Official Thread: T-Mobile G1 Q&A - Your Questions Answered

[christexaport]

The G1 looks incredible! Albeit it is a midlevel device, the OS is everything the iPhone falsely claims to be. Now for a tough question of my own...

My primary device is a Nokia N95 8gb. It is the current web browsing and multitasking king of the smartphone world. I use it as my primary web connection and computing device, so actual computing performance and function are of the greatest importance to me.

I know the device can multitask. But I see no task manager. I saw how it shows the last six applications ran on the device, but nothing to show all current apps. I run 10-20 simultaneous applications on a regular basis on my N95 8gb, and would need a way to scroll through them all to choose which one to have brought to the front, and the last six apps run would be woefully insufficient.

How do you really switch tasks, instead of just seeing the 6 last run? How many applications have you been able to run simultaneously before experiencing RAM shortage issues? Is there a way to see how much free RAM is available to monitor applications and their resource consumption? When you go to www.YouTube.com, do you land at the mobile or desktop page? How well do the videos play on the desktop YouTube page? Can videos be displayed in the browser? Fullscreen? On MySpace personal pages, is the music audible? Can you upload images to MySpace via the browser? Can it display Flash9 content, such as the videos on YouP--n.com (site name edited to respect young readers)? Can you copy text from web pages? Can you copy links (not just the page URL) from the browser? Is there a full access file browser that reads the card media and all ROM and RAM drives? Is there an option to reboot the device?

(sorry I didn't number these...)

[badbob001]

There was an internal tmo document listing some known issues with the phone. A major one was that the storage card was not accessible when charging. So you would not be able to view card photos, card music, and your ringtone linked to a card file would break.

It is unclear if they mean charging in general or when charging from a computer, where the usb connection will also mount the sd card to the PC. The latter would kind of make sense, but would be lame anyway.

Can you test this out?
1. See if you can access card photos / music when charging from AC adapter.
2. See if you can access card photos / music when charging from PC.
3. If 2. is no, then see if there is a setting to disable mounting the card as a drive to the PC and see if that makes a difference.

Hey, I assume you own a PC. Tell us what you see on the memory card. Either use a SD card reader or mount the G1 to the PC. If you don't see the marketplace apps there, then it all must fit into the G1's pitiful 50MB available space. If you do see the apps there, then I wonder if charging the phone will prevent you from running downloaded apps...

[christexaport]

It is normal for devices to be unable to read the removable or mass storage when connected to a PC in mass storage mode. If the card is unreadable while using a standard charger, then the issue is the charger being recognized as a normal USB port.

[kaziko]

The G1 looks incredible! Albeit it is a midlevel device, the OS is everything the iPhone falsely claims to be. Now for a tough question of my own...

1. How do you really switch tasks, instead of just seeing the 6 last run?

The G1 doesn't really use a task manager based way to view running apps. when you run an app it is run... when you run another app that last app is placed into a hibernation and will not use resources... if you goto the home screen and hit the icon for that app it will wake the app up from hibernation... Really awesome technology helps to keep people from stressing out about open apps.

2. How many applications have you been able to run simultaneously before experiencing RAM shortage issues?

A total of 36 (that's all the apps I have on the phone) and not one problem with stutter... phone runs just like I first booted it up

3. Is there a way to see how much free RAM is available to monitor applications and their resource consumption?

No not at the moment and there really isn't a need for this currently due to the way the G1 handles open processes.

3. When you go to www.YouTube.com, do you land at the mobile or desktop page?

No need for this.. The G1 comes with a built in YouTube app and loads directly to a custom YouTube screen. The videos load almost instantly on wifi or 3G but take about 5-10 seconds to "buffer" and load on Edge

4. How well do the videos play on the desktop YouTube page?

On Edge the video converts to a lower quality version to play correctly
On Wifi/3G the video is played in high res

5. Can videos be displayed in the browser? Fullscreen?

I haven't played with the browser too much to be able to give an informed answer on this... my guess is no but I will find out for sure.

