Hey, hey. This hack will probably make more than a few G1 owners giddy. Apparently someone got their hands on a leaked copy of a Motorola Cliq ROM, which just so happens to have all the stuff for Motorola’s custom Android build, MotoBlur, and has converted it for the G1. Don’t ask us where these files are or the install instructions for your G1. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this port probably doesn’t make the Motorola suits all that happy, but this is the joy of an open platform like Android. Get use to it.

T-Mobile’s original Android phone, the G1, is now selling for $130 (with a two-year contract) direct from T-Mobile’s web site. That’s a $20 price reduction, although savvy bargain shoppers know that you can find the G1 from plenty of reputable places for around $100.

Does that mean, then, that stores like Amazon and Walmart, for instance, will soon be discounting the G1 down to around $80 like they just don’t care? I guess we’ll find out. At $80, the G1 is pretty much a no-brainer if you’re already on T-Mobile or you’re looking to switch.

T-Mobile G1 [T-Mobile via TmoNews]

Please join me as we gaze in amazement at the T-Mobile G1 running the GP2X gaming platform consisting of MAME, SNES, and Genesis emulators, to name a few. The “GP2X G1/Android Emulator” is currently in pre-alpha, so don’t expect it to show up in the Android Market just yet. Still looks pretty good even at these early stages, though.

[Android GP2x World via Engadget]

Lookie, lookie. It seems that HTC’s next Android handset couldn’t avoid the geek paparazzi. We hear that this phone is the rumored HTC Hero and might get a release sometime in Q3 of this year, which sounds ’bout right if working handsets are already in the wild.

The overall design countiunes the cues set by both the G1 and Magic, but this incarnation doesn’t sport a track ball on the trademark chin. Also, it seems that this HTC handset might have a real life 3.5mm jack. Given HTC’s track record of Internet leaks, we’ll probably see more of this handset before too long.

It’s true! The built-in compass can be used as a metal detector, allowing you to detect keys that are very close to the phone. Is this particularly useful? Probably not, but now you can rub your phone against people like a stud finder and perhaps make new friends when you search for their “keys.”

Some folks at HDblog.it shot some video of the app in action. Worth a look.

via AndroidGuys

That quote was part of a message sent to the developer behind an application called WiFi Tether for Root Users, a very excellent program that basically turns your G1 into a wireless 3G hotspot.

This doesn’t mean that there won’t be a myriad of hacks and workarounds that allow you to tether your G1 on T-Mobile’s network, it just means that T-Mobile won’t ever be okay with it. Perhaps T-Mo will develop its own tethering app, but you can bet it’ll cost a pretty penny per month on top of what you’re already paying.

[via Android Community]

With the HTC Magic launching in April, we probably could have guessed that the Cupcake update would be ready to ship to the G1 at the same time. But now we don’t need to guess – a T-Mobile rep has gone and confirmed it.

Read the rest of this entry >>

It’s available over at Amazon.com — buying it directly from T-Mobile will set you back $180, so this Amazon deal is pretty delicious.

T-Mobile G1 Phone [Amazon.com via Mobility Site]

Carrying around a little screen at all times means — what else? — that you can read comics all over the place while looking as if you’re checking your email. The iVerse app, for both iPhone and Android, lets you read comics that have been customized for viewing on a small screen. Instead of having you zoom around a full-sized page, they’ve cut the pages into smaller, screen-size chunks. Not the best for full-page art and the like, but much more convenient and natural to read.

I downloaded “Proof” #1 (looks kind of interesting); it was clear and easy to read. Trouble is, every comic downloads as a separate app. If you were to start using iVerse with any regularity, that would get really annoying, really fast.

This isn’t going to be replacing print comics any time soon (or digital distributables for your regular display), but it’s a good venue for comics that don’t require that level of visual fidelity. I hope to see more comic makers taking advantage of this platform soon.

[via CNET]

Looks like Google is now preventing anyone with an unlocked G1 from downloading for-pay applications from the Android Market. Google says this is to prevent piracy (but only in the most abstract sense, in my [worthless] opinion), but some developers don’t like the idea. Welcome to the Situation Room, I’m Wolf Blitzer.

Google just implemented this ban a few days ago. In the company’s world, it was done to prevent someone from using an unlocked phone from buying a for-pay application, returning it (Google allows full refund returns within 24 hours of downloading), then re-downloading it for free. This Minority Report scenario can happen because unlocked phones give the user access to all the phone’s directories, including the “special,” usually off-limits directory where for-pay applications are stored.

This is where Android developers enter the picture. Google lets the devs buy unlocked phones as part of their development kit. These developers, however, should they only own the unlocked phone, can now no longer purchase their own for-pay application from the Android Market! It’s insanity! One developer is so mad he’s starting to sound like that crazy CNBC guy from the other day, suggesting a “revolt” of some sort:

It would be the only way to show Google that this is NOT acceptable, and that devs are not second (third?) class citizens on the Market. I do not know about you, but I am beyond angry that I can not even see my own paid app on the Market with my 400 dollar dev phone!

