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

[kaziko]

Q. How do we go about resetting the phone to factory conditions? Ie. what if we install too many random applications or something, and we would like to return it back to stock. Sort of like a format or something, is this possible?

Yes there is a factory reset option

[SheDevil]

Can you hot-key to switch between running applications, like you can on the Sidekick? For example, on the Sidekick I can be in IM and quickly switch to email by hitting "JumpKey+E", and then back to IM by hitting "JumpKey+I" and then to the browser with "JumpKey+b" - they are all running in the background all the time.

Relatedly, is email running all the time? (One of the big downfalls of the Verizon 'smart' phones is that when you switch away from email, you *exit* email and have to *restart* it each time you access email).

Oh, and can I seamlessly swap my SIM card betwen my Sidekick and the G1?

Thank you for doing this, Kaziko!

Anne

[Swimm12984]

kaziko, I really appreciate your response. However, you failed to actually answer some of my questions. Understand that my current primary device is the best smartphone on the market, the Nokia N95 8gb. In order for me to consider this device, I need to know how it really works, and whether the Android platform could possibly contend with the mature Symbian platform.

If applications are in hibernation using no resources, how are the processes still running? If I have a downloader working, a third party messenger, an internet radio app, and your browser all running while creating an office document from text copied from an SMS, the processes of all these apps will require computing resources. Are you sure about your response? Is the term hibernation perhaps the wrong term? (I think I just found the spinach in the teeth of an otherwise hot date.) It is version 1.0, so I'll be watching how its multitasking skills are accomplished.

If you must browse through the menu to switch tasks beyond the last six, the multitasking capabilities of Android are far behind the S60 platform. I'm currently, and always, posting from my device, and never a PC. I have 12 apps running right now while typing this on my T9 keypad, and can switch to either of them in under two seconds. And these apps fully run in the background, not hibernate. I'm wondering what those 36 apps you ran were... Like did Google Apps maintain presence while receiving IM's and downloading in one browser window while watching a movie in another? Real actual multitasking, like on a PC. My expectations are very high, and I want the best torture test I can find.

Don't assume because you don't need a RAM monitor others won't. The Android platform is also a self development platform, and if its like Symbian, users and novice developers will always be testing beta version software constantly in development. Knowing how the device is responding to applications is important to power users that look to push their devices to the limit, like me. I'm a registered Symbian-Freak.com AND Android-Freak.org member. I wring every ounce of power from the most powerful devices made, and its a hobby of mine and millions of other gadget freaks and enthusiasts across the globe.

I know the iPhone's custom YouTube app (created to cover up the fact their "great" browser lacked Flash support) made most people want one too, but most real smartphone users watch from the browser, either via the latest S60 browser, or Skyfire for WinMo. Even my device has a built-in app, and two even better third party award winning freeware solutions. But with a Flash enabled browser, what's the point? The actual page shows and works just like the website, or doesn't it? That's what I'm asking.

If desktop YouTube page works in the browser, it DOES support Flash! What I'm trying to figure is if its Flash7 via Flashlite3 or another way, or Flash8 or 9 level support, and how its done. Flash content won't require a codec, as you suggested, I don't believe. Nokia's Webkit browser uses Flashlite3 to render up to Flash7 content. Skyfire does it with rendering in the cloud on their servers. There are various ways to do it.

You mentioned YouTube performance. Was this via the built in player, or the browser? I'm more interested in the browser, not alternative viewing experiences. I'm sure one of the developers will create a better possibly free solution with multiple website support.

What is the process by which text is selected/copied from webpages? How do you copy a link? And can you save a link without actually pressing it?

You may not need a reboot option, but with an open source platform and device, testing applications mid development will be a common practice. Take it from a Symbian and Windows XP user, reboot is a great function for any smartphone. Anytime you can create and install custom apps, you'll have runaway processes and need ways to manage resources in case of memory issues and frozen processes. Without a true task manager, a reboot will be almost necessary. Otherwise, starting to turn back on will take much longer. This is an example of experience in smartphone design showing. Android has some maturing to do.

Guys, HSDPA, or 3G, is mobile broadband internet, with speeds close to basic DSL. EDGE is 2.5G, similar to old dial-up speeds. This faster internet throughput is the driving force behind the latest features in smartphones. Faster web means the internet can act like it does on the desktop now.

