Piece of Cupcake…G-1 Style
Couldn’t wait any longer so I manually updated my G-1 from firmware version 1.1 to ver. 1.5(Cupcake). In case you were wondering, there was nothing in between.
I could have done it a week ago and even thought about it. Chickened out as I was afraid to brick my phone before the ACS Convention (more updates on this later). That would have been embarrassing. At any rate, I couldn’t wait for the OTA update. Now that I have it, I wish I had done it earlier. Here’s why:
- Video Record. The new firmware adds video record with super simple upload to youtube. Since it is a G-1 and you are REQUIRED to have GMAIL, once you set up a youtube account, they link so there is no sign in process. You are already signed in. You do get a handy little icon to tell you when the upload is done. This would have come in very handy last week.
- On-screen keyboard in both portrait and landscape. I know you iphoners are thinking “What’s the big deal?”. The big deal is now I have onscreen PLUS slide out. My initial reaction is the G-1 onscreen is a lot easier than the iPones I have tried. A LOT easier.
- Battery life seems to be much better. Will know by the end of the week, but initial reaction is that it is.
- The compass app works better. Previously it seemed to hang-up.
- GPS fix is faster.
- All of the user interfaces are much nicer. Especially the GMAIL. This one is a major improvement.
You can find the whole list of new features here. Those above are just the ones that applied to me.
The camera still needs work. Loads faster and has a very handy upload to Picasa with ability to choose which folder the picture ends up in-but the picture quality is still not great. It’s a 3mp lens, so maybe the next software update will help it out.
Now, if they could only make it render flash…
AccessACS, G-1 and mapping
Here’s how I stumbled on to this one:
One of our senior staff members is on an extended health leave. Since I live “in that general direction” I offered to drop off some food. I had been to their house once when they first moved in but that was four years ago. I thought it best to look up their address.
So I hit the icon on my G-1 that opens AccessACS. It works much like making a desktop version of Facebook with Chrome. Browser app outside the browser kind of thing. Tap the login button, roll over the search field to search by last name, type a portion of the last name and up comes the whole family.
In the process, I rolled over their address with the thumbwheel by accident.
It highlighted.
Huh. Might as well click and see what happens.
Up pops Google maps with a pin on their house.
From there it is as simple as tapping the address, selecting “directons to this address” and “route”.
All while driving a stick in stop and go traffic. (Bad, I know).
Here’s what I know and what I don’t know:
1. If you happen to have a G-1 and open the web version of AccessACS (not the .mobi app) and are logged in as an Administrator, Staff, or Lay Leader, when you look up someone’s address you can select that address either via thumbwheel or a well placed finger tip. It works just like a selecting a phone number will automatically dial if you click on it, or an email address, etc. Popping up the map function in the same manner as the dialer function was quite the surprise.
2. It’s pretty handy if you are the type of person who makes member house calls.
3. You can do it while driving, but I don’t recommend it. (insert insurance disclaimer here). I only say that to illustrate that it is very easy.
4. I don’t know if it works on an iphone, Windows mobile, or Blackberry. I would be interested in hearing from someone who has one of these. One ACS staffer gave it an unsuccessful run on his iphone, but I did not verify his login creds.
5. I DO know if your credentials are set to “Member”, the addresses will show, but not as links you can select.
Being able to search a member address from a phone is cool. Being able to search a member address and map to it from current GPS location: Awesome.
The T-Mobile Saga
A twitter friend posted that he was going to get a G-1. I thought it pertinent to send him and email with some “little known facts”. After reading it, I thought I would post it here as well:
Just wanted to share some frustrations and expectations with the G-1.
I had a Dash with the data plan. Worked great for email and text. All twitters came in as texts, so there was a charge for that. Web browsing was useless. Twitpic would not display. Also had three handsets go bad in a year.
Wife got an ATT phone via ATT phone order about a year ago. They messed with our home phone bill even though we specifically told them not to link it, slammed us with $1,000 in wireless charges on our home phone before the cell phone was even out of the box, rep took our Amex card and bought stereo equipment and had it shipped to New York and Minnesota. Major pain. Not a happy ATT person.
Bought the G-1.
1. You MUST have a Gmail account to make your first call. The phone MUST be linked to it. All your phone contacts come from your Gmail account. So any Outlook contacts, etc. they will need to be in your Gmail address book. This will be your primary email account. No ifs ands or buts.
2. I also have hotmail and a second Gmail for work. These are listed under “other email accounts”. Hotmail is a typical POP3. I really got used to the hotmail connector with outlook as well as the WM6 synching. Forgot what a pain POP3 is.
Both the hotmail and secondary Gmail accounts have problems. Engineering is working on it. Claim they will have it fixed by the 23rd. Doubtful. Issues are:
· Consistent connection error message
· Messages that were previously read will return to unread status
· No notification of incoming messages or intermittent notification
· Previously deleted messages will re-download
Their fix is to just access those accounts via the browser for now.
3. Data plan. The G-1 uses a different data network. Hence the $10 add on if you want to access T-Mobile hotspots via laptop. The plan is called “Hot Spot Anywhere”. I HIGHLY recommend bringing your laptop into the store with you. I had multiple reps tell me anything from:
· You already have the service
· You can’t get the service
· That was a service we used to offer, but you can no longer be “grandfathered in”
· That will be an additional service at $40/month plus you have to buy a data card
I believe I finally got it sorted out last night. I will try to hit a SBUX to verify. Again, bring your laptop to the store. If you get a “username and password error” they don’t have it set right.
4. I got just the basic G-1 data plan for $25. Same data usage, only difference is 400 text messages verses unlimited. With twitter and “twidroid” I get almost no texts so 400 is fine.
5. G-1 cannot be tethered as a modem as yet.
6. There is no app for MS documents as yet. OpenOffice claims they will port their service over later this year. That will be a one-time fee of $40. Google docs of course do work.
7. GPS locator is off by about a mile. Convenient in case you are the target of a missile strike. I heard there is a way to improve the accuracy.
8. Have not located a flash player yet. I heard it exists. As do unicorns and tax cuts for the middle class.
9. Maps, navigation, etc do work well
10. 3g service is phenomenal. Even the EDGE network is better than it was on the Dash.
11. Facebook and twitter apps solid
All in all it is a good piece. If you are a Gmail account user, this is perfect as the calendar, email and contacts all synch directly. It is def. more consumer oriented than enterprise.
Trackball is worth its weight in gold.
Plan is significantly cheaper than ATT.
I believe the keyboard is a major plus over iPhone. Also, there is a package called “cupcake” that will include a slide-up keyboard like the iPhone among other things.
Hope this helps.
