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Posts Tagged ‘G1’

Panasonic gets official with Lumix DMC-G2 and DMC-G10 Micro Four Thirds cameras

Panasonic has the news day all to itself with its newfangled pair of Micro Four Thirds shooters, and in case you were wondering — yeah, this is the exact same duo that we saw slip out on Friday. Up first is the Lumix DMC-G2, which looks an awful lot like the G1 it replaces and is touted as the first interchangable lens system camera with touch-control shooting. Granted, we haven’t exactly warmed to the idea of using a touchpanel to fire off a shot, but hey, it is what it is. Other specs include a 12.1 megapixel Live MOS sensor, Venus Engine HD II technology, a 3-inch rear LCD and a 720p (AVCHD Lite) movie mode, though curiously enough a price and release date eludes us. Moving on, there’s the DMC-G10, which is supposedly the “world’s lightest” interchangeable lens camera with a viewfinder; this one packs the same 12.1 megapixel sensor and Venus Engine HD II as on the G2, but the 3-inch LCD lacks tilt / swivel / touch options. We’re still waiting on pricing for this one as well, but now is as good a time as any to mention that both fully support those obnoxiously expensive SDXC cards. Huzzah!

Panasonic gets official with Lumix DMC-G2 and DMC-G10 Micro Four Thirds cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One’s multitouch confused more easily than Droid’s?

Thought all multitouch-capable displays were created equal? Think again — Android and Me has posted a rather fascinating (if not somewhat depressing) video showing a demo multitouch app created by a game developer who’d grown suspicious after running into all sorts of trouble getting the feature to work the way he wanted on the Nexus One. First up, the Droid handles the demo with aplomb — two thumbs are recognized smoothly and consistently. Next, though, the Nexus One gets confused after a while and starts registering presses at the wrong corners of the on-screen box formed by the placement of the thumbs. There’s always hope that this could be fixed with a firmware bump, but that hope looks to be in jeopardy from language posted by a Google engineer in the official Android dev forums: “…this is how the touch screen hardware on the Nexus One works (which is essentially the same screen as on the G1 and myTouch). The Droid has a sensor from a different manufacturer, with different behavior. Other phones will likewise have different sensors.” In other words, Google seems to think that HTC’s just using a lower-quality sensor than Motorola is. That’s good news for Droid owners, we suppose — but with game development on Android still something of a non-starter, hardware issues like this keep fragmenting the user base and preventing big-name developers from jumping in and betting on the platform. Follow the break for video proof of the wackiness.

Continue reading Nexus One’s multitouch confused more easily than Droid’s?

Nexus One’s multitouch confused more easily than Droid’s? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile myTouch Slide in the wild?

With the G1 on its last legs, the CLIQ stands as T-Mobile USA’s only QWERTY Android set — and for a carrier that seems as committed to Android as T-Mobile does, that doesn’t seem right, now, does it? Indeed, that rumored myTouch Slide looks like it’s going to get real here pretty shortly now that we’re seeing shots of the thing in the wild, and… well, it looks nothing like the original myTouch 3G (and even less like the Fender edition). Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder — and we’d want to wait until we see this in the flesh — but the myTouch Slide appears to lack the old model’s attractive contours, sticking with a spartan design strangely paired to a chrome-ringed earpiece. Besides the clear addition of an optical pad here (something we’d previously heard HTC would be pushing hard in 2010), it’s apparently got an HVGA display, externally accessible microSD slot, camera with flash, and unfortunately, an old-school ARM11 processor. We’re holding out hope that T-Mobile has plenty of higher-end gear waiting in the wings, but for now, this looks like the G1’s true spiritual successor.

T-Mobile myTouch Slide in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Hack Your Android Phone (and Why You Should Bother)

Do you want to take control of your Android phone? By “rooting” your device, a process similar to “jailbreaking” an iPhone, you can install custom ROMs (images) which add stability and speed improvements to Google’s mobile operating system as well as install new features developed by the hacker community themselves. The procedure involves running commands that enable total access to the device. For non-developer types, hacks like these sound scary, but by following the instructions below, you can take control of your Android phone in only a matter of minutes. The end result is a truly “open” device which you can modify to your heart’s content.