Nokia e90 here (I'd pit it against your keyboardless n95 anyday for supremacy....lol...of course if you have an 8gig then I'd lose in the onboard memory department but thats neither here nor there lol)

most of your questions are easy workarounds for developers to come up with.....just like Symbian

For example, Reboot isn't a native option in s60 of any version....but there are plenty of simple and relatively small reboot apps available. I'd imagine it would be just as easy if not easier for the Android OS considering its openness. With regard for the browser, I wouldnt be surprised if Opera was ported to Android eventually giving us Flash Lite 3 support (which is what is included in s60v3 to allow us to view Youtube vids). Skyfire may come around as well... and as for a RAM monitor, I'm sure there's one in the works if not already available


There may even be software suites that release for Android...I'm sure there will be

Like on my e90 I have the Handy software suite which includes the following:

HandyWeather (stopped working on my e90 for some reason)
HandyBlacklist (a black/white list app for screening calls...maybe even messages would be very nice on Android...someone should get that popping)
HandyClock (self explanatory)
HandyAlarm Pro (also self explanatory lol)
HandyKeylock (Set advanced keylock/screensaver options)
HandySafe (password safe)
HandyZip (compressed archive reader/creator)
HandyTaskman (a task manager/task switcher)


something of the likes of a HandyTaskman would solve 2 of your questions....it monitors RAM, onboard "diskspace", removable memory "diskspace" and it allows advanced control over the tasks running and switching between them.

I'd imagine everything you asked about would be an easy fix for a decent developer and the only thing lacking would be the in-browser flash....however even the Flash thing may be coming soon...

I mean since Google was able to make youtube work as an app, perhaps someone can somehow extract the flash support from the youtube app and write the flash into the browser....thats the beauty of open-source...u can use already developed software and alter it

Also there is a ported chrome (chromium) browser already available for download off the net...developed by the google chromium community....i wonder what kind of features that packs as it is a separate browser from the browser thats coming with the phone

[Swimm12984]

Kaziko somethign I would like to know, I'm sure you havent had the opportunityt o try this yet, but do you know if there is a way to install apps without going through androi market...like directly from the computer via USB?

[foxdie]

our only hope is that tcpmp or VLC get ported to android

Am in #videolan on irc.freenode.net right now asking them Might have a go at it myself

[Crashdamage]

christexaport wrote:

...the multitasking capabilities of Android are far behind the S60 platform. I have 12 apps running right now while typing this on my T9 keypad, and can switch to either of them in under two seconds. And these apps fully run in the background, not hibernate.

Not likely. I mean, I'm no developer and maybe I'm wrong but I just don't see how. Unless the apps running are very small and very lightweight they must be dumped from memory, otherwise everything would soon slow to a crawl. A smartphone simply doesn't have that much memory/processor capability. I think kaziko said he had something like 36 apps open at once and could switch to another almost instantaneously, even though they were not actually running.
Since Android is Linux-based I don't see how or why it would be less multi-task capable than any other system. Linux makes a terrific platform for multi-tasking, certainly way better than WM.

If desktop YouTube page works in the browser, it DOES support Flash

It has been made very clear that the browser does not support Flash. However the included YouTube app works, it's not via direct Flash support.

What is the process by which text is selected/copied from webpages? How do you copy a link? And can you save a link without actually pressing it?

This is covered in the User's Guide:
http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase...SERVICE=Manual

[MrGibbage]

How customizable are the alerts built in? Can I set an alert to ignore emails from mailing lists to which I subscribe, but if I get an email from my boss, it plays "Flight of the Vlakyries" and and buzzes, etc etc (possibly even overiding other preset sound schemes). Same for incoming phone calls, text messages, IM's. I know locale will take care of this based on time and location of the phone, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing 3rd party has been done for this with regards to the "typical email filter lists".

[ren857]

Can you hot-key to switch between running applications, like you can on the Sidekick? For example, on the Sidekick I can be in IM and quickly switch to email by hitting "JumpKey+E", and then back to IM by hitting "JumpKey+I" and then to the browser with "JumpKey+b" - they are all running in the background all the time.

Relatedly, is email running all the time? (One of the big downfalls of the Verizon 'smart' phones is that when you switch away from email, you *exit* email and have to *restart* it each time you access email).

Oh, and can I seamlessly swap my SIM card betwen my Sidekick and the G1?

Thank you for doing this, Kaziko!

Anne

I can answer your questions:
Yes, the G1 has a "hot-key" for jumping between applications. It's the "search" key at the bottom of the keyboard. It works the EXACT same way as the sidekick. Here is the youtube video explaining this:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLlp9H0y_l4[/ame]

Yes, the email is running all of the time. In fact, I don't believe you ever completely close an application, if I'm not mistaken.

You can swap between you sidekick and G1, but the data portion will not work. The sidekick has its own data plan that is ran through Danger's (the sk's OS maker) servers. So, the sk data plan will not work with the G1 and vice versa.

Hope this helps!

[badbob001]

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

What would be nice if there is an option for the phone to sense a usb connection and then ask you if you want to enable usb mode or not and automatically answer no after a timeout. This way, you don't accidentally cause apps that depend on the storage card to fail. Perhaps an app for that later...