6. On MySpace personal pages, is the music audible?

Only myspacing I did was check messages I haven't viewed a page with music but I'll get to that sometime soon.

7. Can you upload images to MySpace via the browser?

Same as my last response.. I'll look into it.

8. Can it display Flash9 content,

Not until a flash codec is released

9. Can you copy text from web pages?

Yes of course, the G1 isn't the iPhone

10. Can you copy links (not just the page URL) from the browser?

Again, this isn't the iPhone

11. Is there a full access file browser that reads the card media and all ROM and RAM drives?

Unfortunatly not but just as we all expect their will be on coming soon. If there is a need, there is a will be

12. Is there an option to reboot the device?

No, but there really isn't a need.

ok ill number them... and put the answer under the question

[kaziko]

There was an internal tmo document listing some known issues with the phone. A major one was that the storage card was not accessible when charging. So you would not be able to view card photos, card music, and your ringtone linked to a card file would break.

It is unclear if they mean charging in general or when charging from a computer, where the usb connection will also mount the sd card to the PC. The latter would kind of make sense, but would be lame anyway.

Can you test this out?
1. See if you can access card photos / music when charging from AC adapter.
2. See if you can access card photos / music when charging from PC.
3. If 2. is no, then see if there is a setting to disable mounting the card as a drive to the PC and see if that makes a difference.

Hey, I assume you own a PC. Tell us what you see on the memory card. Either use a SD card reader or mount the G1 to the PC. If you don't see the marketplace apps there, then it all must fit into the G1's pitiful 50MB available space. If you do see the apps there, then I wonder if charging the phone will prevent you from running downloaded apps...

There is an option to turn the mass storage part off so you can use the pc usb cable to charge the phone but not use it to explore the SD card.
While charging on a regular house or car charger everything works normal. Plugged into the pc with usb mode enabled, the sd card becomes useless for the phone

[DDM123]

Kaziko, I'm getting my hands on a G1 a couple weeks before release date, and was wondering if it will be a problem activating it with T-Mobile. I've had T-Mobile for a while, so setting up with them is no issue. Is it just a matter of swapping the SIM card and then calling T-Mobile up?

In other words, will they care if I'm activating a G1 before Oct 22nd or will it be simple?

[kaziko]

Kaziko, I'm getting my hands on a G1 a couple weeks before release date, and was wondering if it will be a problem activating it with T-Mobile. I've had T-Mobile for a while, so setting up with them is no issue. Is it just a matter of swapping the SIM card and then calling T-Mobile up?

In other words, will they care if I'm activating a G1 before Oct 22nd or will it be simple?

Well you wont have to do anything but put your simcard in the phone and set up the gmail account. May I ask how you're recieving one early? just out of curiosity

[DDM123]

I'm getting it through Google. I'm friends with an employee. It's all legit, I assure you.

Can T-Mobile add the G1 to my account at t-mobile.com? Right now, all it has for plans and features are those for my crappy Nokia free-ish phone. (My Samsung phone broke 2 weeks ago. I had to get a replacement for the brief time until the G1 came out.)

[kaziko]

I'm getting it through Google. I'm friends with an employee. It's all legit, I assure you.

Can T-Mobile add the G1 to my account at t-mobile.com? Right now, all it has for plans and features are those for my crappy Nokia free-ish phone. (My Samsung phone broke 2 weeks ago. I had to get a replacement for the brief time until the G1 came out.)

When you enter your sim card and you place a call from the phone... the IMEI which registers the device is automatically sent to T-Mobile and will update T-Mo that you have the G1... and don't worry they wont be mad and nothing will change... Plenty of people have their hands on the G1 right now for testing purposes. Just lookout for the FBI when they come knocking cause your using an unsecured device.... JK

[DDM123]

Absolutely great. Thanks for your super quick responses. I should be getting the G1 tomorrow or early next week. I'll add my thoughts once I get it.