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Why Hack Android?

So why would you want to hack your Android phone? For those with older handsets, rooting the device lets you install customized ROMs which can deliver major speed improvements and performance increases. For example, the popular CyanogenMod, created by one of Android’s most notable hackers, optimizes performance for both the G1 and MyTouch 3G handsets.

Another good reason to root your phone? Multi-touch. One of the surprising omissions from Google’s own Nexus One handset, for example, is the ability to use more than one finger at a time to operate the device. Although available on iPhone from the start, the Nexus One excludes this valuable feature from its mobile operating system. Why? No one knows for sure, but it might have something to do with some patents Apple owns. But that’s no matter to the hacker community. Thanks again to cyanogen, Nexus One owners can enable the feature by copying some files over to their device. Other Android owners can perform similar procedures to enable multi-touch web browsing. But before you can get started with any of these hacks, you first have to root the phone.

How to Root Your Android Phone

However, for novice hackers, “rooting” the phone sounds like it may be easier said than done. Although seemingly intimidating, by following a few simple steps anyone can do this with ease.

Before getting started, remember to back up your phone, including your contacts, SMS messages, files, and photos.

1. The first step is to download and install Superboot, a boot image that, when flashed, will root the device the first time you boot up. You can grab a copy of the Superboot zip file from the Modaco forums here.
2. Once downloaded, extract the files it contains to a directory on your computer, just like any other zip file.
3. Now put your Android phone in bootloader mode. (Note, owners of a retail N1 should see instructions here).
   • To do so, turn off the phone, remove the battery, and plug in the USB cable. When the battery icon appears onscreen, pop the battery back in. Now tap the Power button while holding down the Camera key.
   • For those whose Android phones have a trackball, you have an even easier method of doing this: turn off the phone, press and hold the trackball, then turn the phone back on.
4. Depending on your computer’s OS, do one of the following:
   • Windows: Double click ‘install-superboot-windows.bat’
   • Mac: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type ‘chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh’ followed by ‘./install-superboot-mac.sh’
   • Linux: Open a terminal window to the directory containing the files, and type ‘chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh’ followed by ‘./install-superboot-linux.sh’
5. That’s it, your device has been rooted!

If those instructions confused you, check out YouTube for instructional videos instead. Here’s one for rooting the myTouch 3G or G1, here’s one for the Motorola Droid. Here’s another. There’s also an alternative rooting method involving 1 click demoed here. You get the idea.

Now What?

Now that you’ve rooted your Android phone, you can get busy adding features, functionality, and other hacks. This is the fun part! LifeHacker offers 5 great reasons to root your phone, for those wondering why you would bother to do this.

Our favorite reasons?

1. Multi-Touch

First of all, Nexus One users can enable multi-touch on their devices. RedmondPie has a good how-to on this:

Meanwhile, Droid owners can hack their phones for multi-touch web browsing:

T-Mobile G1 owners can do this too following the instructions here.

2. Mods for Performance Improvements (and More)

G1 and myTouch 3G owners can follow this tutorial to install the popular CyanogenMod on their devices which boosts performance and speed, among other things. Here’s a video tutorial on this via AndroidandMe.com: 

If you need more information, visit the Cyanogenmod Wiki for all the details on this custom ROM. And stay tuned to the latest Cyanogen news via the this website. 

3. Extra Apps and Features

For more fun hacks, try these:

Anyone with a rooted handset can set up Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tethering using this app. The ever-popular Apps2SD software lets you migrate your Android apps over to your SD card, freeing up room on your phone. You can also install custom themes, ringtones and alerts.

More?

If you’ve hacked your Android phone, share your tips and tricks in the comments. Or if you have links to other good hacks, let us know.