Still, please see if you can get a directory listing of the storage card for us so we can finally know if apps are stored there or not.

Just mount the G1 to your PC and:
1. Open a cmd prompt.
2. Go to the new drive. Ie: if G1 drive is F:, type:
f:
<enter.>
3. Then type:
dir /s > c:\g1card.txt
<enter>
4. Now after a bit, a file will be created in c:\g1card.txt listing all the files and folders on the storage card. Then share with us.

Of course, you may be a mac user... in which case, the commands will be a bit different...

If apps are not stored there, then we only have 50MB free space for apps, email storage, browser cache, map cache, etc.
If yes, then we just have to be careful to disable mass storage mode so apps don't break when charging from the computer.

[christexaport]

Swimm12964, I see us Symbian Freaks are everywhere. :-) Glad to see someone with high end superphone taste. I think Symbian users will provide Android users with alot of foresight in how their devices can be used.

Now unless you can put all of your fingers on the home keys, you can't type as fast on the bulky E90 as I can on my N95 8gb (unless you use the external T9 keypad)! Lol! And I got TV out, higher quality camera and image capture, and an accelerometer! (You should come by Symbian Freak and give a wave sometimes, jealous.) But seriously, T9 has been proven faster than mini QWERTY with predictive text many times on various sites. Its the corporate community that refuses to learn T9, preferring the comfort zone QWERTY provides. I'm currently reviewing the E71, and I actually put it above the E90, since its more portable and still as powerful. But I like the E90's gracious screen... (by the way, if you're using the Handy suite, your task manager is lacking, too. There's a better free option called JBak Taskman, and it beats all the other apps that charge you to use them. Check it out.

I think the first thing any smartphone platform should provide is task management. I'm wondering if perhaps Android doesn't really multitask, but just puts the apps on standby until needed again. Regardless, I'm dissatisfied with Android's switching limitations in comparison to Symbian S60. I'll be pushing my developer friends to create a task switcher for Android before I give it consideration. I'm too much of a power user to go without one.

I know developers will provide the tools to make it great, but all smartphones have a task switcher out of the box. Its the centerpiece of all smartphones. I'd have thought that was the first app after the web browser.

As for the browser, I'd thought they'd said the browser was Flash enabled? Are you sure it isn't? Like can anyone say what DOES happen when browsing to YouTube? Post a screenshot or photo so we can see it. But don't confuse Flashlite3, a mobile technology, for full desktop Flash9 and Silverlight, which is what Opera Mobile and Skyfire, respectively, utilize. And Flashlite3 is installed, but that isn't what makes the videos in the browser play. It is integrated into the Nokia Webkit browser code. When Flashlite3 first came out, the videos still didn't play until the browser was updated.

Google's YouTube app is merely an .flv player with YouTube server access, nothing special. The browser experience is better, because you can discover new content, ads, and related stuff the viewer misses. I'm no fan of special apps to do what desktop browsers do. I'm used to my mobile browser being desktop compatible, and expect it of any smartphone today.

Foxdie, you may try to get CoreCodec on it, though I'm sure they already are. Coreplayer is the best video software on any mobile platform! VLC is good too. There will be plenty of video apps for Android.

Lol! Crashdamage, I know being in America means limited access to Symbian devices, and most users don't know about them, but the multitasking prowess of the N95 8gb is well documented. Nothing is close or capable of actually running as many resource intensive apps. I think Swimm19284, who uses the flagship S60 device, can attest to what I mean.

I'm sure you have your doubts, but Symbian is the world's #1 smartphone platform by far, outselling Android, WinMo, and RIM combined. Its last flagship media computer smartphone, the Nokia N95, greatly outsold the iPhone globally without any major numbers in the US. The reason we hardly hear about it is the carriers didn't want such powerful devices on their network, afraid they'd circumvent their ringtone and services business. The iPhone showed they could profit in other areas like data, so now their more receptive to high end smartphones.

S60 does, in fact, run multiple apps fully in the background! The devices have super powerful TI OMAP processers, separate dedicated 3D/video encoding processors, and lots of RAM, plus sophisticated technology called On Demand Paging to manage and save RAM! My device does not slow to a crawl, but moves along briskly. (As I type this with one thumb and walk my 75 lb. pit bull with the opposite hand, I have 29 apps running, and one of them is a GPS geotracking app called Sports Tracker.) As a full time phone reviewer, Symbian-Freak.com contributor, and Senior Analyst of PhoneReport.info, I'm able to test all the top devices, and chose the N95 8gb for good reason. I'm testing the G1 in the coming weeks as well only to test the OS, since the hardware is too weak to really do any major processing. I do think Android is on the right track, and will be a true competitor to Symbian when combined with more sophisticated hardware. I hope you'd trust my knowledge on the subject.