Seems to me the easiest way to avoid upsetting the very developers who make Android Market hum is to eliminate the new rule preventing them from downloading for-pay apps. How many people are going to go through the trouble of buying an unlocked phone just so they can get free apps? And if these people exist, so be it; there can’t be that many of these “pirates” that it puts Google out of business.

/soapbox

If we are to believe this Vodafone ad (and who are we to doubt the Internet), the European carrier will be the exclusive provider of HTC’s next Android phone, the Magic. The phone does somewhat resemble early spy shots so we could be looking at the real deal, folks.

We hear it comes packing with HSDPA, WiFi, GPS, and a 3.2 digicam. Perhaps Vodafone and HTC were planning a MWC09 announcement or even a CTIA reveal. After all, as it seems that most handheld manufacturers are announcing their first-gen Android handsets, we can think of no better time to announce HTC’s second go around at the OS.

Lipstick on a pig? Still a pig. A bit of makeup and some chin surgery on the G1? It’s.. significantly more attractive.

Though they’re not saying when, Telefónica has announced that they’ll be carrying the G1 – albeit under the name it was originally known by before T-Mobile went and rechristened it: the Dream. In addition to the name change throwback, it’s also getting a bit of polish around its infamously ugly chin. The menu button is dropping down ever so slightly from the edge of the screen, and the individual, round buttons have become a much less awkward looking row of keys. Beyond the facelift, it looks to be the same device. It’s not the G2, but it’s not quite the G1. G1.1?

Spaniards will be able to nab it up for between €0 and €199 depending on their subscriber status with Telefónica – no word yet if this aesthetic revision will hit stateside.

[Via EngadgetSpanish]

Were you disappointed by this mornings news that the other nuvifone wouldn’t be sportin’ the droid? So were we. Then we realized it wasn’t so much because we cared for the new nuvifone, but because we just wanted turn-by-turn navigation on an Android phone. Turns out, we don’t have much longer to wait.

According to their new product page, we should be using Telenav’s GPS Navigator for Android to find the nearest Starbucks by February 24th. We’re not sure of the pricing yet, but we do know they’ll be offering a 30-day free trial. So what’s it do?

• 3d maps, portrait and landscape support
• Name and speech recognition
• Auto reroute
• Traffic Alerts
• Business Finder
• Gas prices
• Search along route
• Restaurant ratings
• Commute alerts
• Weather
• Night-mode

In other words, just about everything you might ask of it.

Further, the Android team member went on to say that they were relieved that Google didn’t go against Apple’s wishes, given the legal storm that appears to be brewing between Apple and Palm, which is using multi-touch technology in its new Pre phone. Even if Apple ultimately decides not to pursue legal action against Palm (it’s not yet clear how likely that is, but Apple does have an impressive array of patents), the situation has likely soured the relationship between the two companies. Google, it seems, wants no part in ruining its relationship with Apple.

Scene: A Chinese restaurant somewhere in the valley in early 2008. Two men enter, wave off the waitress, and sit at a booth. One man is agitated.

G: What do you want now?
A: I hear you have multi-touch in the G1.
G: We do.
A: What did I tell you?
G: Is she safe?
A: She’s safe. She’ll be back at home inside of a week if you play ball.
G: I need to talk to her.
A: You can talk to her on this.
A hands an iPhone. Muffled screams. G says something, inaudibly.
G: She hung up.
A: We hung up.
G: Fine. No usable touchscreen, a fold out keyboard, and wonky SDK. Fine. You got it. But no multi-touch?
A: No multi-touch. We can cut off another finger…

G reaches for his coat pocket.

G: You wouldn’t dare.
A: Easy with that iron, friend. This place is surrounded.
G: Fine. No multi-touch. But what about the G2?
A: How many kids you got?
G: Two…
A: Two kids, twenty fingers. This could get ugly real fast.
G: You animal.
A: It’s business. But we can make it pleasure. After all, we could just take Google Maps off of the iPhone deck.
G: No, no. Don’t go crazy. Don’t go crazy. You can have the girl.
A: You gonna keep playing ball?

G mumbles

A: Say it. Louder.
G: I’m gonna keep playing ball.
A: See you around, kid.

via VentureBeat

If you’re a G1 owner and are anything like us, you’ve been checking your handset every 20 minutes for the last two days in hopes that it’s finally your turn to bask in the light of the latest update, RC33. It’s not the Cupcake update folks are so anxious to get their hands on – but its got voice search and Latitude, and that more than justifies the patch for us. Fortunately for those of us dying to play with the latest and greatest, some brilliant beings managed to sniff out the official update package. Armed with little more than an SD card, you can be enjoying RC33 in under 10 minutes.

Sometimes you just need a little doohickey to prop your phone up at a certain angle – nothing more, nothing less. Sure, you could use pencils and rubber bands but if you want more of an elegant, streamlined look and you have six dollars, then you have other options.

These stands from Innovation Wednesday simply hold the USB cord of your G1 or iPhone at two different angles based on which side you’ve turned them on. You plug your phone into its cable and it’ll sit there all landscape-y. That’s it. They’re six bucks apiece.

Here’s a video, which is nice because it’d be hard to wrap our heads around this concept without some sort of demonstration.

G1 Stand | iPhone Stand [via Make]