the mail app. I really love the push gmail functionality but I'm sort of annoyed that I can't do a multi-select and delete operation. Additionally you can only delete email once you open it. How annoying for dealing with spam!

On TMo in America the home screen apps are Dialer, Contacts, Browser, Maps and myFaves. There's also an Analog clock.

Haven't figured out yet how to get apps onto the desktop and delete ones I dont like.