Image credit: rooting android via ryebrye.com

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Nexus One videos flood the web ahead of Google’s announcement

Perhaps Google will still be able to surprise people with its news about the Android-based, Google-designed Nexus One cell phone that will be announced on Tuesday. But a considerable amount of information has already flooded the web, including videos of how the Nexus One operates.

One of the things you’ll immediately notice is this phone is fast. You click on something to make the screen change and it happens instantly. Whether it’s playing games or taking photos, the phone is very responsive. The phone uses a new Qualcomm chip, and so it may spark an arms race in performance gains in cell phones. That’s sorely needed because smart phones have been particularly slow at loading, and touchscreens, even on the iPhone, aren’t up to the highest standards yet.

The first video is a short one from a French blogger that shows off the game-playing abilities of the phone. The video shows a game playing at a fast speed and getting a Benchmark 3D Neocore score of 26.7 frames per second. That means the 3-D graphics capability of the phone is pretty good compared to other smart phones.

The second video is nearly 10 minutes and shows many more features of the phone. The touchscreen of the Nexus One is clearly more responsive than the original HTC G1 from T-Mobile, which debuted a year ago. As with the iPhone, you can effortlessly swipe sideways on the screen to make the user interface shift. You can tap on the buttons at the bottom of the phone, or tap on the lower corners of the screen itself to make things happen. The screen color is vibrant and the backgrounds, such as one where you are tapping into water, are cool.

Earlier leaks revealed that the unlocked version of the phone will sell for $530 and the T-Mobile version will sell for $180 with a two-year calling plan that costs $79.99 a month.

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Android 2.0 (or maybe 2.1) officially coming to T-Mobile G1?

We don’t know where this is coming from so take it with a grain of salt, but rumor has it from AndroidSPIN that the progenitor Android device, the T-Mobile G1, is destined to officially get an over-the-air update for an Eclair build, Android 2-point-something. It’s not specified which version — whether it’s 2.0 or the Nexus One-tastic 2.1 — will be coming out, but if we had our say, always shoot for the latest and greatest. Hey T-Mo, we know the holidays are pretty much over, but could you validate these whispers for us? Thanks!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android 2.0 (or maybe 2.1) officially coming to T-Mobile G1? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Maps Navigation hacked for extra-American use
Guess what, prospective Milestone owners, the Droid’s one major advantage over its Euro cousin has just been coded out of existence by those proactive, un-American XDA Developers. The free Google Maps Navigation service, whose US announcement was so shocking as to decimate the stock prices of satnav purveyors Garmin and TomTom, has now been ported to work outside the land of the free as well. Not only that, but you can use the app on other Android devices, meaning your old G1 can get a breath of fresh air for absolutely free. That is if you don’t count the time it takes you to learn how to insert all the code properly and the risk of bricking your device. But we know our readers eat iron nails for breakfast and fashion elegantly optimized code before lunch, so we expect all of you to be using this by day’s end, you hear?

Google Maps Navigation hacked for extra-American use originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile’s Project Dark includes option for buying phones in monthly installments?

Still no confirmation on any all-you-can-eat data plans, but Boy Genius Report has some convincing screens that seem to reveal some other precepts of T-Mobile’s enigmatic (and purportedly company-saving) Project Dark. Two new plans have emerged, Even More and Even More Plus. The former is the traditional two-year contract, along with options to do data only and get a subsidized phone. Even More Plus doesn’t require a contract, going month-to-monthly instead, and subsequently the phone is full price. However, what’s gonna be interesting to see is the FlexPay option, which allows you to pay for a device in monthly installments instead of upfront, a plan we’ve seen before in markets like Germany and Japan. In the example above, a $400 G1 on the non-contractual Even More Plus plan is divvied out to an initial $170 payment and 19 subsequent installments of $12.10, or $33.33 over three months after the related upfront cost. It’s no game-changer on its own, but it’s certainly an intriguing prospect that’s gonna make some (initially) cash-strapped individuals very happy to be able to walk out with a decent Android device.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Filed under: Cellphones

T-Mobile’s Project Dark includes option for buying phones in monthly installments? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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